Home Of The Brave (2006)

Pass. Here.
Almost done.
I have to do this.
Excuse me, sir.
- Can you help out here?
- Yes, sir.
It'll be okay. It'll be okay.
Have you heard the news, sir?
- What news is that?
- It's official.
We're headed out in two weeks, sir.
- No extension?
- Not this time, sir.
You hear that?
I'm going home.
Shebooya!
Just like home.
See what you got? Come on, Tom.
Where you going? Where you going?
Yeah, baby.
Yeah.
Bullshit.
You all run the same bullshit play.
Hey, you know the first thing
I'm gonna do when I get home?
Go get that herpes treated, right?
I'm gonna get some from your mama.
Then get my herpes treated.
Hey, what about Keisha?
Come over here
and sit on Daddy's anaconda.
- Play with the anaconda...
- I'll kick your white asses.
- All right, here we go. Here we go.
- He said he'd give me...
This is for Keisha.
- Let's go, let's go, let's go!
- I got it! I got it! Oh, shit!
Deep, deep!
He's wide open, he's wide open!
Touchdown, baby!
- There you are.
- So easy, so free.
Hey, Tommy.
What about you, Daydream?
- What're you gonna do?
- I don't know.
Maybe go rock climbing on Boulder Beach.
- Smoke a bowl.
- Maybe that, too.
I don't know, man.
Maybe buy a house, fix it up.
Something good.
- Now he gonna fix some shit.
- He's been fixing shit his entire life.
You know what? Fuck you.
Okay. Hey! Oh, hey, come on. Come on.
It's gonna be a couple of weeks
for demobilization
back Stateside and all, but...
No, it's for real.
No, Mom, I said, I said...
What're you doing?
What are you feeding him?
Mom, come on, something healthy.
I mean, a carrot or something.
Can you just put Ray on?
Hey, sweetheart.
Yeah, I'm coming home.
What else do you got?
All right. You got two boxes?
Put them in the back.
Hey, Jamal.
Let's load this bad boy up.
- What the hell is this?
- Fell off the truck this morning.
Wrestled it off of three guys.
My mom's Honda has better fucking doors
than this piece of shit.
No! No, no fucking way. No!
Hey, everybody's got one now.
It's the only way they're gonna learn.
No, no, no. Not this guy. He's bad news.
He was in the Fallujah run in July.
He was with Mendocino and Shirley.
- You know that!
- Hey, we get what we get, bitch.
Let's load up.
Motherfucker, you're as useless as an
ashtray on a motorcycle, you know that?
Hey! Hey, Owens!
Hey, guys, gather around, gather around.
- Change of plans for today.
- Change of plans?
What? No recon?
Negative, supply run.
Humanitarian.
We're escorting a convoy of
medical supplies and a doctor to Al Hayy.
- What the fuck's Jefferson doing?
- Yeah. Where the fuck is he going?
Security run to Al-Najaf.
Oh, come on, Sarge.
Yeah, regular army
gets all the good shit.
It's all bullshit.
- Hey!
This is some
good hearts and minds shit, men.
We'll be providing medical supplies
and good will to the Iraqi people
on behalf of the United States military
and its citizens.
Shut the fuck up and look at the map!
Where're we going, Sarge?
What kind of clinic is it, sir?
It's probably just physicals.
The Iraqis need them for work, the army.
Whatever.
It's your first time
outside the wire, Specialist?
Yes, sir.
You'll be all right.
I can't wait to get home.
I can't wait to see Ray.
Yeah, well.
And your son's gotten bigger, huh?
Oh, my God. I've missed so much.
Attention, all vehicles,
Al Hayy, 15 klicks over the ridge, Over,
Roger that.
Hey, Al Hayy's up ahead, boys.
We drive through
and we're 10K from supply drop.
Al Hayy ahead!
Copy that!
Al Hayy was the center of 1956 uprising.
Holy shit, the haji speaks?
Hear that, Tommy? He speaks English.
You do good out there today,
you get 10 minutes
in the latrine with us, all right?
Hey, hey. Let's stay focused.
Come on, no sleeping.
It's the other way!
- Right there.
- Keep your hands where I can see them.
- It's the other way.
Hey, hey, right there. Right there.
Be ready! Be ready! Be ready!
Turn around. Keep going.
Why you pushing?
Why you pushing?
Leave it alone.
I'm on a mission here.
What's wrong,
what's wrong with you?
I'm sorry, Ma'am.
Pull that up, please.
I have to make sure
you don't have any weapons.
Ten miles an hour
is plenty, You got time to...
Keep your air holes, Don't bunch up,
These humanitarian runs, man.
I don't like them.
I'll tell you what,
always putting ourselves in danger.
No, I think we're all right.
Son of a bitch!
That's all we need. Give him room.
Give him room, Don't butt up on him,
Damn it.
All right, convoy, halt, Convoy, halt,
- Gunners, stay watching dismounts,
- Shit!
Hey, move!
Get this truck out of the way,
Get the fuck out of the way!
Get this truck out of here,
I said move.
Move!
It's not good.
Hey. On your right.
- I got him. I got him.
- Move the car out!
- Move the truck!
- Let's go!
Go to the back. Just be ready!
- Move!
- Let's go! Move! Move!
Where's the interpreter?
Come on, let's go, We don't have all day,
Kamal, go tell them
to get the fuck out the way.
- Move! Move! Move!
- Come on, Kamal, get going.
Let's go.
Move it!
Kamal!
Take cover! Take cover!
Get down!
- Jesus Christ! Shit!
- Did one of the gunners get shot?
Come on, get out, get out, get out!
- Jordan!
- Here!
Oh, my God!
Holy shit!
- It's okay! Back up! Back up! Back up!
- I'm trying!
Let's get out of here!
- Let's get out of here!
- Okay.
- Okay.
- Go left.
- Okay, okay, okay!
- Go left!
Second squad,
move into Y-intersection.
- Boy! Boy!
- Charlie team, secure for...
Sarge! Sarge, we got civs!
- Get back here!
- Shit!
Get back here!
You stay right here! You stay right here,
okay? You don't move!
Get that AT4 on that machine gun, now.
Let's go.
That's what I'm talking about.
- Bravo team, secure the building.
- Roger that!
Let's move! Let's go!
He's got company! He's got company!
Move! Come on, let's go!
Hurry, hurry, hurry!
Okay, doorway right.
- Go!
- Let's go!
One up!
- Two up!
- Three up!
Hallway left! Hallway left!
Clear.
Grenade!
Move it!
- Son of a bitch.
- You guys okay?
- Yeah.
- One weekend a month, my ass.
Yeah. Free beer and haji hookers, right?
Bravo team, secure the next building,
Roger that!
Bravo team,
we're securing the next building.
- Let's move!
- Let's go!
Casualties!
Casualties! Shit!
Duck! Duck!
- Fucking road isn't even marked here.
- It's gotta be!
We've got to get back to the main road.
Looks like if we hang a right
- we're gonna be okay.
- Okay.
It'll take us right back to the access road
and we can get out of here.
Okay.
Take deep breaths. Take deep breaths.
Yes, sir.
- You gonna puke?
- No, sir.
Bravo team! Let's move.
- Get going! Somebody else on top!
- Go, go, go!
Check the roof! Check the roof!
Doorway! Let's move!
Stairs on the left! One up!
- Two up. Stairs clear!
- Three up!
- Hallway to the right.
- Clear.
- Hallway clear.
- Jamal, cover stairs!
- Aiken, keep up the back.
- Move.
- Shit.
- Hey, Jordan, cover me.
Jamal, you all right?
Hey, come on, man. Stay with us.
We gotta stay together.
- Tom...
- Let's go, Jordan! Let's go, come on!
Up the stairs. Up the stairs. Let's move.
Clear.
Door on left. Door on left.
Jamal, cover back.
One up!
Oh, shit!
We got fire! We got fire!
Pull back!
Die, motherfuckers!
- Two out the window! Jamal, go!
- I got them.
Where are you?
They went around!
I'm gonna beat you like a fucking mule!
Alpha 5, this is Bravo team.
They're moving down the alleyway!
We're going after them.
Listen to me. Right there. Let's go.
No more than 500 meters to the west,
Over,
Go right, go right!
Okay, I'm going right!
I'm going.
- Go, go, go!
- Okay, okay. Got you. Let's go.
Copy, We see them, We have visual,
Alpha and Bravo teams,
Echo is on its way, Over,
Let's go!
Help!
- Over here on the driver's side!
- Help, please!
A bomb got him. He...
- Richard?
- Let him go. Let him go. Come on.
I got one expectant!
- One going into shock.
- Stay with me. Stay with me.
Look at me! Look me in the eye!
Look me in the eye!
Medevac's on its way. ETA three minutes.
Oh, shit.
Come on, you're gonna be okay.
- Is it okay?
- You're okay.
- Is it?
- You're gonna be okay. Yes, it's okay.
Yes, it's okay. I got it.
I got you. I got you.
I know. I know. Come on.
Come on. It's okay.
I've got you. Keep talking to me.
Gonna get you out of here.
You're gonna be okay.
Hold on.
I know, I know, I know, I know.
Here we go. Here we go.
We're gonna get you out of here.
Give me your hand. Give me your hand.
Hold onto it.
Don't worry. Just hold on.
Come on, come on.
Let's get her out of here.
Come on. Let's go.
Let's go, Jordan, over here left!
Left! Left! Left!
Get back. Get back.
Around the corner. Around the corner.
- Let's move! Let's move!
- Let's go! Let's go!
- Clear! We're clear!
- Go back.
Go! Go! Go, Jamal, go! Jordan, go!
My back.
Jamal! Jamal, you all right? You hit?
My back.
I gotcha.
Let's go. Come on.
Fuck you and die!
Where'd they go?
Big pot of shit, man.
The more you stir it, the more it smells.
Bravo 4.
Yeah, Alpha 5, we got a man down.
Send up a medic.
One block west from your location. Over.
Delta team's on its way, with medic.
Requesting additional backup
for pursuit. Over.
There's no backup for pursuit,
Proceed with Delta team
to casualty-collection point.
- Over!
- Roger that.
There's no backup.
Don't want any.
The medic's on its way.
Let's go. Let's get these fuckers.
Let's move. Come on.
Tommy!
I've been hit.
- You all right?
- Yeah, move.
- Go! Go!
- Medevac's coming. I'll be right back.
Shit.
All right. I'm going after him.
I'll cover you.
I think I got him!
Hey, Tommy, I think I got him!
Jordan!
No!
You're good.
No! No!
Sarge, we need a Medevac right away!
Jordan's down! He's been shot!
Two hundred meters
west of your position.
Stay with me.
Medevac is en route,
Medevac is en route, ETA is one minute,
That's one minute, Over,
Sergeant, hurry the fuck up!
They're already on their way, soldier,
They're on their way, Tommy,
Hang in there, Over,
Come back. Come back.
Stay with me.
Stay with me. They're almost here.
We're gonna get you home.
I'll get you home. Stay with me.
Daddy's here! Daddy's here!
There's Daddy! There's Daddy!
- Daddy! Daddy!
- Dede!
Hey, babe.
Welcome home.
- Thank you, sir. Thanks.
- God bless.
Here you go.
Look what I have.
Not too rare, Will.
- I remember.
You want the one with cheese, honey?
Baby, how about you help
Mommy cut up the fruit?
- I wanna stay with Daddy.
- Daddy's busy right now.
- Come on, honey.
- Where's Billy?
I think he went out.
Went to counsel four years ago,
but...
And there was such a backlog
they forgot all about it.
So they finally put it down
and it's a two-way, not a four-way.
- Unbelievable.
- I know.
Do those people know
what they're doing down there?
They don't.
Is that baby kicking yet?
- Oh, yes, he is.
When he's hungry.
- Dad, how's the food?
- It's lovely.
- We're gonna cut into that cake soon.
- Yeah, looks great. I'll have some.
Not yet. Not yet.
I'm going inside for a minute.
Anybody need anything?
- No, I'm great, thanks.
- No, thanks.
- So.
- Just back this morning, huh?
Yeah, four hours ago.
He looks great.
Attention!
Present!
Attention!
- Hi.
- Hey.
It's good to see you.
We'll be inside.
Hey, what's up?
Hey, Tom.
Hey.
Hi.
Where's Molly?
We're not together.
Dear John letter.
You know how that goes.
You look different.
- Older?
- Your eyes. They...
It's like they're looking over my shoulder,
you know?
Sadder, maybe.
Sorry.
Was he a hero, Tommy?
He died defending his country.
That doesn't answer my question.
- It's the truth.
- Stop it.
- You don't believe that.
- Of course I do.
He was doing his job.
And he was damn good at it.
Sorry.
He's cute.
When's he coming to see you?
- I don't know.
- What?
He is fine. If you don't want him,
then send him my way.
Are you ready for therapy?
Do I have a choice?
Not if you wanna get out of here.
Everything's gonna be okay.
They'll page me when you're done.
Good luck.
Jordan had this stuff sent to me.
I'm not sure why, but...
Well, you were his buddy.
He loved you, too, right?
Right.
God.
I always hated this picture.
He carried that with him
everywhere he went.
God.
What's this?
This is called a God's eye.
Some kid in Baghdad gave it to him.
- An Iraqi kid?
- Yeah.
I thought they all hated us.
Not all of them.
What's this one?
It's the Combat Infantry Badge.
These other two right here,
they're from letters of recommendation
but this is the CIB.
It's one all the soldiers wanted.
Means you fought hard.
I gave this to him.
There she is.
Vanessa!
Hi, honey.
You look so grown up.
Can you say "Hi" to Mommy?
Yeah? Can you say "Hi" to Mommy?
You look so thin.
Hey.
You look great.
Yeah, Ray, right.
Crackers are coming.
What is the matter, Ray?
How's it going?
Has everybody got everything?
Ray, crackers.
Yeah, the crackers.
Yes, they are right here.
I'm sorry about that.
Dede, that's really good
how you stay inside the lines now.
- Thank you, Daddy.
I'm out.
You're gonna be late.
Davis is picking me up. I'll eat in the car.
Seahawks have a game
against the Patriots Sunday night.
Perhaps you two should go.
Both of them suck this year.
Well, then maybe Dr. Benton
won't be using his tickets.
We can get the same ones
we had last year, 10 rows up, 50-yard line,
- spend the night in the city.
- I'm busy.
Busy doing what?
Thought you liked football.
Did you read that in
one of your brochures or something?
"Invite your child on favorite activities,
"and re-establish familiar bonds."
- Billy, what's gotten into you?
- Mom!
Give me a break.
You guys are so obvious.
I'm out.
- Dede, go get your knapsack.
- But I want Daddy to get it.
Now, sweetheart.
You all right?
Yeah, sure.
Did you sleep at all?
Yeah.
No, honestly, I did.
- See you later.
- Okay.
The faculty wanted to do something,
but we weren't really sure...
It's okay, really.
You sure you're ready for this?
Yes, sir, I'm ready.
Well, good luck.
You were gone a while, Tommy.
- Like a year.
- Fifteen months, actually.
There's kind of a law that says
you have to hold my job until I get back.
But I hired someone else.
I had to. You were full-time.
That's the point, Zander.
This was my full-time job.
You knew I was coming back eventually.
I guess. I hoped so.
You know what I mean.
- Yeah.
- Look, Tommy,
I only have four employees.
You know that.
What did you think I was gonna do?
Look, I'll put a word in
with Tyson over at REl.
No, don't worry about it.
I need to find something
closer to home anyway.
Since I'm not gonna
be crashing at Molly's anymore.
I'm real sorry, man.
Yeah, it's cool.
You sure, now?
'Cause I don't want you going
all psycho on me or anything.
So how was it? You shoot anybody?
Yeah, I did.
Did you kill anybody?
I don't know, Zander.
I didn't stick around to find out.
It's war.
- Look, man, I gotta...
- Sure.
Look, you come back whenever, okay?
Brock's Gun Shop. This is Zander.
No. No, I'm sorry. We're all out of those.
I can get them for you next week.
Take any of the brochures now or you
can come down to the recruitment center
as we'd love to have you
in the Army family.
Shit!
Hey, let me give you a hand.
- It's all right. It's all right. It's okay.
- I got it. It's all right.
Just some mud on there.
It's okay. It's okay.
You must be Vanessa Price.
Well, what gave that away?
I'm Cary Wilkens.
I teach boys' P.E., but I've been teaching
your girls the last eight weeks.
Long day?
Yeah. Takes some getting used to.
So, you wanna grab a cup of coffee
or something?
I could fill you in on your students...
- I don't think so. But thanks.
- You sure?
- Yeah. No, I'm sure.
- You know, some kids are mean...
Okay.
I got it. I got this.
- Just trying to help.
- I know, but I got it.
It's nice to meet you, Vanessa.
Fuck!
Will?
Scott Martinez hit a homerun
in the 15th inning, won the game.
Five hours. Unbelievable.
Come back to bed, baby.
Can't sleep.
Don't you have surgery
tomorrow morning?
Will, what happened over there?
I don't really remember.
You know, it's like a dream.
Hazy dream.
Then tell me.
I wanna know.
Do you?
Wanna know
what a blast wound looks like?
What an OR in the desert smells like?
What really happens to them?
How they die?
You really wanna know?
You want us to come back
like nothing ever happened.
You don't want to get your hands dirty
with the details.
That's not fair at all.
Do you really think I don't care?
If you wanna tell me, then tell me.
And maybe you're right.
Maybe I don't wanna hear about
what happened to the rest of them.
But I would like to know
what happened to you.
Two tickets. Here you go.
There you go,
- Hi.
- Hey. How are you?
Good, thanks.
Two adults and one child for
Forever Lulu at 1:30.
All right.
Okay, That is $20,50,
Okay.
Out of $21. There you go.
I know you.
Bravo Company,
First of the 161st,
Hua,
Hua.
You wanna go in
and I'll be there in just a minute?
I'll go... I'll be in right after you. Okay.
Don't worry.
I checked for snipers a couple hours ago.
Jesus.
- Cute kid.
- Thanks.
One day he acts up
like you wouldn't believe
and then the next he won't let me
out of his sight.
So how you doing?
Okay.
I lost my best friend over there.
- God, I'm sorry.
- Yeah.
It's been pretty tough since...
Fuck.
They changed up my medication.
It makes me all weepy.
- Zoloft?
- Lexapro.
- Really? That makes me way too anxious.
- Really?
I had that problem with Risperdal.
- Vicodin?
- Every now and again.
But I was actually on Resperidone,
but then I got moved to Celexa.
Now I take Ambien for sleeping.
Ambien? Now come on.
Trazodone all the way.
Would you listen to us?
We sound like a couple of junkies.
You know,
sometimes I can't sleep at night.
- Yeah.
- So I flip it over to The History Channel.
I love The History Channel.
- You watch The History Channel?
- Yeah.
The other night, it was like 4:00 a.m.,
and they had this special
on D-day and Normandy, okay?
And it was like, about these small towns,
Caen and Bayeux,
and how they loved Americans
and they loved Allied soldiers.
And they have statues of Eisenhower
and plaques thanking the Americans.
I don't know, I just started thinking that...
I mean, what if like 10, 15 years from now,
we go back...
Do you think that they'll
have statues thanking us
and plaques and...
'Cause we saved them, we liberated them.
Right.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I don't know, either.
You know,
I work at this fucking movie theater
and sell these stupid tickets
for these stupid movies.
But I don't ever go see any of them.
Just seems all so unimportant, you know?
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.
I mean, I see all these people
driving these gas-guzzling SUVs,
getting their Frappuccinos from Starbucks.
Doing all this crap with their normal lives,
and they don't give a shit
what's going on over there.
Yeah. I gotta tell you it makes me wanna
go back there so goddamn bad.
I know what you mean.
I mean, I barely know you.
But I'm sitting here with you
and I feel like I've known you
my entire life.
Yeah.
And then there's all those people
that I actually do really know.
And now, I just don't feel
like I know them at all.
I feel the exact same way.
It's like nothing makes any sense
anymore, does it?
Yeah.
On D-Day,
behind Bradley's first army,
another army is sent,
Patton's third,
He told them to get mad and stay mad,
They listened,
Giving credit, instilling pride,
urging men to even greater deeds,
Then, the green light,
Kidding me.
Watch where you're fucking going!
Fuck with me.
Get the fuck out of the way!
You fucking turn?
Who is this guy?
Oh, Jesus.
Shit.
- Good morning, sweetheart.
- What's up?
- Hey.
- Nice uniform.
At least I won't get shot at.
Depends on the movie theater.
- He's in back.
- Back.
Damn it.
I'll take a look.
Hey, old man.
Hey, Mike Falcone call you?
Yeah. Said there's another exam
a week from Saturday.
And than I take the physical
when my leg gets better.
That sounds good, Tommy.
- We'll see, I guess.
- Look. Come on. Police is a good job.
Did me right for 25 years.
- Serving popcorn is no career.
- Yeah. Yeah, I know.
Look, you stay on top of it.
$15,000 saved up
isn't going to last forever.
Hey, Pop, I'm doing it. All right? Relax.
Your mother comes into your room
sometimes at night and you're not there.
I like to drive around.
- In the middle of the night?
- Yeah.
You know, I...
I've been thinking about
going and talking to someone.
About what? Your feelings?
- You sound like your mother.
- No! No, I just think of a lot of shit...
Why don't you wait
until you get the police job?
Because they'll find out.
And you don't want them
thinking you're a pussy.
What are you saying?
'Cause I'm not a pussy.
Hey, buddy.
What do you got?
What is that? Hi. Hi. Hi.
- Hey.
- Hi.
- Hey, babe. How're you doing?
- Hey. Good.
Hot, hot, hot, hot.
Not bad, huh?
Ray's staying for dinner.
No, tonight's not a good night, actually.
I'm just... I'm really tired.
So, if we can just do it another time.
Yeah. Yeah, sure.
Sure.
I'm gonna give you a call later,
though, okay?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
Thanks, Alice.
See you, kid.
Mommy.
Get out of here, Oliver.
But it's Ray.
Tell him I'll call him back.
We turned the. 50 cals on him.
And he doesn't stop.
He's coming right at us.
He could have a bomb. We don't know.
There's no way to know.
But he doesn't stop.
So I open fire.
I have no choice.
I tear him up.
It's him or us, right?
Then we drove by fast as hell
and I looked back to see if I got him.
Then we were gone.
And you still think about it?
- Yeah.
Whether I really saw
a woman, a girl and a baby all shot up...
- So what's your problem then?
- What do you mean?
You did what was right.
The rules of war were followed.
There was an imminent threat.
Haji didn't get the memo. Get over it.
It's not always that simple.
This is bullshit, man.
They told me this was a class.
I want information.
I need my discharge paperwork
and help with that,
my disability applications
and help with that.
Some people think this is helpful.
Whatever.
You've got everything under control,
right, son?
When did you serve, Gettysburg?
Saigon.
Jesus.
Thirty years out?
No way in hell
I'm gonna be coming back here.
You're obviously angry, Jamal.
- Do you wanna tell us why?
- No, why don't you tell me why.
Why what?
Why I get these headaches
and I still can't sleep right.
Why I can't walk right
because my back's still fucked up.
Why Keisha wouldn't kiss me
the first two months I was home?
Why it takes the army six weeks
to set the medical for my discharge
and they canceled it and they
rescheduled it and then canceled it again?
Why I can't look at you right now
without wanting to kick your face in?
- Especially you, Doc.
- Hey, Jamal, Jamal.
What the hell happened to you, man?
What, you want to
pile some shit on me, too, Tommy?
No, I'm not trying to pile anything on you.
What the hell are you doing here?
Tommy Daydream, ladies and gentlemen.
Movie-star looks and a future so bright.
- You two know each other?
- Tell him.
Tell him. Tommy takes one in the leg.
His buddy gets a dozen in the chest.
Well, God smiles down
on Tommy Daydream.
Fuck you, Jamal. Fuck you.
Fuck me? No, fuck you.
Yeah, go ahead. Get out.
Get the fuck out.
Get your own goddamn group.
This is my goddamn group.
Nobody else ain't got nothing else
they wanna say?
How's that?
That hurts.
I'm having pain all the time.
- Pain or discomfort?
- Pain.
Because discomfort
is nothing to worry about.
Right there.
All right. It's probably the prosthesis.
We can try and adjust it.
Thank you.
And I can prescribe some medication
to help with these phantom pains.
No more medication.
It's up to you.
These just came in.
You wanna take a look at that?
I'll recommend
some more therapy as well.
What the hell is this?
Take a look at the last one.
Fishing attachment?
$21,000?
Don't worry about it.
The army will pay for it.
As many as you need.
Might be something that you and your
boyfriend or husband can do together.
Help you pass the time.
Do you think they have one
where you can give people the finger?
Or, maybe a flat palm with a spike in it?
You know,
for when I smack my kid around.
Because when I really
put my shoulder into this,
this thing just goes flying across the room.
It's kind of getting to be
a little bit of a problem, Doc, you know?
Because if I could just keep my kid in line,
and not have to go digging for this thing
then maybe, just maybe, I'd have
a little bit more time for some fly-fishing.
Thank you. No, thank you.
It's your choice.
Vanessa! Hey!
Ray, what are you doing here?
Your mom told me where you were.
- Vanessa, this is crazy.
- I just gotta go.
Why don't you return my calls?
Ray, you know why.
No, I don't.
I really don't.
Wait a minute.
Please, don't just walk away.
It's over, Ray.
- It's over. Don't you get it?
- What did I do?
At least tell me that. What did I do?
It's not about you, it's about me.
Okay. You wanna be alone? Fine.
I've tried comforting you,
I've tried giving you space.
But you are just so damn determined
to be pissed off at the world!
I guess it only takes
one good hand to push people away.
Take care of yourself, Vanessa.
Levels are good, steady.
- Knife.
- Doctor.
Retraction.
- Are you feeling all right, Doctor?
- Respiration's steady.
I am feeling a bit under the weather.
Dr. Breeder,
would you finish for me, please?
- Yes, certainly.
- Thank you.
Dr. Marsh?
There's a Vanessa Price here to see you.
- Who?
- She says she knows you from Iraq.
Oh, my God!
- Hi.
- It's good to see you.
- Come in.
- You, too. Thanks.
Thank you.
How are you? Are you all right?
Yeah, everything's fine.
I had an appointment
at the V.A. Hospital this morning,
and one of the nurses there
gave me your address.
- Everything all right?
- Yeah, it's fine. It's fine.
I just... I thought about you, and I realized
that you were in the neighborhood.
So I took the day off of work and thought,
"Well, you know,
today I'm gonna do doctors."
So,
they couldn't save it, then.
No. No. FST took it off.
I spent the night in Baghdad,
and then went over to Landstuhl.
I mean, I don't remember it. It's just...
It's just what they told me.
- Then to Walter Reed?
- Yup.
Walter Reed for a month,
fitted, and then back home.
Walter Reed. Right?
You wanna see some tough Americans.
- Yeah, I can imagine.
- Yeah.
But I mean, I'm one of the lucky ones.
I got my legs, I got most of my arms...
I can hold my kid and I...
And I really try to remember that.
You must've seen a lot
while you were there.
Yeah, I saw a lot.
You really look good.
Thanks.
You know, at Walter Reed,
they took us on these outings
to help us, you know,
kind of, get used to it.
And people would thank us,
and then, you know, they would stare,
and that would make me really,
really angry.
And then they would ignore me
and it would make me really angry.
- I just... I don't know...
- Do you need anything?
Prescription?
Jesus, everybody's just trying to drug me.
Oh, Jesus. I'm sorry.
Look, I just thought maybe...
I'm... I'm really not here for that.
I just, you know,
I really just wanted to see your face again.
You're a hero. At least to me.
Thank you.
- Excuse me.
- Sure.
Dr. Marsh.
What?
Is he there now?
Okay. All right, I'll be right over.
I'm sorry, I have to go.
It's good to see you.
Thanks. You, too.
If you're ever in the neighborhood again,
you need anything,
you know, call me, stop by.
Thank you.
The conduct policy's very clear.
No baseball caps, no cell phones,
no clothing with
offensive pictures or slogans.
No clothing with
offensive pictures or slogans.
Show them.
Where did you get that?
The mall. What's the big deal?
We have teachers here who have friends
and loved ones who've served in Iraq.
They were quite upset.
We can't have this here.
- Well, actually, my husband's...
- Can't have what, opposition?
The garment is offensive, Dr. Marsh.
Of course it is. That's the point.
If you want to raise your children
to oppose American institutions,
I guess that's entirely your right.
But this is a public school
and we have rules.
Okay, so why don't we have him
take it off right now,
you call an assembly and you can burn it,
along with some books from the library
and today's newspaper.
- Will...
- And while we're at it,
let's get a list of all the students
who are opposed to the war,
make them come to school on Saturday
and take patriotism classes
and monitor their e-mails
and their cell-phone calls.
Dr. Marsh!
Buck Fush?
Buck you, you son of a bitch.
- Will!
- Let's go. Come on.
Come on.
Hey, that was really cool, Dad.
Yeah, well, you're grounded for a month.
What?
We'll talk about it when we get home.
So you're against the war, huh?
You don't know a damn thing about it.
It's not a war, it's an occupation.
They hate us.
They're trying to build a country.
We did the same thing here
a couple of hundred years ago.
- It's not easy.
- Yeah. Right.
And we're doing a good job at it.
Maybe if we flushed a couple more
Korans down a toilet in Guantnamo,
it'd help them speed things up.
So you think we should just leave, huh?
Let them rip each other to pieces?
It's not an easy decision, is it?
Some bad guys over there, Billy.
Dad, what bad guys?
What is this, a Schwarzenegger movie?
- Hey.
- Why don't you just admit it,
we went over there for oil
and everything else is just bullshit.
- Watch your mouth.
- That's the problem with you people.
You're never wrong, are you?
We're not wrong.
Since when did our country decide
it was our job
to just piss everybody else off?
You don't know
what the fuck you're talking about.
- Will.
- You should read a history book.
I will,
when you go read a newspaper!
I don't have to. I was there!
Let's go now.
No, you're walking.
- What?
- Fine!
Keisha. Where's Keisha?
Keisha.
- There you go.
- Thanks.
Keisha, I wanna talk to you
for just a minute.
Jamal, I'm working.
I know you're working.
I just need to talk to you for a minute.
- I promise I won't get upset.
- Leave me alone. Leave me alone.
The handle broke off
the kitchen cabinet again.
Can you take a look at it after dinner?
Sure.
Where's Dede?
She's eating at Jenna's.
You don't know her.
Can you get this, honey?
Thank you.
You know if you cut the brake lines
on the car, I can't fix that.
What're you talking about?
I don't think it was good for you
defending Billy in there today.
Half the kids in that school can't read,
and they're worried about
what's written on some damn T-shirt.
I'm worried about our son.
Don't. He hates me.
He hates that you're in the military.
All 15-year-olds hate their parents.
I guarantee, if I was a pacifist
he'd be in Fallujah by now.
You're driving me crazy.
You need to stop breaking stuff
around the house.
- I know what you're doing.
- I'm trying to get through to you.
You're not helping me, Pen.
You're making me feel
like a mental patient.
- Now there's an idea.
- Very funny.
You smelled like a bar at Billy's school.
Do your patients know?
I am handling it.
- Now leave me alone.
- No, I will not leave you alone. I'm sorry.
Do you think you're the only one
who's had it rough?
I was the one
who got up every single morning
and went online
to check that casualty list.
And I was the one
who got sick to my stomach
every time I heard about
another roadside bomb.
And who do you think
told our daughter every night
that Daddy wasn't coming home
tomorrow or the next day,
or the day after that,
but that he still loved her
and me?
Now I understand you feel compelled
to serve and I supported that.
Hell, I left my job and got another one
just so one of us would be home
some of the time with our daughter!
And when you asked to extend
your deployment, I supported that, too.
Because I think what you did
was right and noble.
But I did not spend the last eight months
of my life in sheer hell
for you to come home and be an asshole!
This is the third time
I've been back and forth here.
I got a problem with my back, okay?
I don't get around good.
I'm going back and forth,
downtown, back here,
downtown, back here,
and I sit here
and come talk to you people.
And you sit here looking at me
like you don't understand
what the fuck I'm talking about!
Somebody here got to have information.
Don't tell me this is the first
damn discharge papers you've seen!
And you're sitting there like you don't
understand what the fuck I'm saying!
Somebody better tell me something
in this motherfucking...
Hey, Doc.
Hey, how you doing?
Hey, I'm good. I'm good. You?
I'm great.
Hey, you remember me?
You helped wash out my leg.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Good to see you.
- Yeah. You okay?
Yeah, yeah.
I'm supposed to meet a patient here.
Actually, pick up a prescription
for a patient.
They don't really hand that shit out.
Yeah, well. It's more of a consult.
I can't really talk about it.
Right, right.
There's some good people there.
I'm sure whoever needs a consult,
that'll really help.
Yeah.
- Good to see you.
- It was good seeing you, too.
Fight!
Hey, you!
Hey.
All right, enough.
Stop it. Break it up right, you two!
Right now! Stop it!
Hey! Hey! That's it! That's it!
Move! Move!
- You all right?
- I'm fine.
- Come on, let's go.
- I said I'm fine.
- Let's go back to class! Come on.
- Okay, it's over. Just go back to class.
Go.
- Damn it, Oliver!
- I'm sorry, Mommy.
I'm sorry. Come here. Come here.
Why are you crying?
Mommy just gets
a little bit sad sometimes.
- You mad at me?
- I didn't mean to yell.
But I love you.
I love you so much, baby.
- Hello,
- Hi.
Is Cary there, please?
Yeah, this is Cary, Who's calling?
Oh, hi. This is Vanessa Price.
- I'm really sorry to be calling this late.
- No, No, it's all right,
It's just... I could really use your help.
Well, yes, sure, You wanna talk?
Yeah.
How about tomorrow before school?
We can grab some coffee or something,
Great. Great, thank you.
Hello.
What?
Where is he?
All right.
Been in there for about an hour.
Kept asking for you.
You guys work together or something?
Yeah. Yeah, we worked together.
You don't have to go in there
if you don't want to.
It's all right.
Jamal!
- What's up, man?
- I'm coming in, all right?
What're you doing, man?
I don't know, boss.
Just like the job, this wasn't working out.
What job is that?
The job at this dealership, man.
You know about that.
Right. Right.
She wouldn't see me.
Who wouldn't see you?
Keisha.
She wouldn't see me,
so I had to make her see me.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Thought she was one of them, Tommy.
Like I turned and wasn't no time.
They don't give you no time.
Right.
Jamal, what do you say
we go back to the center,
and we'll talk to someone, get some help.
- You come with me?
- Yeah.
Yeah, I'm coming with you.
First you gotta give me that gun.
I like my gun.
I know you like your gun.
But come on, man,
you don't wanna do this.
I'll come with you.
Anything for you, Daydream.
Oh, shit.
Got movement.
- Shit!
- Jamal!
Jamal! God damn it!
Jamal!
Fuck!
Damn it!
Jamal.
Go! Go! Go!
Mike Falcone called me.
He said you never showed up
for your appointment at the Academy.
Yeah. I thought it was, like, a possible...
He was holding a spot for you.
- Jesus, Tommy!
- So maybe I'm not ready yet,
even if you want me to be ready.
What I want you to stop watching
Band of Brothers, smoking dope
- and playing video games all day!
- Fine. Maybe I should just re-enlist, huh?
Maybe that's all I'm really fucking good at
is fucking killing people!
- Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
- Fuck you!
You don't know
what it's fucking like over there!
You don't know
what the fuck I went through!
Fuck you! Stay the fuck away from me.
- Damn!
- Stop!
- It's okay.
- I couldn't get to him...
It's okay. Don't. Don't.
It's okay.
I couldn't save... Couldn't save him.
It's okay. It's okay, Tommy.
It's all right, Tommy.
- You all right, Dede?
- We're gonna wait for your father.
What the hell?
Can't work on a holiday.
Think I ate too much.
Penelope, hello.
Come on, come on, come on.
Will, where have you been?
Look, this is Hector,
Rodrigo and... I forget.
But they were working on Thanksgiving
so I invited them to our house for dinner.
Baby, we have guests. My father...
- Carl, hey!
- Will.
- How're you doing, man?
- Baby, go lie down.
No, no, no. It's Thanksgiving.
You don't lay down on Thanksgiving.
Come on, come on, guys.
Come on, let's eat.
Hey, everybody. Happy Thanksgiving.
You know what?
Since it's Thanksgiving,
I think I should say a few words.
Don't worry. Hold on, hold on.
I know, you're all thinking,
"Is he gonna do
or say something crazy? What?
"The drunk, violent fool
"back from a year in the desert."
Yeah, but don't worry. Don't worry.
I'm not going to do anything like that.
I know I get drunk,
and I get angry
and it can get to be a bit much.
But that's how I'm dealing with it.
If that impacts on your life in a bad way,
then I'm sorry.
And I'm gonna make it right. I promise.
But we're not gonna talk about that.
Let's talk about what we're thankful for.
And I'm thankful for my family
and my friends. And my new friends.
And I'm also thankful
that I live in a country
where I can eat till I'm full
three times a day, seven days a week.
And I'm thankful for
two-ration beef with mushroom sauce,
and heat and dust and roadblocks
and Haji Pepsi,
and kids who run up and hug you,
and kids who spit at you,
and mothers having babies faster
so they can grow up to kill you.
And the boys,
who are young and brave and scared,
and the Kevlar
propped against upside-down M-16s
with boots next to them,
Boys with wives and fiances and babies
and mothers and fathers.
Boys who just wanna come home.
And they do come home,
maimed and haunted and fucked up,
if they come home at all.
But, hey, hey, it's Thanksgiving.
Let's eat, enjoy ourselves.
- Carl, you saved me that drumstick?
- Of course, Will.
All right. Come on, come on, guys.
Let's get something to eat now. Come on.
Grab some of these good comidas,
Mi casa es su casa,
Come on. This is great.
Thanksgiving. All right.
Hey, what is that? What the fuck is that?
- Dad, what're you doing?
- What is that!
Back off me!
- Get over here, boy.
- I'm... I'm...
- Get away from me!
- What's with you?
It's okay, baby.
- He pulled it out.
- My God.
Will.
Put it down.
We'll get you help.
Think about me and Dede.
We all grew up together,
Me and Jordan,
we lived on the same block,
He and I used to play football, basketball,
Anyway...
He died in Al Hayy.
We just got word we were coming home.
We were all pretty excited, you know?
Yeah.
He was my buddy, you know?
And I didn't get to him in time,
And when,
when I was holding him,
when I was holding him,
it wasn't like I saw his eyes close
or you know, anything like that.
I just felt this... Just felt this vibration
and he was gone.
And now,
now I've been back for, you know,
some time now,
trying to make sense of all the shit.
What I do know is,
I don't belong here anymore.
Shit.
Right here, Rudy. Over the top.
We don't have to talk
about the war today,
We've made some good progress,
Even coming in here was a good first step,
It's not like they gave me a choice, Doctor.
No, it's okay.
I wanna tell it, actually.
I'd been in Balad about a month.
Was 130 degrees, sand was in everything.
It was awful.
We heard mortars all the time,
but we never got anything serious.
I'd just finished a 12-hour shift.
I was exhausted, ready to go to sleep.
When all hell broke loose.
Look alive, people!
Heads up! Let's hit it! Let's go!
Incoming CASEVAC! MASSCAL situation!
What's your name, son?
Pulse 120. Let's get a tie-off here.
I need two units of plasma
to this soldier right away!
How you doing, soldier?
Pulse rapid and thready!
Let's get some QuickCIot over here now!
Hold your head up, son.
Come on, help me! I'm hit!
Radio for help!
Okay, you'll be okay.
Go outside. Go outside. Go.
You guys, you can't be in here.
I need that blood back here now!
Medevac's on its way from Taji.
- ETA?
- One minute.
- Somebody alert the chaplain.
- Okay.
- Please get off me!
- All right.
I need you guys to wait outside.
No, no, no! We're not fucking waiting!
You all got to fix him.
Do something. Fix him, Doc!
I will do that, but I need you to go outside.
- Motherfucker, you fix him...
- Just calm down.
What are you doing?
- Blood pressure's dropping.
- I need that QuickCIot now!
Starting chest compressions. Go!
Elevate. Elevate. Put his legs up.
I amputated six arms and legs
in three hours.
Four soldiers died on the table,
all under the age of 20.
I mean, I saw all that...
And I'll always have that.
But there's that...
that moment when you realize
you can't help someone,
and you feel heartbreak.
And then the shame
because you couldn't do your job.
It was an unusual situation.
A crisis.
During war...
Doctor, I know all that,
but it's not about that.
It's...
I don't feel anything.
I'm supposed to feel something, right?
When you treat a patient
you're supposed to feel something.
Well, I don't feel anything.
I didn't even know their names.
You know, I was kind of surprised
you called me, actually.
After what you were like that first day...
- Really?
- You don't remember this?
You don't remember this? That first day
when I'm helping you out at the car.
You were like, "I'm fine. I'm fine.
Leave me alone."
- I kind of remember that. Yeah.
- You remember that?
- I'm sorry.
- That's all right.
I'm just giving you a hard time.
I know, but that's really
kind of inexcusable.
No.
I just have a really hard time
trusting people.
- You haven't been seeing anybody?
- You mean like a shrink?
No, no. I meant, have you had
a boyfriend since you got back?
No.
I was seeing somebody before I left,
but that just didn't work out.
What happened to your hand?
We were in this city, in Al Hayy,
and I was part of a convoy of trucks.
We were driving into the city.
It was hot as hell,
and dusty and horrible and...
Just driving into the center of the city
and something started to go really weird.
And the truck in front of us...
The trucks in front of us,
they got ambushed.
So the rest of us,
we took another road
to try to get back around to the main road
that we were on.
And I saw this little kid,
with a Tootsie Pop or something.
I don't know what he had.
I just remember this kid.
And we turned this corner
and we just drove and...
Explosion.
Just a big explosion.
And it was a...
It was just a bomb on the road,
on the side of the road.
I don't remember anything.
Just that I was told I was...
I was very lucky.
I have a confession to make.
I wasn't helping you that day
because of your hand.
It's 'cause I thought you were...
'Cause I thought you were so beautiful.
- Beautiful?
- Mmm.
What?
What.
I don't know. Beautiful?
And divorced at 24
and one kid and one hand.
Especially with one kid and one hand.
Hey.
- Hi.
- Hi.
You all right?
Let's just take it slow, okay?
Yeah.
- I'm sorry.
- It's okay. It's all right.
Hold on.
All right.
- Do you wanna get that?
- I'll get that.
I'll get this.
- All right, now what?
- Just that...
- Just pull that.
- It's stuck. I'm trying to pull it.
It's definitely stuck.
How do you do this?
I don't know, I've never done this before.
Fuck it.
Stop laughing.
This is serious.
I was thinking maybe we could talk.
Okay.
I'll talk and you can just listen.
I'm sorry about what I did.
I was wrong.
I've got some issues.
And I'm getting some help with that.
In fact, your mom and I are
seeing someone
and we think that
at some point down the road
it'd be good if you went with us
maybe once or twice.
Dede, too.
But you can make up your mind
about that when the time comes.
I know you're against the war.
And I can respect that.
But are you against the war in principle
or because I was part of it?
Both.
- Well, I talked to him.
- Good.
- So what you doing?
- Paying bills. Nothing important.
I love you.
I love you, too.
Can you look at me when you say that?
I love you.
I love you very, very much.
Thank you.
Bye.
Dear Mom and Dad,
I know you don't understand
why I re-enlisted,
It's confusing and scary for all of us,
I know that,
But I have to go back,
I don't wanna die
and Jordan didn't wanna die, either,
And maybe when we went over there
the first time
we didn't know
what we were getting into,
Maybe the leaders of our country didn't
know what they were getting into,
Maybe the people don't want us there,
Maybe this whole thing
is just making it worse,
But even after all that,
I can't stay behind
knowing there are soldiers over there
getting attacked every day
and dying every day,
I don't feel like it's wrong of me
for wanting to go back over there
and help them,
It's a hard job being a soldier,
Not just for people like me,
but for the people we leave behind,
The both of you, girlfriends,
kids, husbands and wives,
We all carry scars of war,
But I know that if I do my part
then maybe we'll all get out of there
and get home to the people
who love us just a little bit quicker,
- This is my wife, Penelope.
- Hello.
- Daughter, Dede...
- Hello.
...and that's Billy.
- Nice to meet you.
- How you doing? Great game today.
- Thank you.
We're going to get something to eat now.
- You guys wanna go?
- Sounds good.
I hope this can
make sense to you,
Because it makes perfect sense to me,
These are my guys and I need them
just as much as they need me,
I'm not trying to be noble or brave,
But I feel, if I don't go
then I'd fail Jordan, Jamal,
and all those who went over with me
and sacrificed so much,
And that'd be worse
than never coming home at all,
I know you aren't happy with this,
but I also know that you love me,
I'm going back,
And I'm going back to do
the best job I know how,
And get back to you as soon as I can,
Pray for me,