Three carefree and restless high school seniors, epitomes of youth in small-town America, decide together to join the Army’s National Guard, lured by the money and access to education. Director Heather Courtney’s comprehensive look at the next four years of their lives is sobering. We follow their trek from Michigan to Afghanistan, where it is their job to deploy improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Tense, live-ammo war journalism exposes us to the repeated explosions that strike their vehicles over the course of their duties. Various ailments (insomnia, anxiety, bodily concussions, and lacerations) beset the three young men and the specter of post-traumatic stress disorder looms large. Once they are home, their families and friends find them to be changed men facing a new battle: reintegration into a world that is suddenly unfamiliar to them. The film movingly illustrates the deflation of spirit that many of our soldiers experience, despite the best support systems.  RM