Reserved to Fight

Every war brings home shell shocked veterans. Coming home from Iraq is definitely not an easy task. The young soldiers find themselves neglected by the Military and isolated in a society that cannot recognize their distress. In May 2003, Fox Company of Marine Reserve Unit 2/23, returned home from front-line combat in Iraq. For four years we follow four Marines of Fox Company through their postwar minefield of social and psychological reintegration. Living among loved ones who don’t yet understand them and how they have changed, contending with a media focused on the politics rather than the human experience of war, and suffering from a psychological disorder that is difficult to acknowledge, these young veterans grapple to find purpose and healing. For each marine, their new status as a young veteran leaves them often without goals, camaraderie, or an immediate channel for the adrenaline that their combat-ready bodies still produce, even many months later. Taking anti-war media personally, Mark Patterson returns home speaking out against those who oppose the war. He is unwilling to admit that the war has affected him, and his life becomes consumed with trying to convince that his actions in Iraq were correct. But when his girlfriend and emotional support, Jana, breaks up with him, depression and thoughts of suicide force him to confront his past.