Thank You for Your Service

This film has a lot going for it. It has excellent editing; a top-notch job. It has three appealing young actors in the lead role. It is crisply directed and photographed. The storyline has bits and pieces of other great war classics such as The Best Years of Our Lives and Deer Hunter, as well as Coming Home. All these films have similar themes; the very difficult transition of young men coming home from a war. I identified with the main characters as a Vietnam veteran who returned from an unpopular war. There was no one at the airport to meet me and my buddy when we got into Fort Bragg. I was mustered out virtually by myself with $511 of mustering out pay. I immediately took the train to Newark, which arrived by 2am in the morning. While I napped on the train after two days of no sleep, I had my wallet lifted. I arrived home in Jersey City without a dime in my pocket. My girlfriend had left me for some other guy while I was overseas, and I wound up spending my first night of freedom after the army in a Catholic Charities center. The first thing I noticed after a week or so was that the excitement of living in Vietnam was completely missing in the US. And this, in my opinion, is pretty much what this film is about. It is like a gambler that is only alive when they are at the tables. It is, of course, a sickness that you must eventually overcome, but it is not easy. The film pulls no punches and delivers the emotional impact that it intends to send. The VA is correctly portrayed as almost totally inept. So, is the price of cheap oil worth the loss of limbs and lives of our young men and women? It would appear so. Very sad state of affairs. Good film.

This movie is a cold true reality for the family's that struggle with PTSD from combat. This is exactly how it is. This movie is the first in a long time that shows the truth. The opening scenes, are exactly what it is like. And this is a hard movie to watch for those who have served and the family's that struggle with the effects of war on there loved ones. For those who never served, You have no place to judge this movie so harsh.

A mixer of war, drama and pure adventure. The movie is a ballance equillibrium of all these aspects. The movie starts with the early war actions of military personnel in iraq. But they return after war and haunted by those memories.Those memories shattering their personal life, their dreams and emotions, their surroundings...

This movie is a different genre movie..not a typical fast action or mysterious thriller movies...not an excellent dreamy sci-fi movie...rather it is a movie of true passion of life..A movie containing real life drama..real heart and mind...real flesh and blood..slow but steady..

Acting is superb.Most of the movie is full of nostalgic scenes of battlefield.They are true colour of life. Most members have acted well enough to visualize the full drama.

Critics may have many opinions of their own. I don't know what they will say about the film. But i have enjoyed the movie very much.Now it's your turn.

I personally served 5 combat tours between Iraq and Afghanistan. Each time I returned, I found myself having a harder time separating myself from the military. I ended up being career because it was all I knew. It cost me 4 marriages, 3 children, and my mental health. My current wife (#4) is trying to help me stay on my feet and walk a civil path. Between pills for pain and many meds for psychiatric treatment I am slowly moving on. With movies like this, I am able to take what I can and fix each problem.

I took my mother to see this film so that she may understand through a movie what I could not share with her verbally but what she has witnessed physically with me. This is not a war movie but a film of what war does to you and how it affects you after you are no longer in physical war but your mind stays in mental war and no one understands ( EMPATHY) except those there with you. After 3 combat tours I identified with things that went over a lot of peoples heads but the movie moved me and Dream Works did a spot on job with what we with PTS go through and why its so hard to deal with and maybe if everyone saw this film they could see the inner turmoil a soldier, a marine, a airman, and a seaman goes through after experiencing physical and mental trauma. Thank You for your service hits on all aspects from the ptsd sufferer to the spouses and all around them. this is a must see to spread compassion to all who served.