Stop-Loss Page #4

down by the drain.

You okay?

Yeah, sure.

You should try and get some sleep.

I'll be all right, Mich.

I know what I'm doing.

Listen, Mich, you need

to be getting home.

You need some dry clothes.

Michelle Overton!

You taught me everything I know.

You made me everything I am.

Can't be anything else, sir.

I'm no good as anything else.

- Then stop your drinking!

- I will, sir.

All I wanna be is a soldier.

I just want to go back to Iraq.

I'm gonna be better.

Hey, baby.

- If I ever...

- Put Brandon on the phone.

- Put him on the phone!

- All right.

- Hey, man.

- Where the hell are you, man?

I have a situation you need to step into

right now.

I've been trying to reach you all night.

Where you been?

I've been

at the f***ing jailhouse all night,

trying to bail Tommy out

of a DUI shitstorm.

- God damn it!

- Boot is about to kick Tommy out.

Squad leader is supposed to be here,

and that's you.

Steve, I can't.

I'm on my way to D.C.

to see the Senator.

You're what?

You're f***ing AWOL,

and you're taking Michelle

to f***ing D. C?

I'm gonna cut her loose at the state line.

You haven't proved it to me yet!

I need you to handle this until I get back.

Just a couple of days.

- This better be the last time...

- It can't wait that long.

...you drive drunk!

- And you, my friend,

you are in deep f***ing sh*t with Boot.

I'm gonna make this up.

It's all I got.

This is everything to me.

Army's my family.

I know I'm a little sideways,

but give me one more chance, please.

What's up?

Gonna head north on the 55

into Memphis.

Long way around.

There's something I got to do. I'll drive.

In the name of the Father, the Son

and the Holy Spirit.

Congratulations, man.

It'll take a lot more than water

till I'm saved.

- Thanks, man.

- Attaboy, Preacher. You saved him.

I think you need

some more blessing, bro.

Preacher and the chaplain

baptized a lot of guys over there.

Come on, sit down.

Just wanted to pay my respects, sir.

Very grateful that you came.

You said you had a bad feeling

about Paul's last tour?

Why'd he go back so many times?

He was stop-lossed.

Couldn't find a way out?

There were people right here

in Memphis on the lay low.

Stop-lossed soldiers filing a lawsuit.

But he wouldn't listen.

Excuse me.

And how would someone find

these guys with the lawsuit?

Depends on who wants to know.

I'd like to know.

It started out just like any other day.

We were manning a checkpoint,

but we came under attack.

And standard operating procedure

is to pursue the attackers, and...

Go on, we want to know.

We followed them into an alley.

I led my men into an alley.

Preacher, Paul, was covering our flank.

We got hit from both rooftops.

RPGs, small arms,

bullets, explosions...

It was an ambush.

Leading your men into an ambush

is standard operating procedure?

Leading your men into an ambush

is standard operating procedure?

That's enough, Michael.

I remember...

I was yelling at him across the alley.

And he got on the phone

to call for reinforcements, and

he must have seen somebody

drawing down on Thomas,

'cause he fired a few shots

in that direction.

And his rifle jammed.

That's when...

That's when he got hit.

Did our son suffer?

No, ma'am.

No, he was...

It all happened real fast.

My brother's life was wasted over there.

Your brother died doing what he knew

in his heart was his duty.

And he died

in the arms of his best friend.

I can tell you that.

He's the one that sent the picture

right after we lost Paul.

Read the back.

He calls, sometimes, late at night.

I think he's been drinking.

You keep that.

Thank you, sir, I will.

We want to thank you, Sergeant King,

for coming.

Because I know that these meetings

must be very difficult for you.

- Yes, ma'am.

- Thank you, Sergeant.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you.

Good luck getting out.

That was real nice,

what you did back there.

So you wanna go find this place

Preacher's brother told me about?

I'm going straight to D.C.

End of discussion.

All right.

Damn.

- Wait here!

- Brandon.

Wait here!

It don't matter.

You got my sh*t, a**hole.

Get the f*** out of here, man.

I want my f***ing sh*t.

Break yourself, fool. Break yourself.

- All right! All right!

- Calm down.

Stay down!

Okay, Hajis.

On your knees,

hands behind your heads.

Now, I said!

Do it!

Hands behind your head.

You having fun, Haji? You having fun?

Who wants to play

"Let's start shooting people"?

You're up.

You're f***ing up!

Right in the back of your head.

Oh, yeah, yeah. You ain't dead yet?

- Just give him his sh*t!

- Come on now.

We're just getting started, here.

Your sh*t's over there, man.

It's over there.

- Just go get it.

- Oh, yeah? What? I can't hear you.

I can't hear you. What'd you say?

Who's next?

You, you're next.

Y'all better start praying to Allah, son.

Man, please. Please don't shoot me.

- Brandon, don't shoot.

- Oh, sh*t!

Oh, my God.

I've got everything.

I've got all our stuff. Okay?

- On your faces. On your faces!

- That's enough.

Put the gun down.

- Get away!

- Don't you hit me!

Give me the gun.

Give me the gun.

Give me the gun,

or I'm gonna leave you here right now.

- On your face!

- I swear!

- On your face!

- I swear I ain't kidding!

You're gonna need some stitches.

Here.

- Let me help you.

- I got it.

Let me help you.

Before Steve came home,

they told us how a soldier could be

a danger to himself

or other people.

You think I'm a danger?

I've been knowing you since third grade.

I think we've got

both kinds of danger here.

I'm sorry.

What's going on?

Same sh*t every night.

Drinking, fighting, hookers.

And I got babies in here.

Cops will be here soon.

Hey.

You laying low here?

How'd you find this place?

- Brother of a guy in my squad.

- Guy pushing a lawsuit in the lay low?

Didn't tell you

about our first case, did he?

Army came down hard.

Locked the guy up, took everything.

Even his wife left him.

- I ain't got no time for no lawsuit.

- Good.

There ain't a judge in this country

going up against the military

while this war is on.

And let me tell you something

about laying low.

Can't get a job. Can't cash a check.

And they're probably tracing your calls.

Now go on in there and brush your teeth

so we can leave, okay?

My youngest boy,

we can't even take him to the doctor.

You're on the run 24/7.

And God forbid you get pulled over

for having a busted taillight.

You going to jail.

- So where you headed now?

- North. Canada.

I can't put my family through this

no more. Thanks.

- What about you?

- D.C. Going to see a senator.

Why don't you write a letter to the editor

while you at it?

Listen, man, you should try

to reach my guy, Ron Carlson,

old peacenik lawyer,

works out of New York,

takes people north.

He'll help you get across the border.

Listen, man, I ain't interested

in dealing with no shitbag coyote.

Suit yourself.

But we've been on the run 14 months,

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