The premise of this film is that an army war hero returns from Iraq and is set to go into the IRR (Individual Ready Reserve) after his active duty contract has expired. Most servicemen and women consider the IRR "getting out" of the service because most servicemen and women are never called back to active duty. Phillippe's character is more than ready to return to civilian life. However, at least according to the movie trailer and IMDb website, he is almost instantaneously recalled to active duty upon returning home. This is what some people call being "stop lossed"- prevented from going off active duty in a time of war. Kerry called this a "backdoor draft". Phillippe's character, like some servicemen and women, apparently didn't read his contract and decides that this act is a "breach of contract" (I'm quoting the trailer here) so the next logical step is for him to go AWOL so he can get legal help for this matter.
Let's ignore for a second the fact that this movie is asking for you to have sympathy for a soldier who is more than willing to let his buddies get the big green weenie and go back to war while he runs away. Let's even ignore the fact that this is a soldier (and there are more like him) who thinks that all deployments are voluntary actions and you shouldn't have to go on deployments that you don't like. I'm going to go into the legality of this issue as why this movie, and the idea that it is making people that something completely illegal IS legal, makes me want to stab myself in the eye.
From the DD Form 4/1, The Standard Enlistment Contract (every soldier, sailor, Marine and airman reads and signs this before he or she can join the service), Section 9(c): "In the event of war, my enlistment in the Armed Forces continues until six (6) months after the war ends, unless my enlistment is ended sooner by the President of
the United States."
Section 10(a-c): a. FOR ALL ENLISTEES: If this is my initial enlistment, I must serve a total of eight (8) years. Any part of that service not served on active duty must be served in a Reserve Component unless I am sooner discharged. b. If I am a member of a Reserve Component of an Armed Force at the beginning of a period of war or national emergency declared by Congress, or if I become a member during that period, my military service may bextended without my consent until six (6) months after the end of that period of war. c. As a member of a Reserve Component, in time of war or national emergency declared by the Congress, I may be required to serve on active duty (other than for training) for the entire period of the war or emergency and for six (6) months after its end."
It actually goes into even further detail about these practices so that there is NO WAY a serviceman/woman can enlist without knowing that their active duty contract may be extended. But then you get soldiers like this character who agree to it only on the condition that they never have to fulfill their obligations.
According to Wikipedia, only one person has one a suit about this. The National Guardsman had already completed his STANDARD EIGHT YEAR CONTRACT THAT EVERYONE SIGNS including his agreed to IRR time, so he was granted clemency. Because, unlike the character of this film, he actually did fulfill his contract and "uphold his end of the bargain."
A whole 'nother issue that I foresee with this film is that it seems to portray a solider coming home from deployment and being told he will immediately be redeploying. I'm not going to go off on this too much because in all fairness, I haven't seen the film! I have no idea if that's how they will cover it, but that's how it's presented in the trailers. Not including the leave that soldiers get after a deployment and the fact that deployment preparation, or "work up", takes months, unless an individual soldier is being sent on a special assignments, entire units don't deploy and redeploy back to back. I believe there's a "rest" period they all take in between. And unless they are a quick reaction force, or some other unit that is on stand by, no unit is somehow sucker punched by a deployment. They know well in advance, as in years in advance what the deployment rotation is slated to look like.
To sum: every military man or woman agrees to being stop lossed before they ever even go to their basic training. They sign the contract.
And despite what some little "shit birds" as they are commonly known will tell you, you can't pick and chose deployments either. You agree to follow lawful orders. That's why these lawsuits don't work.
