Director Heather Courtney follows these young men closely, as they transition from small town teenagers to Army guardsmen during the war in Afghanistan.

[5] Motivated by a variety of reasons from college tuition support, to a sense of purpose, best friends Dominic and Cole join the Army National Guard after graduating from their rural high school.

By the time their deployment ends, they are no longer the carefree group of friends they were before enlisting; repeated bombs blasts around their convoys have led to TBI symptoms, and they have become increasingly disillusioned about their mission.

Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times called it "quietly devastating" and said, "in its compassionate, modest gaze, the real cost of distant political decisions is softly illuminated, as well as the shame of a country with little to offer its less fortunate young people than a ticket to a battlefield.”[6] Hank Stuever of The Washington Post stated that it was "hauntingly beautiful and deeply felt...some of the best Afghanistan war-related storytelling I’ve seen.”[7] In his review of the film, Time's film critic Steven James Snyder called it an "emotional and engrossing portrait of America's bravest.

The film features the music of Explosions in the Sky, Lanterns On The Lake[12] and This Will Destroy You, as well as an original score by composers Alex Chavez and Chad Stocker.