Review of Thank You for Your Service (2017) by Gary T — 11 Nov 2017

As the son of a WWII B-17 pilot, POW, Purple heart recipient,and lifelong service member, I found the characters pathetic and walked out of the movie. It wasn?t believable that one character thought he was getting married only to find out his fiancé had left him penniless.

No idea, huh? That plot hole you could drive a truck through. His suicide in front of her at a bank was so predictable as if to be a cliche. These types of movies always implicitly lecture us how more needs to be done by the VA.

But what can the VA do in providing mental health care that some of the families are not already trying to do? We?re supposed to be moved and motivated to ?do more? but we knew that the bureaucracy and incompetence of government would frustrate the audience?s good intentions.

We?re manipulated into believing that if WE were in charge this would never happen. The only joy comes from a ?Haddaway? song? A soldier with an obvious head injury and mental disability believes he can re-enlist? And what was with that hunting scene? These supposed excellent soldiers seem to be colossally stupid.

May I propose a story with a bit more balance. Why is it that the greatest generation managed to be the human engine behind making the USA military the greatest in the history of the world? Yet we are lead to believe that the veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan all suffer from varying levels of PTSD.

One of my father?s best friends flew one other companion aircraft with the Enola Gay, which dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima, I asked him how he felt about it. He responded like so many others did ?I was just doing my job?.

My own father knew that he killed thousands of Germans with his bombs, lived in almost total isolation, was moved around in cattle cars, and lost 80 pounds in a prison camp. My lifelong experience in meeting veterans include some very serious cases of problems, however, their lives and emotions were much more wide ranging, much more complex, much more interesting, much more intelligent, much more outwardly looking rather than self-absorbed, and ultimately not so damn boring.

When I got back home, I pulled my copy of ?the great escape?. Miles Teller is no Steve McQueen.