Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2017 American biographical war drama film
called, Thank You For Your Service. Spoilers ahead. Sit back, relax and enjoy the video.
The movie begins in the year 2007 at Iraq, Sgt. Adam Schumann along
with his squad are looking for bombs in the streets of Rustamiyah. Although they
were successful in avoiding a bomb that day it unfortunately leads them into an ambush.
As Schumann and his squad hide from the terrorists, they reach the rooftop of a building
and suddenly Emory is shot in the head. Schumann carries Emory on his back to get him out of the
building to a hospital but Schumann trips on the stairs and Emory falls on the ground.
After eleven months, Schumann with his friends Waller and Solo are finally
discharged from the army and are sent home to their families. Upon landing in Kansas,
they are warmly welcomed by their families however Schumann is rudely greeted by Amanda
Doster who asks him how her husband died but Schumann denies being involved in the incident.
Later that day, Schumann and his family are at a restaurant, Saskia, Schumann’s wife,
brings up the incident regarding Amanda saying that her actions ruined their supposedly
perfect reunion but Schumann dismisses it. Meanwhile, Solo is in the car with his wife,
Alea, on the way home when she randomly tells him that she wants a baby,
but Solo thinks that he will be re-enlisted in the army thus hesitating about having a baby.
Waller on the other hand comes home to an empty house without his family.
He tries to contact his fiancé but she doesn’t answer the call.
Schumann stops by their old house and promises Saskia that they will get their house back.
The next morning, Schumann prepares their breakfast but he forgets that his daughter doesn’t
like chocolates. Schumann tells Saskia that he wants to work at a golf course to mow grass
which left Saskia disappointed since Schumann led a group of men in the army only to settle as a
grass mower back at Kansas. Meanwhile Solo visits Fort Riley wanting to be redeployed to his unit.
Later that night, Schumann goes out with Saskia to have fun at Speedway,
Saskia then tells Schumann to open up about what happened at Iraq and he does let out small details
but avoids the incident with Doster. Schumann then meets with Solo and Waller at a bar, Waller tells
them that his fiancé cleaned him out of the house. The boys try to cheer up Waller and they dance
crazily to Waller’s favorite music then Schumann invites Waller to spend the night at his house.
The next morning, Waller goes to the bank where his ex-fiance works and confronted her,
she insisted that it was over then Waller killed himself in front of her. Schumann and
Solo wait outside the bank as they see the place cleaned up, they are shocked by the tragedy of
their friend because they didn’t know that he was mentally unwell. Solo then tells Schumann
that the army wouldn’t let him be redeployed because of his severe PTSD and memory loss.
A military funeral honor is held for Waller, and his mother gives a message about him.
She tells them that she knew that Waller is mentally unstable for months while on duty
even though he doesn’t tell her about it. Waller’s mom also encouraged them to talk to
someone for help instead of committing suicide. Schumann is then greeted by Waller’s mom and
thanks him for taking care of her son, she also gives him a calling card of a
treatment facility in California, she tells him to recommend it to anyone he knows might need it.
Solo sees Doster’s wife with Saskia and asks Schumann if she knows that Doster took Schumann’
place on patrol thus dying in his stead and Schumann replies that she doesn’t know about
it. The situation causes Solo to have a panic attack and asks Schumann to leave with him.
Later that night, Schumann and Solo go out to hunt at the woods. Solo tells Schumann that he
is upset about how only the men who have lost a part of their body are recognized in the army even
though they fought hard too. Solo adds that he would rather die a hero or have lost parts of him
than to live without being recognized for their extreme efforts to fight and survive the war.
Schumann then reminisces about Doster, who was their commanding officer, he tells Solo that he
was offended by Solo’s remark back then about them avoiding Doster’s death if Schumann was there.
Upon reaching their destination, Schumann heads out first to the woods using his night goggles
and a shot gun. As Schumann carefully hunts the area he starts hallucinating thinking it was Solo.
He heads back to the car where Solo is and argues with him, Solo clarifies that he didn’t head out
because he forgot his goggles. Schumann realizes that he has PTSD from his experiences of failing
to safely rescue his comrades. Schumann and Solo finally acknowledge that they need help.
The next morning Schumann and Solo apply for service connection at the Department
of Veterans Affairs. While waiting in line Solo breaks the news that Alea is pregnant
and Schumann congratulates him. Later Schumann is greeted by Colonel Plymouth and asks what he’s
waiting in line for and Schumann replies it’s for service connection. The Colonel discreetly tells
him it’s bad for their morale for him to be seen lining up there since he fought with the big army.
Schumann feels offended and is mad at Colonel for getting the honorable recognition all the while
sitting in his computer while they fought head on. The next day, they return at the Department
of Veterans Affairs to receive their care package along with the VA questionnaire which
upon review will be directed to a physician and psychiatrist within six to nine months.
The long wait has Schumann enraged and requests that Solo consults with a physician as soon as
possible. Mrs. Sanders, a physician, agrees to see Solo and consults him,
giving him tips to help his memory and even recommends that he work with his wife to help him.
Schumann returns to his car and scans through the questionnaire
and he suddenly hallucinates seeing smoke on the road. At the restaurant,
Alea helps Solo answer the questionnaire, as she reads the questions to him,
Solo starts to panic and hallucinates seeing Doster screaming at him while he approaches him.
At Schumann’s house, Saskia sees the questionnaire hidden at the shelves of the laundry room.
Saskia reads through his answers and feels bad that he couldn’t express his emotions to her.
Later that night, Saskia and Schumann spends an intimate time but are suddenly interrupted
by Schumann’s hallucination. Schumann pushes Saskia off him and they start to argue with
Saskia demanding that he tells her about the VA questionnaire. Saskia confronts him
asking if he really wants to die and he says he doesn’t know. Saskia then insists that she
wants to go with him to the VA next time. The next day, Solo visits the VA physician
to ask if he could go to California to get treated at a facility there.
Mrs. Sanders tells him that the problem is that since he did not report his injury during the time
of the incident with Doster, he has no record to prove his disabilities thus he gets no benefits.
Mrs. Sanders suggests that Solo gets a written testimony from his commanding officers to address
the problem and proceed with his service connection. Solo visits Sgt. Mozer to get
his testimony but instead discreetly discriminates him by being an American Samoa, fully disregarding
his request and turning his attention back to his computer to order beef online.
On the road, Saskia drives their truck and speeds over. Schumann then shares to her that they would
look for bombs at trashcans but the terrorists got smarter and started cementing the bombs on the
road. Saskia commends Schumann for finally telling her something about what happened to him at Iraq.
Schumann visits a physician with Saskia, Schumann reluctantly opens up about his
trauma with the incident of Emory and Doster. The physician tells them that there is no cure
for trauma but they can learn how to manage it with long term care at treatment facilities,
but are unfortunately limited since thousands of veterans are seeking help like him.
Saskia gets mad at the despicable remarks of the options seemingly impossible to get treated
immediately but Schumann calms her down. Schumann suggests that a job would probably
help him which the physician agrees. Upon leaving the physician’s office,
Saskia jokes about him not telling her that he was a hero which Schumann denies
then tells her that he just wants to get their old house back. Saskia tells him that she loaned
money from Amanda which she offered at Waller’s funeral but Schumann got angry because the money
is from her dead husband who died because of him. Schumann storms off leaving Saskia dumbfounded.
When night came, Schumann stops by the streets of Amanda seemingly contemplating whether to
tell her what happened to Doster but he soon leaves and goes home. At his garage,
Schumann calls the number of a treatment facility that Waller’s mom recommended.
Solo on the other hand, drives through drug dealers at dogfight downtown to get ecstasy
believing it would help his PTSD but he didn’t get anything. Solo instead rescues an injured
pit bull from the dogfight, he brings it to Schumann’s house to get treated. Saskia sees
them and tells them to dispose of the dog because of the kids, Solo tells him dogs are not allowed
in his apartment thus Schumann keeps the dog. A while later, Solo is playing a video game
at home when he suddenly sees Doster on the screen. This causes him to violently
outrage his emotions as he throws himself at the walls and destroys their furnitures.
Alea is horrified by Solo’s actions thus locking herself in the room telling her mom on the phone
to call the police. Schumann on the other hand, falls asleep while holding his baby,
Jax, on top of him thus when he flipped to his side Jax fell to the floor crying waking Saskia.
Schumann apologizes to Saskia but she’s really mad at him for dropping Jax.
Back at Solo’s house, when Solo calmed down he apologizes to Alea on the other side of the room.
Alea tells Solo to find help and that she cannot help him, the police knock on the door. Schumann
drives off from home, he feels guilty for dropping his son thus being reminded of Emory
which was very traumatic for him. He gets his shot gun preparing to
shoot himself wanting to end his life but he doesn’t have the courage to do it. The next day,
Solo is discharged from detention for his offense while walking at the streets. Dante,
a drug dealer he met at the dog fight, offers him ecstasy in exchange for him doing his dirty job.
Schumann finally decides to visit Emory at Arkansas to gain some closure and asks for his
forgiveness. Schumann and Emory spent the whole day with Emory driving his fast car and drinking
beers at sunset, it was then that Schumann finds relief that it was not because of him
that Emory is disabled but it was because of him that he is alive. Emory is grateful to him despite
being dropped Schumann still saved his life. However, Solo is high at Dante’s apartment
after completing the dirty job and eventually got the ecstasy he wanted. Dante offers him
another dirty job which Solo takes but while at it under the heavy rain, he receives a phone call
from a nurse telling him that Alea is in labor and should get to the hospital immediately.
Alea welcomes Solo to meet his son and his heart immediately melts upon seeing his baby. Schumann
visits the hospital to see Solo’s baby, he then tells Solo about his meeting with Emory and
finally finding closure. He also tells him that he got a reservation from a treatment facility at
California and that he will be leaving that night. Solo is a little upset that Schumann gets treated
first despite him being the one with Doster when he died, forgetting he was still left at
the Humvee when it exploded, if only Schumann was there to detect the bombs then Doster would have
lived. Solo gets distracted by the phone calls from Dante, telling him that he lost the deal
when the arms did not make it and that they are to meet at a liquor shop to get the arms back.
That night, as Schumann bids goodbye to his daughter, Solo on the way to the meeting place
calls Schumann asking for his help thinking this might be the end, Schumann tells him to wait for
him at the bridge and that he’s coming to get him. Solo proceeds to the meeting place and is almost
run down by Dante’s car nearly getting shot. He hides behind a car and just in time the
police arrive, Dante and Solo escape the place. Solo meets with Schumann at the bridge
and confesses that he is in big trouble thus Schumann deciding to swap his place at the
treatment facility with Solo. They arrive at the bus terminal and Schumann insists that Solo takes
his place but Solo hesitates but they eventually settle it with Solo getting treatment first.
The next morning, Schumann visits Amanda to finally confront her about Doster.
Schumann first tells the story of Emory, back at Iraq they were avoiding a bomb which by
Schumann’s instinct made them to change route. They were then ambushed and under Schumann’s
orders they head to the rooftop of a building where Emory was shot in the head.
Schumann carries Emory down the stairs but he choked on his blood and dropped him, the
incident caused Schumann to be disheartened. Sgt. First Class Doster meets with him and tells him
to take the day off as he will be taking his place on patrol, Schumann disagrees but Doster insisted.
The next day, the patrol proceeded without Schumann and abruptly the Humvees return
with Doster burned, rushing him to the medic. Solo blames Schumann for not being with them
then Doster’s death would have been prevented. Schumann is consumed by guilt over Doster’s
death but Amanda forgives him and tells him to honor Doster’s death by living.
The movie ends with Schumann returning to his old home where his family lives. The credits
show real pictures of Schumann who graduated from the treatment facility of Pathway Home in 2011,
Solo living his best life in Las Vegas with his family and attending junior college and Emory who
lives next to his daughter at Texas and enjoys the leisure of skydiving and driving fast cars.