The year is 1991, and the Persian Gulf War has recently ended. American soldiers are sent to tie
up loose ends, but they get bored over the lack of action and spend throwing parties at night.
There's Troy, a new father, and his best friend Conrad, who wishes to be more like Troy. There's
also Major Archie, who is retiring in two weeks and likes to spend the night with reporter Cathy
in exchange for stories. This makes rival reporter Adriana angry because they barely give her any
information and she doesn't want to step that low. Lastly, there's Chief Elgin, who is only
doing this as a vacation from his airport job. One morning, while the soldiers are taking Iraqui
prisoners, Troy and Conrad find a man hiding a secret note in his rear, which seems to be a map.
They ask Elgin for help to translate it while trying to keep the whole deal a secret, and they
come to the conclusion the map shows the route to Saddam's bunkers where he keeps all his riches.
Meanwhile, Archie is being scolded for his behavior with Cathy and ordered to escort
Adriana as he had been assigned. Adriana has heard about a note hiding in a prisoner's rear and wants
the whole story, so Archie takes her around the base, but the story has already changed and all
soldiers can offer are rumors and exaggerations. Archie convinces her to leave him alone for a
while because nobody will talk to him while she's around, and this allows him to find Troy and the
others in a tent. He sees the map and, while using UV light to reveal a secret route on the paper,
he explains this is where they're hiding gold bullion stolen from Kuwait. After discussing
their options, the four of them agree to leave the next morning in a humvee without telling anyone,
and to get Adriana off his back, Archie gives a soldier named Walter a fake copy of the map to
send her on a wild goose chase. The next morning, the group leaves with Archie in charge of driving.
The others take the chance to practice their shooting while on the move, using balls as their
targets, but Archie tells them to stop when he realizes Conrad put explosives in some of
those balls. Conrad explains he just wanted to see some action, so Archie gets them off the car and
shows them the gritty reality of the bodies left behind by the bombing the USA did in the area.
Archie wants them to practice how to move past other soldiers by pretending a cow is a guard, but
the poor animal steps on a mine by accident and blows up on the spot. Eventually, the group makes
it to the bunker, where the locals allow them to pass because of Bush's ceasefire agreement.
Conrad stays outside, watching everyone come out of their houses to ask for the army's support
while Archie, Troy, and Elgin easily take over the bunker because the men surrender as soon
as they see them. Archie shows them the map and they're told that the gold is in another village,
so they leave the bunker just in time to see the Iraqi Republican Guard arrive to send civilians
back to their houses and shoot a truck that only happened to have milk. Archie's group
gets back in their car, trying to ignore the civilians' pleas for help, and they leave after
throwing them some of the MRE meals they have with them. When they stop to rest a few miles later,
Archie explains that Bush had asked civilians to rise against Saddam, and that's why now the local
army is attacking normal people and trying to starve them. He also looks at the map and realizes
they've been lied to: there had been a well heavily guarded by soldiers, thus it must've been
hiding the good stuff. Troy is starting to have second thoughts, worried about the Iraqi guard,
but Archie assures him they're too busy taking care of Saddam's uprising to care about them.
In the meantime, Adriana realizes Walter isn't taking her anywhere, so while he's distracted,
she takes over the car and threatens to leave him behind if he doesn't tell her the truth. Walter
breaks and tells her about the village with the bunkers, and they turn the car in that direction.
Back to the soldiers, they returned to the village and put the guards in cuffs before the same trio
goes down the well while Conrad stays behind again. They follow a fortified hallway into a room
where a group of soldiers led by Said are chilling while surrounded by a variety of electronics.
These men won't tell them anything, and Archie opens a door to find a prisoner called Amir being
hurt for information while a whole group of rebels waits for their turn. They send all the prisoners
out, giving Amir the chance to reunite with his wife and kid while the trio is taken into another
secret room. Said knows Saddam wouldn't want to be robbed, but his priority is the rebels,
meaning he's willing to give the Americans the gold if that gets them out of here.
The trio finds dozens of suitcases filled with riches like jewelry and expensive watches.
Archie reminds them they aren't mere thieves, they're here to return the Kuwait gold, so they
find the bars and put them in Vuitton bags that will stand the weight better than old suitcases.
Outside, the Iraqi Republican Guard has arrived to arrest the rebels, and they ignore Conrad when
he reminds them the American army is in charge in this area. The trio comes out with the gold,
planning to steal a truck they saw nearby, and the Iraqui guards accept to help them just to
get them out of there. Once the gold is all loaded in the truck, the Americans try to leave without
getting involved, but an Iraqui guard shoots Amir's wife and Archie has a change of heart.
He confronts the guards, asking them to leave, but this only triggers a firefight. Half of the guards
die and the other half surrender, Troy gets shot but thankfully his bulletproof vest catches it.
Ignoring Troy's protests, Archie puts all the rebels in the truck and the humvee, and the group
gets out of there right as Iraqui reinforcements arrive. Unfortunately, the reinforcements have
brought gas bombs that they shoot at the cars, causing them to lose visibility and accidentally
step into a minefield. Troy gets separated from the group when trying to stop two children from
stepping on more mines and gets captured by the Iraqui Guard while the others are rescued by a
group of rebels that hide in an underground bunker in the area; these rebels manage to grab the gold
as well. Conrad wants to find Troy and Elgin has to stop him from doing something stupid, so the
two of them end up in a fist fight before they're dragged into the shelter too. Back in the village,
the rebels try to steal a tank, and Troy uses the distraction to try to escape. Sadly he gets
captured again and dragged into the bunker, where he's locked up in a room and is given new clothes
to avoid looking like an American soldier. In that room, Troy finds a bunch of cellphones,
so he tries them out until he finds a couple that works. First, he calls an emergency line,
but he's not believed and the operator hangs up on him. Next, Troy calls his wife, and after checking
on her and his baby, he asks her to call the American base and tell them where he is. Outside,
Adriana arrives to cover the story, but the guards take Walter's uniform and send them all away under
threat. In the American base, Colonel Horn finds his soldiers still giving interviews to Cathy,
and stops them before things get worse. He wonders if Cathy knows where Archie has disappeared,
prompting the other soldiers to finally confess that Archie and three other men left with the map.
Horn puts everyone to work on maps and radio transmissions to find them.
Back in the hideout, the rebels take care of Conrad's and Archie's wounds,
and Conrad apologizes to Elgin for hitting him. Afterward, they check the bags and notice
they've missed a few, but it's still an amazing amount of gold that will make them rich for life.
Amir explains they have no radio and no water, and that Troy was taken to the Oasis bunker.
Archie can't call for backup because the treaty says Americans aren't supposed to get involved in
the uprising, so he reaches a deal with Amir: the rebels can keep part of the gold and they'll guide
the Americans to the Oasis bunker while helping them carry the rest of the gold. In return,
the Americans will help them cross the Irani border. Thankfully, the hideout has enough weapons
to re-arm the soldiers, and Conrad has managed to salvage his bomb balls from the humvee. Meanwhile,
Troy is being electrocuted for information. Said is in charge of the interrogation,
and when he hears Troy appeal to the fact he's a father, Said informs him he's a father too;
his whole family was bombed by the Americans which is ironic because he had only joined Saddam's army
to protect them. He asks Troy to imagine the same happening to his own family, and Troy realizes the
feeling is worse than death himself. However, this isn't enough to stop him from being sassy at Said,
so he's punished by being forced to drink oil. Archie, the soldiers, and the rebels walk for a
few miles until they come across a village full of Saddam's deserters. The Americans are well
received, and the leader shows them the luxury cars they've smuggled. Archie tries to get him
to lend them a few for free, even giving a whole speech about rising up together against Saddam,
but the leader won't accept anything that isn't actual money. Seeing they have no other choice,
Archie uses some of their gold to buy the cars. Back in the American camp, Horn gets the message
from Troy's wife, giving them the location they need. Meanwhile, Walter and Adriana have no clue
of where to go next. Archie and Amir come up with a plan to enter the Oasis bunker using the fact
the only thing the Iraqi Republican Guard fears is Saddam himself. They outfit the cars as Saddam's
entourage and send one of the rebels dressed as an Iraqui Guard to warn the bunker that Saddam is
coming and is angry at everyone for disappointing him. Seeing the cars coming, most of the guards
believe this and run away, but there are still a few that stay behind to defend the bunker.
Conrad and the rebels stay behind as a firefight ensues while Amir and Elgin get inside to rescue
a group of prisoners. Archie also comes in and rescues Troy, shooting everybody else in the room
except for Said so Troy can finish him as revenge. However after the talk they had, Troy decides to
spare Said for now. A helicopter arrives to defend the bunker, and Elgin manages to shoot it down by
throwing one of Conrad's bomb balls at it. Now everything is over, the group is ready to leave,
and Troy is much more willing to help the locals this time around. However there are two Iraqui
guards still hiding, and they manage to shoot both Troy and Conrad before Archie and Elgin kill them.
Troy's lung is punctured, but he lives thanks to Archie inserting a valve in his chest.
Unfortunately though, Conrad dies. Amir divides his part of the gold among all the families,
and the American's half is buried to be picked up later. Elgin manages to find a radio,
and Archie uses it to call Walter, telling him their location. To avoid court-martial, he wants
Adriana to record them helping the rebels so they look good in the public's eyes, he also needs
Walter to bring four more trucks. Because Horn and the others are busy trying to find a way to reach
the bunker Troy's wife told them about, it's easy for Walter and Adriana to go back to base and take
four trucks with them. They rescue Archie and the group, then immediately drive to the Iran border,
which is heavily guarded by the Iraqi Republican Guard. Because the American army is there though,
they can't do anything, so the soldiers begin guiding the rebels toward the border
while Adriana films it all. Unfortunately, when they're about to cross, Horn arrives with his men
in helicopters to arrest Archie, Troy, and Elgin, they also try to stop Adriana from doing her job.
This gives the Iraqi guards the chance to capture the rebels, so Archie decides to do
a little sacrifice after getting approval from Troy and Elgin. He tells Horn about the buried
gold and shows him a bar from a bag one of the rebels dropped to prove it. Archie mentions this
was a deal made with the rebels, causing Horn to step in, ordering his men to free the group and
help them cross the border. Afterward, Archie, Troy, and Elgin tell Horn where the gold is,
but they still are arrested for breaking the treaty. However, Archie's prediction is right:
thanks to Adriana's report, they're discharged with honors. Elgin quits his airport job to work
with Archie, who becomes a military adviser for Hollywood. Troy now runs his own carpet company
and has a second baby. Iraq returns the gold to Kuwait, which claims some of it is missing.