A teenager joins the Marines and goes to Quantico for training, but it is not longer before he starts to wonder whether he can endure the physical and mental challenges he faces there.

A young Marine veteran is able to live despite grave injuries due to the mechanization of his body — but his strange and formidable metal appearance leaves him shunned by the very society he fought to protect.

Fifteen members of the United States Marines tell stories about their time serving in Europe during World War I.

Despite not setting foot on the battlefield, a medic witnesses the physical and emotional trauma experienced by American soldiers as he tends to their wounds and attempts to work through his own experience of war.

A group of Marines recall their horrifying memories of fighting on the Pacific front of World War II, while a journalist attempts to glorify their experiences for his readers.

Lying in the hospital, a soldier fights the pain and the memories of war while facing the decision to undergo a lobotomy.

An auxiliary naval officer posted on night watch is forced to reflect on the life he left behind and his failed dreams.

A teenage Marine recruit befriends another recruit who dreams of becoming a a New York City artist. Together, they fight in the Vietnam War: he develops epilepsy, and his friend dies.

When an Iraq veteran goes missing, his friends reenact their wartime routines to lure him out of hiding.

An instructor for the Navy helps one of his students — a young, lonely, and drunk man who already has the Purple Heart — and subsequently feels less bad about his own loneliness and insecurity.