The 4-Disc Box Set includes:
All 10 Episodes, with additional
Special Features (see below),
including more than an hour of
previously unseen footage.

Only $49.95
plus shipping & handling
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- Directors' & Soldiers' Commentary on Selected Episodes
- Extra Scenes & Bonus Footage
- Soldiers' Photo Albums
- Memorial Film
- Trailers
- Cast & Crew


EPISODE 1
This is a war most of the men of the 39th Infantry Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard never expected to fight. Follow these "weekend warriors" from Clarksville as they say goodbye to their civilian lives, leaving their turkey farms, churches, wives and children behind to go from one of the most peaceful places on earth to one of the most dangerous. The whole town turns out to see their sons, loved ones and friends OFF TO WAR.

EPISODE 2
Prior to their deployment, the soldiers are sent to Fort Hood, Texas for training. After being warned that Iraqi insurgents will sense their inexperience, war games are staged to simulate combat conditions. Ready or not, many of the Arkansas Guardsmen leave the United States for the first time in their lives. Next stop--Kuwait. Back in Arkansas, the soldiers' families begin the difficult adjustment to life in the absence of their loved ones.

EPISODE 3

In the heat of the Kuwaiti desert, the guardsman find themselves welding scrap metal plates to the sides of their outdated vehicles before making the dangerous three-day drive to Baghdad. Once in Iraq, their unit, intended to engage in civil assignments, is quickly deployed on combat missions, a fact which frightens their families back home. Almost immediately, one of the soldiers is badly injured and shipped home to an uncertain fate. By the end of the first month in Iraq, the Arkansas National Guard has lost eight men.

EPISODE 4
The IED (Improvised Explosive Device) - as fast as the Arkansas Guardsmen track down and disarm these deadly roadside bombs, insurgents plant more. As the soldiers begin to settle into their new base camp in Iraq, the Abu Ghraib scandal sours relations with the Iraqi population and spawns a round of debates among the men. Back home, the realities of war are taking a toll. Families are glued to the 24-hour news stations. Distance and stress test one couple's marriage. And a wounded soldier faces a grim prognosis after undergoing a round of major surgeries.

EPISODE 5
The Arkansas Guardsmen are called on to help train the Iraqi National Guard as the transfer of sovereignty begins on June 28, 2004. After three months in Iraq, the soldiers are finally able to begin their first civil military project--building the "Central Park" of Baghdad. With complaints of physical pain, one soldier is sent back to the military base in Texas for an evaluation, straining relations with his troops left behind in Iraq. In Arkansas, a young wife prepares to have a baby alone.

EPISODE 6
With Iraqis now in charge of their government, the Arkansas National Guard works alongside the Iraqi security forces on most missions. The soldiers become concerned about corruption, a fear that is validated when they fall into an ambush that feels like a set-up. After an intense firefight, the unit leaders investigate the Iraqi Police for infiltrators. Back in Arkansas, a wounded soldier tries to salvage his marriage, while three other Guardsmen return home for their two-week R&R and share life-changing tales of war with their families and friends.

EPISODE 7

The President may have declared Mission Accomplished, but months into their deployment the Arkansas Guardsmen in Iraq still find themselves in the middle of a war zone. An increase in car bombs and IEDs makes every routine patrol another gamble with death. Back in the States, the soldiers' families vote in what they say is the most important Presidential election of their time. At Thanksgiving, everyone's thoughts turn to their loved ones. The death toll in the Arkansas National Guard rises to 26.

EPISODE 8
Christmas in Iraq: the soldiers get Internet access and web cams. In Clarksville, their families celebrate the holidays alone and in fear. For a moment the soldiers' spirits are lifted as the Arkansas National Guard helps facilitate the first free Iraqi national elections. The soldiers are tasked with fortifying the polling stations in Baghdad and endure intense mortar attacks while protecting Iraqi civilians from insurgents. But tragedy strikes when a sniper kills a young soldier.

EPISODE 9
As their deployment in Iraq nears its end, the Guardsmen and their families begin to count down the days. But they are not home yet. They still have to survive one more convoy to Kuwait on one of the most dangerous highways in the world. Back in Arkansas, families prepare for the men's return. In what ways will they have changed? With hope and anxiety, the town is festooned with yellow ribbons.

EPISODE 10
Back home the soldiers receive a joyous and heartfelt homecoming celebration. Out of uniform, the Arkansas National Guardsmen try their best to pick up their lives where they left off. Marriages have to be repaired, businesses revived and children reacquainted with. For some the demons of a year at war are almost too much to bear, while for others being home in the safety and security of America gives them a new sense of possibility. A final farewell at a military cemetery brings perspective; 33 soldiers from the 39th Brigade are never coming home.





A DCTV/DISCOVERY TIMES PRODUCTION
DIRECTED FILMED AND EDITED BY BRENT AND CRAIG RENAUD
EDITED BY JOHN CUSTODIO, EDDIE STEIN, MAMI KUWANO AND RUBIN POLIZZI
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS JON ALPERT AND DIANA SPERRAZZA
PRODUCED BY DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY TELEVISION CENTER FOR DISCOVERY TIMES CHANNEL
© MMV DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY TV CENTER

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