Stop-Loss

Last night we dropped the kids off at Parents Night Out and had a date night for Derek's birthday. We had dinner at Berryhill and then headed over to the movie theater at Market Street to see Stop-Loss. I hadn't even heard of the movie, nor knew the definition of "stop-loss", but out of the choices available agreed that would probably be the best one to see.

The movie is about a group of soldiers who were fighting in Iraq and came home to Texas on leave. Two of the soldiers had completed their contracts and were scheduled to get out of the military. After turning in his gear and taking his paperwork to be signed off, King, played by Ryan Phillippe, learns that he has received orders to return to Iraq at the end of the month. He has been 'stop-lossed' by the President and is not being let out of his contract. Instead of following the orders, he goes AWOL in an attempt to pull some strings through a senator who promised to help him with anything he needed.

The movie was really eye-opening and deep. I did not even know that the government could force these soldiers back into duty and there are so many who have been affected by it. I think the end of the movie said over 81,000 soldiers had been stop-lossed prior to 2007 and the numbers were not yet in for 2007. Those of you who know what we went through 2 years ago with Derek potentially going to Afghanistan will understand when I tell you that this one really hit home. I left in the middle of the movie to go to the restroom and just prayed over and over, "Thank you God for not sending him over there, thank you." To say that these soldiers' minds were a little messed up is a complete understatement. I cannot even bear to think what we might be going through had Derek not been released from his orders. I know that there are men and women who go over there and come back fine, but so many of them don't. Surprisingly, I did not cry in this one. It was disturbing, but I am glad that I saw it.


I do want to give a big thank you to those men and women who are sacrificing over there. We have a close friend who will be going on his second tour to Iraq this summer. We pray that God's angels will keep him safe while he is away from his family.