Stop – Loss

A MTV Films starring Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Stop-Loss is about a soldier who returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is ordered to return to field duty by the Army.

The beginning of the movie reeled me in like a fish on a hook. The setting was at a checkpoint somewhere in Iraq. Some people drove by shooting at the military men, who were manning the check point. That is when all heck broke loose

The military men hopped in their vehicles and pursued the perpetrators, not knowing that they were being led into a trap. Once The military men were in the jaws of that trap, the perpetrators open fire on them.

When the officers started pursuing the suspects on feet, the movie took a realistic perspective that kind of blew me away. The officers were surrounded and began receiving sniper fire.

You should have seen the look on Ryan Phillippe’s characters face when the perpetrators fired a rocket launcher, blowing up their vehicles. He had that I don’t think we are going to make it look.

Inside the building where the snipers fire was coming from, there was a family who had been brutally murdered. The term brutal is putting it lightly.The scene was bloody. It made it clear that those our military are fighting in Iraq seriously sick.

I believe that most of the military men who were in that shootout were either killed or injured. A rap song was playing while showing the survivors morn their losses. The song fitted that scene perfectly. Here is an excerpt of what the artist was saying.

“The truth of the matter is, nobody really knows what is going to happen to ’em, where it’s going to happen to ’em or how it is going to happen to ’em – it’s just like we are just out their just waiting for it to happen – It’s no place to be,” the artist went on to say “In a place where people gladly would see me scatter, all over their streets cause here my life don’t matter. and nobody smiles, underneath those grins, they are just waiting for the next chance to try to kill me again.” I don’t know the name of the song or the artist[s].

Being that I believe that the war in Iraq has nothing to do with our national security, the war scene added to the disgusting feeling I have from time to time, knowing that valuable human lives are being wasted on what I believe is a war-for-votes scheme. Our Republican leaders actually believe that you think they are stronger at fighting wars than Democrats, so they will continue starting wars to keep you voting for them… Iran is the next country they will use to manipulate you.

On the day that Sgt. King was suppose to be getting out of the military, he received orders signed by the President for him to be return back to Iraq, He was Stop – Loss.

According to Wikipedia.org, “Stop-Loss is a policy created by the United States Congress after the Vietnam War. Its use is founded on Title 10, United States Code, Section 12305(a) which states in part: the President may suspend any provision of law relating to promotion, retirement, or separation applicable to any member of the armed forces who the President determines is essential to the national security of the United States” and Paragraph 9(c) of DD Form 4/1 (The Armed Forces Enlistment Contract) which states: “In the event of war, my enlistment in the Armed Forces continues until six (6) months after the war ends, unless the enlistment is ended sooner by the President of the United States.” Furthermore, every person who enlists in a branch of the Armed Forces signs an initial contract with an eight (8) year obligation, regardless of how many years of active duty the person enlists for.”

Instead of Sgt. King fighting back from within the system, he chose to take on the system as a fugitive. Sgt. King referred the Stop – Loss policy as a backdoor draft forcing qualified military personnel to stay in the military without their approval.

This is a movie that had many twist and turns. It also showed many of the psychological issue our military officers are dealing with as a result of The war they were fighting.

I really enjoyed watching the movie and I give it a thumbs up.