The plot synopsis for the movie Taking Chance goes like this:

Based on real-life events, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort officer, accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown of Dubois, Wyoming.

If you're looking for anything more in the movie, then I'm sorry, but that's it. It's short, straight and to the point. However, when they began playing this movie on the Air Force Network (located in Europe and convenient for us in Iraq) unexpectedly only a month after it's theatrical release - which I'm sure was small - it was just as powerful as I had expected it to be.

For the entire hour and twenty minutes, I literally stopped everything I was doing, left the computer alone, and sat at the edge of my bed soaking in every minute of it. It wasn't that it was an exciting story. There was no suspense. No action. No adrenaline. Yet, it was all the while captivating. Even my roommate, just on his way out to go take a shower, stopped when I told him what this movie was about. He never took another step except to sit back down.

As with people in the movie, we also paused.
It wasn't that we felt deeply patriotic; because this is not a "patriot" movie. There's no flag waving (metaphorically speaking), there's no propaganda, and no political or underlying message about the war in Iraq. It's a movie about a person, more general than specific, who fought for the U.S. and died doing so.

For me, I was able to relate a lot to Kevin Bacon's character. I'm an admin guy. Paper Pusher. Computer Clerk. Whatever you want to call it. Either way, I understand how he feels about not being a "real marine" (soldier...sailor...) I don't particular feel proud of my part in the military, because I don't feel I'm suited for the military life, and I don't think anyone else should be proud of me because I haven't really done much of anything. Now I know that's not true, but my sacrifice is nothing compared to the sacrifice of other soldiers, or even the sacrifice I make for God - but that's another subject altogether.

Yet, watching this movie, I felt particular proud of the military; if only for that hour and twenty minutes. Honestly, I wish the military were a little more like that, and not like the one I see every day both in the states and in Iraq. If it wasn't about selfish people worried more about their pay raises than what then the impact they were having on millions of lives, then I could feel a little more proud about my contribution. If it wasn't about disrespecting the opposite sex, trying their hardest to bring other people down, or about not taking into account the value of human life (I'm not talking about Death here) then I'd be a little more willing to show my support for the military.

Unfortunately, military life isn't like this movie - even if they do hint at the selfish ambitions of Bacon's character (I won't spoil it here.)

If I could though, I'd choose for everyone in the military to take the time to watch this film. Because maybe then they'd see the military through the eyes of those that they are protecting every day. The eyes of the world, and how they view us. It is a very powerful movie, and it does pay a wonderful tribute to those who have lost their lives in battle, and I think that if everyone stopped for a minute to watch this, then they would understand the impact that they are having, and maybe then they wouldn't be so ignorant of their actions.