Where Soldiers Come From

From a snowy small town in Northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan and back, WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM follows the four-year journey of childhood friends, forever changed by a faraway war. A coming-of-age story, WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM is an intimate look at the young men who fight our wars and the families and town they come from. Returning to her hometown, Director Heather Courtney gains extraordinary access, following these young men as they grow and change from reckless teenagers, to soldiers looking for bombs in Afghanistan, to 23-year-old veterans facing the struggles of returning home. Enticed by a $20,000 signing bonus and college tuition support, best friends Dominic and Cole join the National Guard after graduating from their rural high school. After several of their friends join with them, the young men are sent to Afghanistan, where they spend their days sweeping for roadside bombs. By the time their deployment ends, they are no longer the carefree group of friends they were before they were sent to Afghanistan. Repeated bombs blowing up under and around their convoys have led to the new silent signature wound of the Afghan war, Traumatic Brain Injury, and they have all become increasingly disillusioned about their mission. The challenges really begin to surface when they return to their families and communities in Michigan and try to fit back into their daily routines. WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM looks beyond the guns and policies of an ongoing war to examine the war's effect on the future of these young men, their parents and loved ones, and the whole community when young people go off to fight.