Look at this.

The whole town wants to welcome him back, and he comes home in the middle of the night.

Well, maybe he doesn't want all the attention.

Hey, the guy got the silver star.

He should bask in the glory.

Poor guy probably won't get a moment's peace.

I'm just glad my buddy is back safe.

You think he's gonna be different? I think two tours in iraq would change anybody, but if he just takes it slow, gets used to being home, and doesn't come back to the firehouse until he's absolutely ready, he's gonna be fine.

Matty.

Hey, hey.

Welcome home, man.

How are you, man? Let me take that for you.

We are so glad that you're back.

Oh, it's great to be back.

I swear, it's like I've never been away.

Everything is just the same.

I'm sorry I kept you waiting, babe.

What's a few years between friends? I'm back, baby.

I'm yours.

Hey, matt murphy, is that you? Yo, it's matt murphy.

How you doing, man? I'm good, man.

I'm good.

How are you? - Good to see you.

Doing great.

Great to see you, too.

Great to see you again.

All right, guys.

Guys, there'll be time to elect him pope over the weekend, ok, but come to the party, if you can.

Let's get out of here.

Let's take him home.

See you.

Bye.

Take it easy.

Man, I'm sorry to tear you away from your friends.

Were you worrying them, too? Hey, come on.

Give me a break.

Hey, let's go and get a beer, ok? They want to go home.

They don't want company.

Did you hear that? - Yeah.

Well, maybe it was just a car backfiring or something.

Right.

So, your place tomorrow.

What do you want us to bring? - Matt.

Matt.

Matt, what is this? You all right? Hey Wow, I--I guess I'm still a little jumpy.

It's ok.

Let's get you home, ok? - Yeah.

We'll see you guys tomorrow.

Ok.

Yeah.

Early, right? - Right, first thing.

Good night.

Good night.

What just happened there? Haunting of some kind, a very noisy one, but no one should have heard that but me.

Right.

What does that mean? I don't know, but I think matt brought the war home with him.

So, do you think matt is finally gonna ask gina to marry him? I don't know, and please don't ask me to ask him.

I mean, she stuck it out with him for a long time now.

They both deserve a happy ending.

Yeah.

Oh, listen to this.

This is from the citation matt got with his medals.

"With his squad pinned down by an insurgent ambush, "murphy braved enemy fire to retrieve a humvee "and fought his way back to his patrol "before sustaining wounds that caused him to crash just 10 yards short of his troops, who were killed moments later by an I.

E.

D.

" How do you get over something like that? I can't imagine what that must be like.

You know, do you think that's what I heard last night,is part of the firefight? Did you say you thought that ghost was insurgent? Well, I don't really know.

I mean, he was wearing a head scarf, but it was more the feeling I got from him, like anger and rage.

Maybe revenge.

Maybe but that still doesn't explain why matt heard the same thing I did.

Doesn't make any sense.

You know, maybe his ptsd is making this haunting different.

Wait a minute.

Who says he's got posttraumatic stress? He kind of said it himself, didn't he? No.

He said he gets a little jumpy when he hears loud noises, but, I mean, let's not diagnose somebody just because he saw a ghost.

Hey, jim? - Yeah? You know what? Never mind.

Let's just get ready for a party.

Hey, you two.

Hi.

Hey, buddy.

How's the arm? - Not bad.

Oh, we've got that food group covered.

Well, at least we're not wearing the same outfit.

Don't worry about it.

We're gonna need it all.

I think matt has invited everyone he's ever met.

How's it going? - Good.

Good.

Yeah? Too beautiful.

Made me nervous.

Hey, we don't have to do this, you know? We could still take off, you and me,go to the beach or something.

Any more sausage anywhere?! And let clancy eat us out of house and home? - Hey, I heard that.

No way.

Ok.

Who's hungry? Who wants some of the best burgers-- - I'm so, so sorry.

It's ok, matt.

You know how much he loved you.

Everyone, this is anna sanchez and her little girl sari.

Anna's husband hector was in my unit.

I was lucky as hell to serve with him.

He was lucky to serve with you.

Come on.

Come over here.

So, this is someone I want you to meet.

Want to say hi, sari? - Oh, she's shy.

I learned how to do this when I was away with your daddy.

Mi daddy, too.

Daddy.

Yeah.

Look.

Look.

It could fly.

Can you say thank you to matt, sari? - Thank you.

That's ok, sweetheart.

Want to go play? Yeah? Ok, everyone.

Listen up.

Sweetheart, come here.

Ok.

Well, first, I want to thank gina for so many yearsof patience and patience and more patience.

Can't imagine what you've been through, babe.

Well, that's about to change.

This came yesterday.

It's my discharge from the guard, so as of now, I'm officially free-- no more tours, no more wars.

Belong to all you people now.

That's great, matt.

Um, I'm gonna go get that cake out of the fridge.

You know, I don't get it.

They've been dating each other half of their adult lives.

He's obviously crazy about her, and she's nuts about him.

I'm starting to wonder if it has something to do with the ghost that's haunting him.

Wait.

He's got a ghost? - Is everybody haunted? - Could be, on both questions.

So, do you think it has something to do with the war? I don't know.

I think it might be an insurgent, which I'm trying to find out more about, but there's so much.

Can't you just ask the ghost guy, or is there a language barrier? Does that even happen with ghosts? Never has been before, but I don't know because I can't even get close enough to this one.

You know what? Never mind.

Sorry.

I am trying.

I will listen to whatever you have to say, even if I can't, you know, wrap my mind around it.

Bye.

Bye.

Look who I found in the square getting treated to free ice cream.

Wow, the store looks great, mel.

Thanks.

Yeah.

It's a bunch of new old stuff.

Take a look.

I, uh--I guess strawberry is not the best flavor for me right now.

Hey, don't everyone freak out.

It's ok to laugh about these things.

Better than being bottled up, right? Yeah.

Hey, I was thinking about taking matt over to the firehouse, showing him the new toys.

Why don't you guys go and talk, and gina can stay here with me.

We'll catch up.

Come on, man.

I was gonna save this for later, but the got about 12 new video games.

He's really happy to be back at least, most of the time.

How about you? How are you doing? It's hard.

I thought that when he came back, that we would-- it's not like I had some big plan or anything.

It's just, I'm so ready to take this to the next level, you know? And now is not exactly the time to have that conversation.

Yeah.

He has these bad dreams where he talks in his sleep, and he always says, "let me go.

" Does he ever tell you anything specific about what happened? No.

You mean, when I lost my guys? - Uh, yeah.

People keep asking me that.

You know what's strange? I have no idea.

You mean, you just blacked it out? I mean, I remember stuff up to a point, but after that, nothing, and part of me is scared to remember.

Hey, I'm sorry I even asked.

I mean, you don't have to talk about this if you don't want to.

We were on patrol, maybe 2 or 3 clicks south of baghdad, almost ready to pack it in.

Market square had been car bombed a few days before, so it was deserted, so quiet.

It was weird.

Then we started taking fire.

You ok? - Yeah.

Yeah.

I just remembered that I need to run downstairs and check on something, so just make yourself at home, and I'll be right back.

Ok.

We try to make it back to our humvee, but we were taking too much fire.

I called for air support, but air cav was 20 minutes out.

We took cover behind that bombed-out car, and that that's when all hell broke loose.

They were firing at us from everywhere.

We were pinned down, an ambush.

It was chaos.

Everyone was screaming and yelling.

We're taking enemy fire, and we had to get out of there.

That's all I remember, I mean, except for this feeling, this feeling that I wanted to go.

I wanted them to let me go.

But, matt, getting in the humvee, going towards your men-- I'm not saying I couldn't have done those things.

I just don't remember.

Who are you? Incoming! Heads up! Sarge, get back here.

Sergeant murphy! Matt! - Why can't you see me? - Where's that crazy bastard going? - Listen to me.

I can help you.

Kill that son of a bitch.

All right.

Fall in.

Stack on me.

Let's go.

Go, go, go.

Give my love to melinda.

Yo, where you been? To a war, and I was right there in the middle of it.

You all right? It gets worse, and you're not gonna like it.

What? I think matt is being haunted by his own men.

This guy checks into a hotel.

Every night that he's there, at 2 A.

M.

, - There's a knock on the door.

Is this a joke? Well, if you laugh, yeah.

No, but every other guest that stays in this hotel has the exact same problem, so, to make a long story short, the people that run the hotel, they call in a bunch of, you know, paranormal experts and stuff, and what do you think they found? A normal, rational, nonsupernatural explanation.

I love this role-reversal thing we're doing.

It's great.

No.

Of course not.

They find the ghost of a room-service waiter who's bringing the same tray of food to the same room at the same time every single night, and then the groggy guest, well, he opens the door, but the ghost is gone,laughing hysterically.

Fascinating ,but what does a spirit who plays ding dong ditch have to do with the ghost of a bunch of american soldiers fighting the same battle over and over again? Everything.

It's called an imprint haunting.

It's a ghost stuck in sort of a time loop.

They have to do the same thing over and over and over again.

Why? - Well, I don't know.

It depends on the ghost.

In the case of the room-service waiter, he's probably still waiting for that tip he never got.

So, they fight the same battle over and over again, just hoping for a different outcome? Well, yeah, and in the case of your soldiers, maybe something happened to them over there that they can't accept, maybe like getting blown up.

I'm not trying to be funny.

I mean, I know humor is the first casualty of war.

The quote is, "truth is the first casualty of war.

" You're right.

You're right.

Truth is the first casualty of war.

It's amazing.

It's like two heads, one brain.

You said the ghosts were angry at their sergeant, - your friend the hero.

Yes,very.

Ok.

Well, if truth is the first casualty of war, maybe something happened with the way that they died that made them follow that sergeant home.

Like the truth about how they died.

Or why they died.

Anyway, I'm sure whatever information you get will be a lot more informative than this investigation they have going.

What investigation? - I'm sorry.

I assumed that you knew.

"Why has the family of one of grandview's slain soldiers "petitioned the pentagon for an investigation into the incident? Stay tuned.

" - This is hector? - Yes.

He's the one next to matt--rocky.

And what are all these nicknames? Money is money because he never loses a game at poker, like, ever.

Lucky picked up that name because he only lost two fingers in a roadside bombing during his last rotation.

And hector? Why rocky? Because they used to kid him that he'd done more tours in iraq than there were "rocky" sequels, which was funny until-- you know.

I'm sorry if I came at a bad time.

It's all right.

I just have class at 4:00.

It's the only thing keeping me sane right now.

I don't want to keep you, but I just want to ask you-- do you know where-- melinda, this is richard, hector's father.

Oh, hi.

Hi.

Melinda is a friend of matt'S.

Oh.

Do you know where the county tax stuff for last year is? Above the file cabinet out back.

Thank you.

He came down from boston to stay with me and help out.

He's going through all the finances.

I was doing it, but I started finding all these notes that hector wrote to himself, you know, all the plans he had for us.

This must be so hard for you.

Not just for me.

I don't want you to think that I'm prying, but I did hear that one of the families has asked for an investigation.

Richard asked for it.

Do you know why? Like I said, it's not just me that's having a hard time.

Richard, he's angry.

He wants reasons.

Don't you? Reasons aren't gonna bring my husband back.

Do you think he would mind if I talked to him about why he's doing this? - Why? - I don't know just in case I can help in some way.

He's out back.

You don't really understand what's going on here, do you? Do you have something against matt? Yeah, just the death of my son, that's all.

I don't understand.

Did matt somehow-- look.

If you know this guy, you shouldn't be talking to me.

It's all gonna come out soon enough.

What's gonna come out? - You think you know murphy? - Yes, and so does my husband.

Come and take a look at the real sergeant murphy.

What is this? -Terrorist web site, a jihadi recruitment tool.

They post videos of american soldiers being killed.

Oh, that is awful.

I was a colonel in the gulf war.

I still have friends in the nsa.

Buddy of mine sent me this link.

Government doesn't want this to get out.

There, the one trying to stop sergeant murphy, that's my son.

What's going on? - Hard to say.

Sergeant murphy seems to be in some kind of argument with his men.

That's my boy who's keeping him from getting up.

Why? - Keep watching.

Sarge! Stop him! Stop him! Where's that crazy bastard going? He makes it to the humvee, and he doesn't even wait for his men.

He abandoned his men under fire, and he left my son to die.

Come on.

Stack on me.

Let's go.

Go, go, go.

I sat here and watched my son die a hundred times, and murphy gets a medal.

What are you planning to do with this? People who gave murphy his silver star don't want to see this.

Tomorrow I'm giving it to the press.

You will ruin matt's life.

He has his life! Couldn't there be an explanation of what happened on the video? - Such as? - Well, I don't knowbut, you know, maybe if you gave me some more time, I could figure out what really happened.

From who--the military,murphy? - Who's gonna tell the truth? - I am begging.

Please give matt some more time.

Maybe his memory will come back, and you're gonna lose nothing by waiting.

I'll hold off another day.

You should use that time to let murphy know what's coming down.

That'll jog his memory.

Matt.

Gina? Hey, man, you home? Matt.

Gina?Anybody home? Hey, buddy, I thought we'd play some ball.

Since you only got one good arm, maybe I stand a chance this time, huh? Matt.

Matt, where are you, man? - Matt - close the door.

Close the damn door.

Matt, the door is closed.

What a yreou doing? Matt lock the door.

Lock the door.

The doors are closed, ok? Take easy Lock the door.

Lock the door.

Come on.

Tell me what's wrong.

Matt, put the gun down.

Put the gun down.

It's ok.

Good.

I'm just gonna take it.

I'm gonna take the gun from you, that's all.

Easy.

Get away from my-- buddy, you're having a panic attack.

Take it easy.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Try and calm down.

Matt, nobody is gonna hurt you.

I lied! I lied! - Lied about what? When I got off the bus and told you it was like I was never away.

I feel like I never left iraq.

I can't come home, no matter how hard I try.

You are home now.

You have people who care about you,people who love you.

No one is gonna let anything happen to you.

Come on.

You're safe now.

I was so scared.

I've never been scared, not like this.

I keep seeing them, jim--my men.

It's like theyree he'R.

They know it should be me that's d d,eaand not them.

They're coming to get me.

guy is in trouble, mel.

I don't know how much more he can take, and if this is all because of those ghosts, you got to make them disappear, I mean, like, now.

You know it's not that simple.

Why not? Why does it have to be about what happened that night? Because the haunting is just a symptom, and you know that, too.

There's always something underneath it.

I wish there wasn't, but there is.

I know this guy through and through.

He saved my life on the job.

I mean, the man is a hero.

Ok, so what are you afraid of? Whatever we find out about matt, you're still his friend.

We're his friends, so we'll help him.

Well, how you gonna help him? I think matt is feeling the hauntings because he's so bonded to his men.

They get to a point where they can experience each other's feelings, even death, and every time that he tries to remember what happened, the ghosts come, just not clearly enough for me to reach them.

All right, so he has to remember better for them to pass through.

He has to remember everything, even if it triggers another attack.

I have to reach them in order to cross them over.

Ok.

Well, how do you make him remember? I have to show him something.

Come on.

Stack on me.

Let's go.

Go, go, go.

Do you remember any of it? At least now I know why I keep hearing myself saying, "let me go.

" No.

No.

There has to be some other explanation for this.

My guys are dead.

I mean, you saw what happened.

I ran.

I abandoned my men under fire.

I'm alive.

What other explanation could there be? Matt, hector's father is gonna go to the press with this tomorrow.

You need to remember more.

It should've been me.

Ow! Kill that son of a bitch.

Hector, I need to talk to you.

I can help you.

Rocky! Rocky! Your wife told me that's what everyone calls you.

Anna told me.

Anna? Yeah.

Matt wants you to know how sorry he is.

He wishes that he could take back what he did, but he can't change what happened, and neither can you.

You don't belong here.

You all need to cross over.

He said I'd know what to do.

Who? Who said that? Gonna kill that son of a bitch.

What are you looking for? - He said I'd know what to do.

No.

Wait.

All right.

Fall in.

Stack on me.

All right.

Go, go, go.

Moving.

Mommy is almost finished,ok, sweetie? Then it's me-and-you time.

Yeah.

Hector? - Daddy.

That sounded just like the way your daddy would bang through the door.

Used to drive me crazy.

Dada.

Oh, baby girl, I know.

I miss daddy, too.

When I get done with my homework, we'll got to the park and do what you want, ok, sweetie? Daddy.

Dada.

You stay here, sweetie.

Dad, is that you? Dad? Hi, anna.

I'm so sorry to bother you, but could I talk to you for a second? Sure.

Come in.

Everything ok? - Yeah.

Daddy.

Sari? Sari? Sari.

Daddy.

Baby.

Come on, sweetie.

Come here, baby.

Come here.

What are you looking for? We don't have much time.

He gave it to me.

He said I'd know what to do.

What is it? - It's an envelope.

What's in it? I never got to open it.

Go, go, go.

What the hell is going on? Who were you talking to? Ok.

Just please trust me that I will explain everything.

There's something I have to find.

What? I don't know exactly, but I needoko lo t at anything of hector's that was sent back from iraq.

Why? - Please.

I gave the box to hector's father.

I don't know where he put it.

Jim? - Gina called me 5 minutes ago.

She said matt is a mess.

I'm on my way over there right now.

Yeah.

I'll meet you.

Where's matt? - He left.

I tried to get him to talk to me, to tell me how he was feeling, - to tell me anything.

Gina, where'd he go? Do you know? I don't know.

He kept talking about that video.

He hated that you guys saw it.

He said that now you would know that he was a coward, too, and so would everybody else as soon as it was made public.

He's not a coward.

We know that, gina.

We're gonna find him.

He's gonna be ok.

I'm afraid that-- - what? After he left, I went to check for this gun.

It's gone.

I got him.

I need your help.

The video is going out.

I kept my word.

Now it's time.

It has nothing to do with the video.

I think your son may have been carrying something when he died that was given to him by matt.

So what? - I need to find out what it is because matt's life depends on it.

What the hell are you talking about? Show her, dad.

Let her look through my things.

Hector would want it.

Please trust me.

Since when do you speak for my son? Now, everything they sent me of his is locked up out back in storage room.

Anna is not ready to look through it.

You know, is anna home? Because maybe we-- anna took sari to the store.

She was a nervous wreck when I got home.

I want you to stay away from her.

Hey! Hey! Are you nuts? Do I have to call the cops? It's hot.

How is that possible? Please trust me when I say this.

I think your son wants you to find what matt gave to him.

This is all I have left of my son.

I said that anna wasn't ready to look through it.

It's really me who isn'T.

I keep thinking that if I don't open the box, it's like it's not really final.

I won't see the end of my son.

I am so sorry.

My jacket-- my right vest pocket.

Maybe you should check his jacket-- right vest pocket.

I wasn't afraid, dad.

I know I wasn'T.

Told me how to be tough, and I was.

You should know he wasn't afraid.

He was tough, just like you taught him to be.

I don't understand any of this.

"Until I get home!" Is this what you're looking for? What does this all mean? - Matt.

He needs us right now.

Where? Where the names are in the village square.

Can I keep this? yeah Come on.

You remember when you were a rookie.

You were as green as this grass here, but you plucked me off that fire escape without a second thought.

You saved me, and that wall came crashing down.

I remember, you didn't even blink.

I don't know who that guy was, but it wasn't me.

It wasn't the guy who let his patrol die in some bombed-out square in iraq.

You saw ityo .

U know.

I don't care what I saw or what I didn't see on that videotape.

I know who you are.

This whole town knows who you are.

Nice try, pal.

I appreciate it.

I really do.

This isn't about who I am.

It's about what I am.

Matt, what are you doing here? What do you want? You know what I want, jim? I want to know why I left my men behind.

I want to know why I can't remember what I did and why I keep doing this.

Most of all, I want to know why they're dead and I'm not.

Matt, I went to hector's house.

We found this.

You gave it to him right before you got in the humvee.

What does it mean? You know,these reeds grow everywhere in the south of baghdad.

One day, I was just playing with them, and I made this.

That's a ring? - An engagement ring.

It was supposed to be a placeholder till I could get her a real one.

Why'd you give it to hector? Because he thought he was one a one-way trip in the humvee.

You thought you weren't coming home.

That day that you got in the humvee, you weren't running scared, were you? You were on a suicide mission for your men.

How'd you know that? Hector, your men, they're here with you, with us right now.

Rocky? Why? Because we don't leave a man behind, especially when he never left us.

They said you never left them.

What happened? We got separated from our convoy, pinned down in that square.

He radioed for air cover.

There just wasn't enough time.

get down!get down! - Where's the fire coming from? - Storefront across the street, sarge.

We got another one,11 o'clock.

Rocky, the gun nest behind that wall-- Can't move.

What are we gonna do? What are you doing, man? - You'll know what to do.

What? Sarge.

Matt,get down, man.

Stop it! - Let me go! Someone stop him! Kept trying to pull you back.

You just kept saying,"let me go.

" I remember.

I couldn't take the time to explain it because if I did-- we wouldn't have let you go.

Stop murphy!What's that crazy bastard doing? - Matt! I knew they were confused.

All I could do was say a prayer that I'd make it to the humvee without getting killed.

Sarge! He drove straight into enemy fire.

He was sacrificing himself to save us.

Two jihadis left.

I got the first one.

Then my gun just jammed.

That's why you keep breaking it down and putting it back together again.

Yousre ju't trying to unjam it.

Fall in.

Stack on me.

Let's go.

Let's get sarge.

Go, go, go.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, that was it.

My ticket was about to be punched by the last gunman.

And then hector took out the last shooter.

You know, we came to save him.

They were coming to rescue you.

NO! But they never made it.

Couldn't accept it.

It was like a part of my brain just shut down.

Should've left me.

It should've been 4 survivors and 1 casualty instead of the other way round.

He saved us.

There was no way we were leaving without him.

The rest of it?Nobody had any control over what happened next.

I would've done anything for them,anything.

I'd trade places with them in a heartbeat.

You tell matt that he's alive for a reason and that he shouldn't waste it feeling guilty about us.

Everything that happened was meant to happen.

Hector wants you to stop blaming yourself.

You did everything you could.

Everything happens for a reason.

Whoa, that's bright.

Is that a chopper? No.

No.

That's not a searchlight.

It's beautiful.

What does it mean? It means you're ready to go.

Tell anna I love her.

Tell her not to let my little girl forget about her dad.

I will.

Talk to my father.

Ask him if he thinks matt didn't try to save us, then why are there bullet holes in the front grill of our humvee? It's because matt was going towards the bullets, not away from them.

You tell him that I want him to watch out for matt now the way matt watched out for me.

He's the one that's gonna need help now.

What's happening? They did what they came here to do.

They said good-bye.

I've been looking everywhere for you.

Sorry.

Don't ever leave me again.

What part of "I love you" don't you get? - I'm with you.

I know.

This is all I can give you right now.

Now, we'll replace it when we-- don't you dare.