Act of Valor Page #2

- How much do I owe you?

- Nada.

Sh*t.

Our platoon

was headed downrange.

We had Weimy, our sniper.

He grew up in the middle

of the Mojave Desert.

Most excitement he found as a kid

was bowling frozen turkeys...

down the aisle at the grocery store.

Ray, our comms guy, our radioman,

he grew up in East LA gangland.

He had a Silver Star for pulling

a wounded teammate out of the fray.

Sonny, he was made of granite.

This guy didn't even do push-ups

'cause he was afraid his chest

was gonna get too big.

Ajayjoined the Teams

late in his 30s.

He'd been a Muay Thai fighter

early in life.

Before that, he grew up

dirt-poor in Trinidad.

Mikey had 20 years in the Teams.

But as humble as he was,

you'd never even know it.

He kept a picture

of his wife in his helmet...

and a lock of her hair

in his pocket.

Quiet as the breeze.

And finally, Senior Chief.

I couldn't really

tell you much about him...

...other than I'd rather

take a knife into a gunfight

than have to be interrogated by him.

That last night at home,

you think about how you could

have been a better dad,

a better husband.

That bedtime story you should have read

or that anniversary you forgot.

You don't expect your family

to understand what you're doing,

you just hope they'll accept it.

When you get home, you hope you

can pick up right where you left off.

What up?

- You putting the wild bunch down?

- Yeah, yeah.

Hey, Senior, you mind giving

us a couple minutes, man?

- Nah, you got 'em, Jefe.

- Thanks.

Hey, fellas, you know

I only got so many speeches...

in a given work-up or deployment,

but, uh...

it's like Chief and I said

right at the beginning of this platoon:

Once we step off on campaign, once this

bird's ready and we're downrange,

everything back home

needs to be in balance.

We're not gonna be worth a damn

to each other or ourselves

if we get over there

and something's out of whack.

I mean, if things

aren't right with the family,

things aren't right with the finances

or something's off,

it's gonna put us all outta balance,

so we need to have that tight

before we launch.

If somebody's got an issue,

bring it up.

Chief can take care of it, I can take care

of it. Everybody's got each other's back.

Let's make sure we lock that down

so when we're ready to roll,

all our focus is on the mission.

For all those

who have been downrange,

to us and those like us,

damn few.

- Cheers.

- Hear, hear.

I still like the name James.

I'll think about it,

if it's a boy.

Come here.

- I'm proud of you.

- Thanks, baby.

Hey, little one, you make sure

you keep Mama away from Aunt Carol.

I don't like that

chain-smoking at all.

I got it, Lieutenant.

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