Six months after the end of the war, the marines head home to America.
Tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: Most of the leads have survived, and most of them even find decent success, but the war leaves some decent emotional baggage. Leckie, oddly, seems to come out of it the best, perhaps because his home life was already similar to the army's.
- The Bus Came Back: John's widow Lena comes back to meet up with his family.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Applying for college makes Sledge realize he didn't really learn much except how to fire mortars and kill Japanese. Defied by Leckie, who uses his army experience to write several books.
- Good Parents: Sledge has pretty good parents, especially his dad, who understands what kind of trauma Sledge is probably suffering and doesn't shame him for how he feels.
- Parental Neglect: Of a kind. Leckie's parents have trouble showing affection. As mentioned in the Australia episode, he's one of many siblings and had an older brother who died. They seem to have retreated into acting uncaring out of emotional scarcity.
- Pet the Dog: Leckie's parents are pretty distant, but his mom hints that wearing his dress blues might help his chances with Vera, which it most certainly does.
- Refuge in Audacity: Leckie's MO. He gets his date with his dream girl by going to her house in his dress blues, then embarrassing her date into canceling.
- He then gets his old job back with a raise with a mix of confidence and know-how.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: As his dad feared, Sledge is a traumatized veteran now, and has nightmares he can't handle.
- This is arguably the series' point. Even when war is necessary, it leaves terribly bothersome psychological burdens.
- The opening interviews have Leckie's real-life wife and daughter saying that he would wake up screaming for decades afterwards."He had a very strong will, so he tried to overcome what was bothering him. But, uh, it lasted his entire life."
- Trauma Button: Sledge goes dove-hunting with his dad, but despite steeling himself as best as he could, finds holding his gun to feel way too familiar in the wrong way. He has a small breakdown because of this, but his dad doesn't shame him for it.
