The anti-war and anti-violence sentiments in the script, updated by Hainsworth with references to "shock and awe" and "don't ask, don't tell," are handled with offhanded aplomb that keep them from feeling like cheap sloganeering. When asked by Polly "What did you used to do — back in the world?" Engle's forlorn Wazzer replies quietly "I used to be beaten." Tonker notes acidly of the powers-that-be "It's their country. It only becomes ours when somebody has to die for it." And yet — they are willing to die for it, for reasons as complex as any offered by male recruits for centuries.