This piece is smoothly produced, evocative, and elliptical: a series of recorded conversations, over a musical soundtrack, involving young Sean and a couple of friends who are trying to decipher Sean's decision to join the Army.

Sean begins by telling of a day and night in which he got kicked out of junior college, got blind drunk at a party, got banged up in a fight, then wound up at dawn running in place and shouting 'militaristic' things. Two days later he signed the papers at the recruiting office. Next, under questioning from his friends, he explains that he's joining the military not because he supports the current war in Iraq (he doesn't) but because he wants to "get my life on track."

The piece then takes a turn. Asked if he fears dying in combat, Sean says matter-of-factly that he "sometimes kind of [hopes] that happens." He describes a suicide attempt with booze and pills. It's not clear when this attempt happened, and the story does not circle back to Sean's departure for the Army -- the premise of the piece. The implication seems to be that Sean has a death wish and that's behind his decision to go military. I suspect some listeners, accustomed to clearer signposts about the significance of what they're hearing, will wind up scratching their heads. It
would help to add a simple host back-announce saying that Sean began his military training in January, '06.

A refreshing piece that feels a bit like an indie movie rather than your
standard public radio piece. It leaves some work for the listener.