In 2008, filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow directed a film called “Hurt Locker” about a hotshot soldier who went above and beyond his bomb disposal duties while deployed to Iraq.
His passion for the job kept him in harm’s way as he defused hundreds of homemade explosives.
Although many veterans didn’t particularly enjoy the film (for technical reasons), many may have wondered what happened to the rogue EOD tech and the troops that once covered his six.
Well, we used our fictional WATM private investigators to look for the troops’ silver screen whereabouts, and here’s what they found.
Related: This is what the pilots from ‘Top Gun’ are doing today
FYI: Don’t take this literally.
Sgt. Matt Thompson
Do remember that hotshot EOD tech who got blown up within the first 10 minutes of the story? Yeah, that was this guy. Well, turns out Thompson faked his death, and he was only using the Army to learn how to make and dispose of homemade bombs.
The government got wind of this intel, framed him, then wrongly convicted him on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S.
They changed Thompson’s name to Snow — apparently no first name. After serving a few years in the federal penitentiary, the president’s hot daughter visited what was reportedly the most secured prison in history — located in space. Several violent inmates took her prisoner and the president recruited Snow to go in and rescue her.
No one saw that coming.
After saving the president’s daughter, the government was now indebted to Snow and gave him a shit ton of money to start up a research lab.
The Army vet managed to formulate some good stuff, turning other veterans — and himself — into super humans that glow a bright reddish color.
Sgt. JT Sanborn
Soon after returning from Iraq, Sanborn was given a battlefield commission for having to put up with so much crap from the EOD techs. It didn’t take long for this motivated soldier to move up the ranks. In fact, he made it to the rank of major within the same year.
That’s never happened before.
He was so badass the Army offered him a position in the security field working with a computer system called “Eagle Eye” that can track anybody anywhere all the freakin’ time.
After a few civilians spotted some significant flaws in the sophisticated computer system and caused havoc, Sanborn decided to get out of the Army.
But he didn’t want to stop serving the veteran community or fighting bad guys, so he became what every veteran is capable of becoming.
A superhero falcon named Falcon.
Spc. Owen Eldridge
Eldrige had a pretty rough deployment in Iraq the year of the Hurt Locker. After returning from home, he grew out his mustache and used a little of his GI Bill to become a commercial airline pilot.
Unfortunately, he was paired with an alcoholic pilot and was involved in a severe crash.
It took a while, but Eldrige made a full recovery. He was so impressed with the level of treatment he received, he moved to Chicago and used the rest of his GI Bill to pursue a career in law enforcement, eventually becoming a cop.
Also Read: 62 glaring technical errors in ‘The Hurt Locker’
Staff Sgt. William James
If you don’t remember this guy, you probably didn’t watch his story. After returning from another dangerous deployment, James made a few career changes because he didn’t know want he wanted in life.
He went from being a bank robber to a spy, to even becoming a diabetic a witch hunter.
Yes, you could say James was lost for a long time after getting out of the Army.
The experiences of serving in all those different fields gained him a talent that would drive him into his next profession — an archery master superhero with excellent vision.
