Overview: What is it really like to go to war? For millennia, only warriors could really answer that question. Now, a new PBS documentary takes us inside the experience of battle and reveals the soldier's experiences as never before.

DVD Verdict: War is the ultimate paradox. Filled with terror, pain, and grief, it also brings exhilaration, and a profound sense of purpose.

'Going to War' helps us, in just 60 minutes, make sense of this paradox and get to the heart of what it's like to be a soldier in times of war. The film illuminates the experiences of training, battle, and coming home for soldiers across conflicts, revealing the universals of the warrior's journey.

Leading our exploration are Sebastian Junger, bestselling author and director of the Academy Award-nominated film Restrepo, and Karl Marlantes, decorated Marine officer and author of the bestselling novel Matterhorn and the fearless memoir What It is Like to Go to War.

Both men bring firsthand experience, hard-won wisdom, and an abiding commitment to telling the warrior's story with insight and unflinching candor.

Basically put, 'Going To War' is a documentary about how today's veterans are taught from their very first day of basic to the call of war. Inclusive of the love they have for one another, which is sometimes greater than even one of their own family, this film is, quite literally, eye-opening.

It proceeds on through to the day that they have done things that they never thought they were capable of, including becoming heroic to the very best, and yet also, at the same time most times, to their very worst.

Then they come home and, as we know, they somehow don't feel the same level of love that we had for the people who were next to them - or their family, that waited patiently for them. Or those beautiful people who never made it home. 'Going To War' is a devastating, and yet engrossing look into the life of a soldier and how it changes these men and women in all kinds of different ways. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.