Chris flies home from his third deployment in civilian clothes, which confuses airport security. At the Atlanta layover, his unwashed combat boots clear him a path through the security line.

Taya describes her fear during Kyle’s dangerous extraction from Ramadi and the conflicting emotions of his return: relief mixed with anger and resentment over his repeated absences. Kyle seems emotionally numb and overwhelmed. Their infant daughter is hospitalized with serious infections but doctors eventually rule out leukemia and stabilize her. The baby cries whenever Chris holds her, which hurts him. His son remembers him, but parenting conflicts arise when Chris expects the two-year-old to maintain eye contact during discipline, leading to arguments with Taya about his authority after such long absences.

Kyle learns that Mike Monsoor from their sister platoon has died in Ramadi, deliberately covering a grenade to save two comrades, an act that earns him the posthumous Medal of Honor. Kyle helps arrange the wake and serves as a pallbearer. At the funeral, SEALs pound their Trident insignia into Monsoor’s coffin but Kyle places his Trident on nearby Marc Lee’s tombstone, paying the respects he had been unable to give earlier. Ryan Job, now permanently blind from his injuries, attends the funeral.