Megan Leavey est un ancien caporal du corps des marines américain qui a servi en tant que maître-chien de la police militaire. Elle a été jumelée avec un chien de travail militaire Rex (E168). La binôme a servi deux déploiements en Irak, à Falloujah en 2005, puis à Ramadi en 2006, où ils ont tous deux été blessés par un engin explosif improvisé. Leavey a reçu le Purple Heart et la Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal avec un insigne "V" désignant l'héroïsme au combat.
Since his early adolescence, Zachary "Zack" Mayo (Richard Gere) has been living in the Philippines with his alcoholic and promiscuous father, U.S. Navy chief boatswain's mate Byron Mayo (Robert Loggia), following the suicide of his mother (who is never named in the story). Now, having recently returned to the United States and just graduated from college, Zack notifies his father that he has decided to sign up for the Navy's Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) in order to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a Navy pilot and flying jets. Despite Byron's objections, Zack leaves for AOCS, hoping that the choice will greatly improve his life.
During World War II, Hannibal Lee (Laurence Fishburne), traveling by train to Tuskegee, Alabama, is joined by other African American men from different backgrounds. At the start of their training, they are met by 2nd Lt. Glenn (Courtney B. Vance), who had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and was credited with three kills. During training, Lewis Johns (Mekhi Phifer), and his instructor are killed when they fail to recover from a stall. Walter Peoples III (Allen Payne), who already has a pilot's license, performs an unauthorized aerobatic maneuver in order to impress Hannibal, but this results in him being removed from the training program. To avoid going home in disgrace, he commits suicide by deliberately crashing an aircraft.
At an inaugural ball, US Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell meets a woman, Susan Atwell, and they begin an affair, although she is involved with another man. Later, Farrell begins to work at the Pentagon for the US Secretary of Defense, David Brice.
As three US servicemen - Marine Private First Class Ira Hayes, Private First Class Rene Gagnon, and Navy Corpsman John "Doc" Bradley - are feted as heroes in a war bond drive, they reflect on their experiences via flashback.
Captain Yossarian (Alan Arkin), a U.S. Army Air Force B-25 bombardier, is stationed on the Mediterranean base on Pianosa during World War II. Along with his squadron members, Yossarian is committed to flying dangerous missions, and after watching friends die, he seeks a means of escape.
Seaman "Bake" Baker (Fred Astaire) and Sherry (Ginger Rogers) are former dance partners, now separated, with Baker in the Navy and Sherry working as a dance hostess in a San Francisco ballroom, Paradise.
During 1964, in the months following World War III, the conflict has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout, killing all life there. Air currents are slowly carrying the fallout south; the only areas still habitable are in the far reaches of the southern hemisphere.
In April 1953, during the Korean War, a company of American infantry, led by Lieutenant Joe Clemons (Gregory Peck) are to recapture Pork Chop Hill from a larger Communist Chinese army force; they recapture the hill, but are depleted, only 25 of a 135-man unit are left. They prepare for a large-scale Chinese counter-attack which they know will overwhelm and kill them in vicious fire fights and hand-to-hand fighting while the Panmunjeom cease-fire negotiations continue.
The plot of the film revolves around the life of seamen on board an anonymous aircraft carrier. Because of war time restrictions, the name of the aircraft carrier was disguised as "the Fighting Lady", although she was later identified as USS Yorktown. A few shots of aircraft landing were filmed aboard the Yorktown's sister ship USS Ticonderoga.
A massive metal ring with engraved cover stones is discovered in the sands of Giza, Egypt in 1928, by an archaeologist named Langford and his young daughter, Catherine. Many years later, the elderly Catherine Langford offers Egyptologist and linguist Daniel Jackson the chance to translate the Egyptian hieroglyphs on the cover stones. Jackson accepts and travels to a US Air Force installation where he examines the stones. Special Operations Colonel Jack O'Neil arrives to take command of the project and he declares it "classified" before Jackson can begin his research.
On July 2, a 500 km wide alien mothership enters Earth's orbit and deploys several dozen saucer-shaped "destroyer" spacecraft, each 15 miles (24 km) wide. As they take position over some of Earth's major cities, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), an MIT graduate working for a cable company in New York City, discovers hidden transmissions in Earth's satellites which he realizes is a timer counting down to a coordinated attack by the aliens. With the support of his estranged wife Constance Spano (Margaret Colin), the White House Communications Director, he and his father Julius (Judd Hirsch) gain entrance into the Oval Office to notify President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) about the attack. Whitmore orders large-scale evacuations of the targeted cities, but the aliens attack with advanced directed-energy weapons before these can be carried out. Whitmore, portions of his staff, and the Levinsons narrowly escape aboard Air Force One as Washington, D.C. is destroyed.
Joe Brady and Clarence Doolittle are Navy sailors who have a four-day leave in Hollywood. Joe has his heart set on spending time with his girl, the unseen Lola. Clarence, the shy choir boy turned sailor, asks Joe to teach him how to get girls. Donald, a little boy who wants to join the navy, is found wandering around the boulevard by a cop, who takes him to the police station. Clarence and Joe end up being picked up by the cops to help convince Donald to go home. After the two sailors wait at home and entertain Donald, Donald's Aunt Susie arrives. Clarence is smitten with her from the beginning. Susan goes on to tell them that she has been trying to find work in music, and longs to perform with José Iturbi. Trying to make Susan impressed with Clarence, Joe tells her that Clarence is a personal friend of Iturbi, and that he has arranged an audition for Susan with him. That night, they go out to a cafe, where Clarence meets a girl from Brooklyn, and they hit it off. The next day, Joe visits Donald's school, and tells the kids the story of how he got his medal, and how he brought happiness to a lonesome king (played by Jerry Mouse of Tom and Jerry), and joy to the forest animals of the kingdom.