Garrisoned

Garrisoned Synopsis Garrisoned is a hour comedy-drama taking place on fictional Army base Fort Murray in 2014. It centers on three soldiers, Private First Class Gauge, Sergeant ‘Shep’ Shepartski and their superior First Sergeant ‘Top’ Faraday. When returning to the states after a combat tour to Afghanistan, they find that Fort Murray is actually over capacity so Shep attempts to move into a house off-post but can’t afford the rent so, against fraternization policy he convinces Gauge to be his roommate. Meanwhile Top’s marital strife comes to a head when his wife refuses to let him come back and live with her. After exhausting all other efforts Top answers a online listing for a room for rent, only to find it was Shep’s. In the first episode we see how Shep, Gauge and Top all come to reside under the same roof. Taking place over roughly a year, it’s a comedy in that it deals with the over-the-top low stakes that the Army puts on living stateside but dramatically it deals with things like strain on relationships that come from trying to have a normal life when the military can dominate any portion of their lives at a moment’s notice. This culminates when Gauge is dealing with a break-up, Shep is trying to express genuine feelings for an already involved woman while facing a possibility that he may be medically discharge and Top having to decide if his marriage is something that he wants to reconcile, all of which happens on the eve of their next deployment. The cast of characters- Sergeant ‘Shep’ Shepartski: 29, male, proud cavalry soldier. Storied bachelor with some baggage. Sarcastic and clever, managing to always stay one step ahead of trouble. His motto in life is ‘No problems, just possibilities.’ On Paper, he’s a tanker, but to his soldiers, he’s a giver of sage, if borderline, inappropriate advice. Private First Class Jim Gauge: 24, male, put upon bottom rung grunt. Particular and set in his ways, he thrives on routine and not making waves. Has had the same car, same hobbies and same lifestyle since he was was civilian in college for music theory. Joined the army for a lifestyle change when his scholarship got revoked. First Sergeant ‘Top’ Faraday: 36, male, career soldier of 18 years. Big and hard as an anvil, leader of the enlisted men of Attacker Troop, 5th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Shep and Gauge’s boss’s boss. Happy to bring the hammer down on and sloppy soldiers at the drop of a hat. Lives for discipline. Went to Afghanistan to keep his men safe and came home to a pissed off wife and no house to live in. Lynn O’Shea: 25, female, Gauge’s long-term girlfriend. Affable, but impatient, she takes some small issue with Gauge being set in his ways, to say nothing of what she thinks about his proximity to Shep’s philandering. Sergeant First Class Cross: 34, platoon sergeant of 2nd platoon, Attacker Troop. Shep’s immediate superior. Frequently absent but hard nosed, provided he’s awake to keep Shep from doing his job for him. Specialists Grim and Kelso: Shep’s most reliable problem solvers. 20 and 21 respectively. Specialist Ashley ‘Doc’ Deladier: 22, Female. Medic. One of Shep’s amorous regulars (but that being against regs, means it gets interesting). Sergeant Major Locke: The most senior enlisted man of the 5th Cavalry Regiment. After several tours over seas, he wants his unit to run smooth and issue free now that it’s back to garrison. He’s tried and already mentally retired from the bullshit. He’ll bring hell on anyone who disturbs his now ‘showpiece’ regiment. The overarching plot follows the initial growing pains as three soldiers with wildly different levels of responsibility try not to get in other’s way. Shep’s boisterous lifestyle clashes with Gauge’s homebody attitude but things only get worse when Top’s duties as first sergeant threaten to put a damper on the whole house. Examples includes, Top routinely is up at 4AM and prefers lights out around 10PM, Shep of course doesn’t agree and that’s the first rub as Gauge likes things a little quieter but doesn’t want the complete lock-down the Top seems to insist on. Eventually reaching a compromise Top concedes that he was being a bit demanding after Shep intentionally takes a night off his nightlife raucousness to have a mellow movie night and grill on the back porch. A close call happens when Sergeant Cross announces he’ll be doing welfare checks on all the soldiers, Shep and Gauge scramble to set up the unoccupied barracks room that Gauge should have been sharing with another private to look like he’s been there all along and Top has to move quickly to hide himself when Cross inspects the house with Shep. Ultimately, the show looks at the lives of soldiers when they aren’t being the most soldierly and how they cope with the most stressful, least rewarding job, that of a combat soldier when not in combat. In the tradition of M*A*S*H* issues faced would include mental and emotional health, fitness pressures, sexual harassment, racial concerns, and suicide facing members of the modern military.