The experience of the combat soldier and the road back to civilian life are recurrent themes in American literature and cinema. Whether the treatment is tragic (Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage", Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried", or Tony Scott's "Blackhawk Down"), satirical (Joseph Heller's "Catch Twenty-Two" and Robert Altman's "MASH"), or even superficial (Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo I", "II", "III", and "IV"), these works all owe a debt to Homer, the first artist in the Western tradition to write about the psychological effects of war. Despite differences in setting, conflict, and social milieu, all of the protagonists in these prototypical American works are mimetic descendants of Achilles, Odysseus, Hector, Ajax, Agamemnon, and the other heroes of the Trojan War. This essay discusses how firsthand accounts of American soldiers can help literature students appreciate how the combat trauma and homecoming experiences of today's soldiers parallel the stories of Homeric heroes.