An order is dispatched that he be found immediately and repatriated. It's like finding a needle in a stack of needles. Actually, it's worse than that. It makes no sense. The story evolves accidentally, without logic or reason.
Plans go awry.
Things happen that are not supposed to happen. The only semblance of solidarity is the men's feelings for each other, at times antagonistic and edgy. No-one seems to know who is where, or what is what, as communications break down and units scatter like partridges before the drive. Miller is a small town English teacher, not a natural hero, a thoughtful man in an ignorant situation, only just managing to hold himself and his men together. Hanks digs so deep into Miller's psyche that he appears not to act at all, only respond to fearful conditions as they abuse his sensibility, already numb from the shock of it, quietly stamping his authority on the rest of the cast.