La fratrie Hill, composée de l'aîné Pete, du cadet Derrick et du benjamin Randy, est engagée à la base militaire de Fort McGee. Quand les plus forts sont envoyés en mission étrangère, les trois frères sont assignés au camp afin d'y faire maintenir l'ordre. Les Hill consacrent ce temps à resserrer leurs liens fraternels lors de péripéties qui mettent la base sens dessus-dessous.

Randy remet en question sa place au sein de l'armée après avoir pris connaissance des résultats de ses tests. Derrick lui vient en aide et tente de lui remonter le moral, afin qu'il puisse réussir le reste de ses examens...

Randy voudrait que Pete s'installe avec Derrick et lui, mais Pete n'en a pas envie et fait tout pour prendre le large. Pendant ce temps, Robinson et Park mettent le sergent Perez au défi de compartimenter plus sérieusement ses vies professionnelle et privée...

Cody rencontre le sergent Diggins afin de discuter du prochain match de football opposant les armées de terre et de mer. Tous deux en profitent pour faire leurs pronostics habituels, tandis que Derrick raconte à Randy que sa petite amie Erin est perturbée parce qu'elle ne peut pas amener son fils à Disney World...

Pete and his unit offer to do home improvements for an obnoxious father (Andrew Daly) and his reclusive son (Drew Justice) while their wife/mother is deployed. As the projects become more challenging and the father more irritating, Derrick fears Pete's legendary temper will surface, but Pete gets through it by using a technique he learned in Afghanistan called "embracing the suck." All goes well and the projects are finished, but Pete loses it when the father says Pete and his troops are "not real soldiers." In the end, Randy figures out a way for the father to connect with his son. Meanwhile, Jill thinks Cody is taking her out for coffee to talk about her request for enrollment in the Advanced Leader Course, but he just uses her to help spy on his teenage daughter.

An AFO show (similar to USO) comes to the base, and the show's coordinator turns out to be a girlfriend of Pete's that he never contacted again after being deployed, and still hasn't since he returned. Jill convinces Pete to be a man and apologize, but it backfires when the girl thanks Jill for getting them back together again. Derrick realizes his routine of saving Randy from his own embarrassment in front of girls at the bar is unnecessary. He leaves Randy on his own for a night and sees him do fine, while Derrick realizes he has "no game" of his own and spills his guts to bartender Erin. Meanwhile, Cody learns from the troops that his annual song at the AFO show could use some updating.

The town's annual parade is coming, and Cody asks Jill's troops to march in the parade while placing Pete's team on "doody duty" (clean-up detail). Derrick and the troops seem perfectly happy with this, as it means they only have to work a couple of hours and don't have to do marching practice in the hot sun. But when Pete challenges the gang and asks if they've ever aspired to something greater, they all remember how Derrick was their "dreamcrusher" when they first came to the base, and they turn on him.

Pete tries to get the troops excited about painting duty by suggesting they use his tricked-out golf cart, "Paint Cart 5000". But Pete's contraption is upstaged when his troops are introduced to "Mondo Spider", a robotic attack machine. The troops badly want to be part of the detail testing Mondo Spider, but its access is controlled by Lieutenant Schneeberger, whom Pete has crossed in the past. Meanwhile, Cody insists that Derrick use his photography skills to take a new portrait of him, causing Derrick to miss the Mondo Spider tests.

When a prank war between Pete and Jill's platoons reveals Pete's hidden weakness, Derrick and Randy must help their brother maintain the respect of the platoon. But Jill appears to have the upper hand in every prank. Meanwhile, desk-bound Cody has his hands full dealing with his new, young superior, 2nd LT Schneeberger, a recent West Point grad. When Cody becomes the victim of Pete's prank that was intended for Jill, he gets a chance to put his old soldier skills to work.

Anticipating a visit by a General, Cody pushes Pete to maintain insanely high standards among the Rear D. Meanwhile, Jill gains newfound respect for Randy after she is paired with him to prepare for the inspection.

Randy and Pete partake in Sgt. Major Cody's Army Ranger trials, reigniting their intense competition over everything. Things take a turn when Jill joins the trial and both brothers think they're in love with her. Meanwhile, Derrick feels emasculated by Erin's ex, and enlists the platoon to make him seem more capable of manly tasks than he really is

The Hill brothers celebrate Pete's one year anniversary of almost dying in Afghanistan, otherwise known as his "Alive Day." After the funding has been cut for the annual ball, which was going to honor Major Cody, Pete enlists the platoon to create their own ball to honor him.