Cultural Warriors investigates a controversial effort to transform the American way of war. Building on hi-tech, low-casualty wars in Panama, Bosnia, and Kosovo, the U.S. staged a revolution in warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq. But after winning the battle for both countries, the U.S. began to lose the war against militia, insurgents and jihadists. In response, the military launched several new programs to enlist anthropologists, political scientists, historians, and other academics in the war effort. As part of a new counterinsurgency strategy, the goal was to create culturally aware soldiers and Marines who would be as effective in making peace as they were in waging war. But the program quickly came under attack. Enlisting the best and the brightest to win over the hearts and minds of enemies produced a new civil war, within the military as well as the universities. The high cost of one such program, ‘Human Terrain System’, struck home when a consultant for the film, Michael Bhatia became its first casualty. His life as a scholar, conflict resolution activist, and member of a Human Terrain Team in Afghanistan is featured in the documentary.

Cultural Warriors seeks out all sides of the controversy, and reveals the story behind the story that gradually emerged in The New York Times, BBC, Reuters UK, CBS News, The Economist, GOOD Magazine, Wired, Elle, and Slate.com. Embedding with Marines in the Mojave Desert as they engage in cultural sensitivity exercises in mock Iraqi towns, and gaining rare access to urban warfare training at Quantico, Virginia, filmmakers James Der Derian, David Udris and Michael Udris provide the whole picture as the effort to transform the military begins to ripple through the armed services, universities and American public. Cultural Warrior is a road-trip into the heart of the controversy, an investigation of the effort to transform the U.S. military for counterinsurgency operations, and a moving tribute to the soldiers, Marines, and civilians who were tasked to make the transformation work.