The book opens with a squad of soldiers manning a tactical checkpoint just outside a village called Yusufiyah. They were approached when a man, Abu Muhammad, found his cousin's family brutally murdered not far away. Sgt. Tony Yribe and 3 others went to investigate. Although it was a terrible scene, Sgt. Yribe had simply assumed that it was like most other situations in Iraq in that the family was being victimized by Iraqis attacking other Iraqis. The only thing that bothered him was that there was a shotgun shell and Iraqis don't normally use shotguns. From there, we go back to before deployment. This dates back to the arrival of Colonel Todd Ebel as head of the 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. He was tasked with taking control of a particularly difficult region of Iraq. To do this, he sent the 502nd, or as they were called, the Black Hearts. They were identified by the black spot that each of them wore on the side of their helmet. The initial task was to replace the guard unit that was currently in the area of ​​operations and continue the mission from there, which would prove very difficult. He divided his work by entrusting Lieutenant Colonel Tom Kunk with the most urban area east of the “triangle of death”. LTC Kunk is described as a simple and engaging leader. He was harsh and didn't get along very well with his subordinate leaders, constantly putting them down and hurting them. The area that LTC Kunk was taking over had been in decline for some time. Since the fall of Saddam, the situation for civilians in the region has only worsened. Relations between Sunnis and Shiites became even more tense and crime increased. Insurgent groups such as ...... middle of paper ...... also began to slide. With the respect men had for him, he could have easily corrected the situation in the beginning. Sgt. Yribe failed to fulfill his duty as a junior NCO when things began to fail, and the situation only got worse. This is what leads to drinking, drug use, and disregard for Army operational standards and procedures. It reached a point where the soldiers were beyond the point of interest. With nothing holding them back, the soldiers fell into a state of apathy that allowed them to rape a young girl and murder her and her family. Sgt. Yribe was then informed that his own soldier was responsible for the crime and that he did not have the personal courage to do what should have been done as soon as he received the information. His lack of duty and personal courage directly contributed to the rape and murder of an innocent Iraqi family..