Sunrise Over Fallujah

Sergeant Harris and Jonesy get into a fight that dampens the unit’s spirits. Jonesy reminds Harris that they need to work together, that the only way they’ll all make it out of the war is to work as a team. Captain Coles notices that something is wrong with the soldiers, but can’t figure it out. He informs the squads that they will be escorting Intelligence officers to a location in the Rusafa district based off of a tip the army has received from a local.

The army has set up an information booth in Baghdad, which has been nicknamed the confession box. Civilians can give information to a soldier and get paid if the information is useful. Most of the information is bogus, but there are a few bits of information that prove useful. Captain Coles and his soldiers are to assist the Intelligence personnel in following up on one of these leads. They are to investigate a factory that supposedly produces IEDs, or at least the parts that are used to make the makeshift weapons. Birdy’s unit is informed that this mission is vital—they’re told by the Special Ops members they will be escorting that though the hot war is over, many Americans are being killed every day by these makeshift weapons. The army needs to get a handle on how these weapons are becoming more sophisticated and where they’re being produced. As many commanders still don’t care much for the Civil Affairs unit, this is another a way to show their usefulness.

Birdy and the others head out and make it to their destination for a pre-dawn surprise attack. The infantry accompanying the Civil Affairs unit breaks into the building, rushes in, and causes havoc. Birdy mentions that he’s more afraid of the soldiers than anything else. The soldiers comb the entire building but find nothing. As Lieutenant Davis is apologizing to the Iraqis that have been detained for all of the damage done, Marla, who had been searching the women, goes into the kitchen and finds wires and detonators hidden in flour. The lieutenant is outraged that they almost left and never found the devices. Birdy is shocked as well, and tells Marla how all the Special Ops guys combed the place and found nothing. She was the only one who found something. Birdy, however, is surprised for another reason. He felt sorry for the women and men being detained, and identified with their embarrassment as he’d been detained and searched by police back home in Harlem. Now, however, he realizes that these people he had just been feeling sorry for would just as easily have killed him if given the chance. He’s also shocked at how Marla found the detonators so coolly, logically. Birdy feels that he has no special skills to lend. Unlike his squad members, he has nothing going for him that might make the difference in staying alive through such a murky war.

The fact that Major Sessions has been passed over for a promotion has the soldiers talking about the politics behind promotions in the army and how safe the higher-ups are in comparison to the foot soldiers. Major Sessions attends one of the unit’s meetings and informs the squads that their newest mission is to help find the missing son of a Sunni imam. The boy is from a particular tribe that the army is trying to gain influence with. Major Sessions reminds them all about the humanity they are tasked to show to the Iraqis at all times. This mission is an example of their role in the army. Major Sessions also announces that she will accompany the squads as they travel to various morgues, hospitals, and prisons in Baghdad searching for the missing boy.

At the first stop, though Major Sessions flexes her weight around with the hospital staff, when the squads are taken down into the morgue, Major Sessions throws up from the stench and is eventually dropped off back in the Green Zone. The rest of the squads carry on looking for the missing boy, though the mission seems futile. They avoid visiting any other morgues, as there’s no way of identifying the boy’s body. They have nothing to go on but the boy’s name, and they can’t mention his last name as there may be people willing to harm him due to his tribal affiliation. Foregoing the morgues, the group heads to a prison instead, where they find a few prisoners who match the age of the missing boy. After Jamil talks with the boys, they find the young man they’re looking for, Muhammad Latif Al-Sadah. By the time Captain Coles gets him released from custody and back to the base, a press conference has been set up by Major Sessions, angering the squads. Marla is chosen to be interviewed and speaks about her feelings in finding the child and helping reunite a family. Muhammad is reunited with his mother the next day. Though angered at the PR stunt, Birdy is happy to see how grateful the Iraqi villagers are that they have helped find Muhammad.

Birdy writes another letter to his Uncle Richie where he mentions that the suicide rate is climbing in the army as people are spooked by the IEDs and the war’s changing rules of engagement. It’s hard to know who to trust. And though he knows his mother is probably strapped for cash because his father is in and out of the hospital due to his high blood pressure, Birdy asks if she can send over dolls to him for the Iraqi girls.