Sunrise Over Fallujah

Birdy learns that the plan of action for his squad and the other Civil Affairs squads is as follows: the Marines will go into foreign territory first to fend off resistance, followed by the Third Infantry Division. At times, the Third Infantry will move first, followed by the marines. The Third Infantry is responsible for securing the Lines of Communication. To do so, all the positions the infantry establishes will need to have a Forward Operating Base. These bases will ensure that the lines of communication along the routes can be intact and protected. Birdy realizes that that the three women they met earlier from the 507thwere doing exactly this, providing supplies for these Forward Operating Bases.

When the soldiers wake up the next morning, they witness a beautiful sunrise. With the sunrise, however, comes a terrible sandstorm that lasts for two days. The sandstorm lowers the morale of the soldiers as it damages equipment and renders them helpless. After spending hours cleaning their gear and themselves, the soldiers head north and hear about the first confirmed casualties. As it turns out, the 507th had been hit hard near An Nasiriyah, which was supposed to be a safe and contained area. There are a number of deaths reported and soldiers have been captured. Birdy realizes that the captured soldiers could quite possibly include the three women they had spoken to earlier at the fueling station.

Due to the incident with the 507th, Birdy’s unit is told to stand down and that they might be heading back to Kuwait. The Lines of Communication are being rechecked to see what is safe and what is isn’t. While awaiting orders, Birdy and others see the POWs from the 507thon television and recognize one of them. The POWs are scared and shaking, and Birdy hopes they aren’t killed. Captain Coles enters and announces that the unit will be heading to An Nasiriyah. They have been assigned to gather information on the POWs’ location.

As Birdy’s squad nears the city, they hear the sound of fighting. Marla spots air support and Birdy feels the rumble of the jets as they fly low overhead. Birdy is scared, though he tries to look calm. The soldiers ride into town and are told to start checking every house for information. They’re also told to be careful as a few soldiers were fired upon earlier from a rocket launcher. In one of the houses they’re searching, a soldier finds a tube from an RPG launcher. Marla and the soldier smell the tube and can tell it’s recently been fired. A young man, about Birdy’s age, is suspected, though the family maintains that the tube belongs to an uncle who is away and that the tube was from the war with Iran.

Getting nowhere with the pleading family, the boy is taken outside and as the soldiers are explaining what happened, a shot rings out. A gunner spots the sniper and shoots him when the Iraqi boy jumps up and tries to run away. The gunner then shoots the kid, which Birdy witnesses. Though he doesn’t want to see the boy’s body, he walks up to it with the others. Birdy says that “it was a horror movie badly out of focus, with only the images in my head crystal clear” (57).

Birdy wonders at the apparent indifference of the children in the city, especially with so much death. The soldiers begin handing out candy to the kids after the incident, as well as treating the wounds of the villagers. A soldier tries to comfort Birdy. “You get used to the killing…it don’t help much at night when you’re trying to sleep, but you get used to it” (59).

Birdy writes a letter to his Uncle Richie where he confesses that he’s wrestling what happened with the dead Iraqi boy. He wants to think of the kid as the enemy, but the easiest thing is just to remove the situation from his mind. He imagines that this feeling of not being able to talk about what he has witnessed is similar to his uncle’s experience in dealing with Vietnam.

As the squads begin to leave, they again wonder who the bad guys are supposed to be. It’s just not clear who they’re fighting. Captain Coles informs the squads that they’re changing direction and going to An Najaf to help the 204th Medical. Captain Coles seems jumpy, and the squads realize they’re heading into a hot zone. Arriving at the city, Birdy and the others find that there is still heavy fighting going on. Captain Coles confirms that the squads will stay put for the time being. As the night progresses and the fighting hasn’t let up, the squads learn that, though less than half a mile from the city, they’ll have to sleep there overnight.

In the morning, Captain Coles finally gives the order to move out. Sporadic gunfire can still be heard in the city. Entering the city, Marla spots a contact on their left, a green car barreling towards them. They open fire on the car until it stops and civilians emerge. While this is happening, Sergeant Harris spots a contact on their right. Suddenly, a rocket launcher explodes and a rocket falls short of them, sending up smoke and flames. Birdy’s Humvee gets hit by gunfire as well and he starts shooting at shifting shadows. An injured Iraqi in the street tries to open fire on them again but is killed by Harris.

They finally reach the café where the makeshift hospital is stationed. The squads assist with the wounded civilians as much as possible. After breakfast with Jonesy, Birdy talks about the constant terror that’s beginning to overtake him. It’s not just the thought of not wanting to die, it’s the constant barrage of noise and death. After feeling sick and going to the bathroom, Birdy finds out from Jonesy that Captain Coles was chewed out because he tried to refuse to escort prisoners to PSYOPs. Birdy sees more dead Iraqis and wonders how his parents would react to his own death. After dropping off the prisoners to PSYOPs, the squads are tasked to look for weapons of mass destruction near a mining area. On the way, the soldiers continue talking about how hard it is to know who is supposed to be an ally, friend, or foe when the army is moving so fast through the villages. Captain Coles remarks that the chain of command is getting weak.

On their way to meet up with a company form the Third Infantry, Birdy’s Humvee gets stuck in what appears to be mud. Though the situation is intense as it could be a trap, a group of Iraqis help them out and Birdy’s squad feels embarrassed about needing help. They finally make it to their destination, where they’re made fun of for smelling so badly. As the smell is so bad, they decide to stay at the site for the night and shower. Birdy reflects on the fact that no weapons of mass destruction were found at the site.

Birdy writes two more letters, one to let everyone know that he’s doing well in the army and the other to let his uncle know that they have made it to Baghdad and that the war is over. It all feels so surreal for the soldiers, and there are rumors that people can start going home in as little as two weeks.