Daniel Fanning joined the military after 9/11 with a sense of patriotism and service. In 2005, a general in Iraq said that the reserve and national guard forces were being depleted; it was controversial at the time, but it is now more true than ever.

The deaths that occur after a unit returns home are never reported on the evening news as Iraq war casualties, but they are preventable Iraq war casualties just like the ones that are occurring in Iraq. It took a soldier questioning Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about the armor the men and women in Iraq did NOT have for anything to be done. The lack of effective night vision goggles made night missions practically impossible. He received all kinds of training on things he would never use, but he never received culture and language classes.

Time after time after time, Fanning's morale and the morale of his unit was lowered by insults, slights, bans on returning fire, and petty pep talks. The third country national truck drivers that Fanning's transportation unit escorted were treated like second class citizens, according to Fanning (something that I saw on my base with third country national service industry workers).

Fanning makes it clear that he served honorably with other very honorable soldiers. The breakdown of the military includes those who got out of the military because of a matter of conscience.