The novel begins with the line, “The war tried to kill us in the spring,” and continues to describe the war in abstract terms, moving into summer and describing the landscape’s change from green to brown. The narrator, whom we will find out later is named John Bartle, often “Bart” for short,speculates on fate, in regard to both the soldiers and the war itself, discussing how they didn’t want to be the thousandth soldier to die in the war and saying, “The fact is, we were not destined at all. The war would take what it could get” (4). The narrative then shifts into a more specific timeline, moving into September. Bart says, “everything that will ever matter in my life began” (4).

Bart and the rest of his platoon have taken up a position on a rooftop just outside of a town in northern Iraq called Al Tafar, and dawn is spreading on (perhaps) a Sunday morning. Here we are introduced to other main characters, most notably Bart’s bunkmate, Daniel Murphy (“Murph”), and Sergeant Sterling. In the near-dawn, they are waiting, smoking or chewing tobacco, until the Lieutenant calls “On your toes, guys!” in answer to which Bart says to Murph, “Here we go again,” and Murph replies, “Same old shit again” (7).