Garett served as a scout and sniper in Baquba. Before his deployment, his unit spent much time on the Geneva Conventions and Law of War; so, he was surprised when he arrived and noticed many of the rules put forth in the Geneva Conventions being ignored. On his first trip off the base, he witnessed men fire upon personnel who were outside past curfew. The men did not have any weapons, and they were mowed down by .50 caliber machine gunfire and MK19 automatic grenade launchers, both of which are forbidden for use on personnel in the Geneva conventions.

Garett never received another ROE briefing during his time in Iraq; for him, rules were a distant memory and all that existed were boundaries that could constantly be pushed to the limits.

Garett rolled outside the gate on a personal security detail one day with a squad made up of men who were untested: cooks; admin; troublemakers; castoffs. In a mass of confusion at a traffic circle, everyone found themselves firing at something, with little regard for ROE or cause. When the dust had settled, they found out they had killed the deputy governor's security team. This is not an isolated incident, and I can understand how this could happen.

The men Garett served with were honorable men; they were not monsters and they were not cruel. The war itself is monstrous and cruel.