Part 3, Chapter 5 Summary

When Franks is promoted to General, he discovers that enlisted men expect a lot out of him, and that his rank creates a distance between himself and his troops. Franks knows he does not know all the answers, but that being a General is not about knowing things, rather deciding them. Nevertheless, his men expect him to know everything.

Christmas 1990 is grim in Saudi Arabia because the Americans know they would soon be in combat. They sing some carols and show each other pictures of home. Franks realizes that the Army is a second home to many of these men, especially after one tells him this was the best Christmas of his life.

One of the greatest anxieties of this war held by the Americans in Iraq is the expectation that Saddam Hussein will use weapons of mass destruction on American...