Summary

When Nathan arrives in 2008, the 82nd Airborne is building greenhouses near Tikrit. He’s apprehensive about the danger. He isn’t pro-war but he does believe in government service and his career will be helped by his service in Iraq. He is leading his team in Iraq but doesn’t have much experience in reconstruction. He feels he’s a fraud and a war tourist.

At the office Bob introduces Nathan to Cindy, a frail woman in her fifties. She is working on an agricultural project and a health clinic. He’s told he can take Steve’s desk. When Steve got off the helicopter at Taji, he had to run through machine gun fire and was badly injured. Nathan thinks to himself that this is a war zone and anyone can get hurt.

Bob tells Nathan that if he...