1530 ZULU
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
Commander Sturgis Turner sits inside his private office in JAG Headquarters reading through some law books. The former submariner had been assigned to JAG Headquarters for the past four years now. As lawyer, he would review cases, and sometimes conduct JAG investigations or serve as judge advocates in courts-martial.
A woman with brown hair tied in a bun stands at the door. Her rank insignia on her left sleeve indicates that she is a petty officer first class. She looks into the commander's small office, whiose only decoration is a U.S. Navy recruitment poster with a submarine as its centerpiece.
"Commander, General Cresswell wishes to see you, sir," says Petty Officer First Class Jennifer Coates.
"On my way," replies Sturgis, putting down the folder he was looking at. He leaves his office and walks across the main office of JAG Headquarters, glancing at the Navy and Marine Corps lawyers performing their duties.
He enters a private office, much larger than his own. The floor is covered by a carpet. Diplomas hang from the back wall, and a television set adorns the left wall. The centerpiece of the office is a wooden desk. Sturgis is familiar with the office, as he had once served as head of JAG administration.
Two other people were in the room; both of them dressed in olive Marine dress uniforms. One of them is a Marine captain who had been assigned here back in May of this year. The other Marine, sitting behind the desk, is a Marine major general who had served as the Navy's Judge Advocate General since September of 2004.
The sailor and the Marine stand at attention as the general begins to speak.
"Last night, a team of Navy SEALs were trying to capture an insurgent leader in Iraq," says Major General Gordon M. Cresswell. "The mission was a failure, and the commander of the SEAL team has accused one of his men of disobeying orders. Turner, Bullrider, you will be going to Iraq and find out what happened. Your plane leaves tonight."
"Aye aye, sir," the two lawyers reply.
They both leave the general's office. Captain Carlos Bullrider approaches a Navy lieutenant walking across the room holding a file folder in his hand.
"Oh, hi Greg," says the Marine captain.
"What's up, Carlos?" asks Lieutenant Gregory Vukovic, a Navy lawyer assigned to JAG Headquarters.
"I can't come to poker tonight."
"What's wrong?" asks the lieutenant.
"I'm leaving for Iraq tonight."
"Oh," says Vukovic. "Well, uh, have a safe trip."
"Have fun in your poker game," replies Bullrider. "Good luck."
ooooooooooo
DAY 3
1242 ZULU
NAVY/MARINE CORPS BARRACKS
BAGHDAD, IRAQ
Sturgis sits down inside the car as it approaches a fortified compound in Baghdad, Iraq. An American flag flies proudly from a flagpole.
"Welcome, sir," says a Marine MP. The driver of the car drives through the gates and into the American base.
Sturgis and Bullrider walk out. The two JAG lawyers can clearly see the massive fortifications such as thick concrete walls and fortifeiud guard towers. The walls are not enough to withstand a howitzer bombardment; it is more than sufficient to repel IEDs (improvised explosive devices). Some of the buildings are made of brick, others are quonset huts. A Marine guides them to the building where the Navy SEAL team is billeted. It is a small, two-story building.
The two lawyers enter the room.
"May I help you, sirs?" asks a Navy petty officer third class.
"We're here to see Lieutenant Commander Rivers," says Sturgis. "We're from JAG."
"I was told to expect you, sirs. Right this way."
The two lawyers are led up a flight of stairs and into a hallway. They enter one of the doors.
Thety enter a small, cramped office with no decorations except for a Navy recruitment poster featuring the Navy SEALs. There is just a desk, a laptop computer, and some file cabinets.
Behind the desk sits a man wearing a khaki uniform. He is bald and has a moustache. The gold-leaf insignia indicates that he is a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy. Pinned to his left breast is a pin shaped like an eagle holding a trident in its claws.
"Lieutenant Commander Curtis Rivers," says the man.
"Commander Turner from JAG," says Sturgis. "And this is Captain Bullrider."
"A Marine," says Strugis.
"Yes, sir," replies the Marine captain. He looks at Rivers's ribbon. "Medal of Honor?"
"One of the few active-duty servicemen who get to wear the ribbon," says Rivers."Few get the opportunity. Few rise up to the challenge. Few survive."
"As I understand it, you claim that a subordinate had disobeyed orders, resulting in the failure of your mission, is that correct?" asks Sturgis.
"Yes, sir," replies Commander Rivers. "You have the security clearance?"
"Right here, Commander," says Sturgis.
Rivers looks at the two lawyers' security clearance. "Two days ago we were briefed on a mission," he says. "Iraqi intelligence learned that the terrorist Amad bin Atwa was operating from a compound near Basra. I led the main assault force, while Petty Officer First Class Christian Shaw led the second team. Shaw and his team were supposed to go in on my signal. They jumped the gun. we took the compound, but he wasn't there."
"Sir, what did Petty Officer Shaw say?' asks Bullrider.
"He claimed he got the signal," says the Navy SEAL officer. "But he has had a track record of doing this before, both here and in Afghanistan."
"Do you remember these incidents?"
"Yes, sir. During a mission two years ago in Afghanistan, he abandoned his position. We were lucky we succeeded; I had a little talk with Petty Officer Shaw."
"How would you describe Petty Officer Shaw?"
"He has this wild streak in him. He clearly isn't a team player, in my opinion."
"So why did you assign him as a fire team leader for this particular mission?" asks Sturgis.
"Aside from his low discipline, he's good," says Rivers. "Back in Afghanistan, he took out a sniper aiming for me. But I can't have him ignoring regulations and orders. One day, he will get someone in my team killed."
"And what did he say about it, sir?" asks Bullrider.
"He claims he heard the order to go in. I know I didn't give the order."
"Could he have just been mistaken?"
"Given his past record," says the SEAL commander. "He's just making an excuse."
ooooooooooooooooo
"So you say that you heard the order by radio, is that right Petty Officer Shaw?" asks Sturgis, sitting inside an office in the base.
"Yes, sir," says a young man with a shaved head, dressed in fatigues. "I heard the signal and we went in. We took the palce with no casualties, but bin Atwa wasn' there. The Iraqis are holding some of the captured insurgents."
"Commander Rivers says he never gasve the order to go in," says Captain Bullrider. "So if he didn't give the order, who did?"
"I am telling you what I heard," says Petty Officer Christian Shaw. "I heard the order and brought my squad in."
"Or you simply are making it up because you disobeyed orders."
"No, sir. I did not!"
"We spoke to your commander," says Bullrider. "You have a track record of doing things your own way. He chewed you out over what you did during a mission in Afghanistan."
"In combat sitautions, all you have is instinct," says the petty officer.
"And discipline doesn't matter?" asks the Marine captain. "Discipline is what keeps sailors and Marines alive. Discipline is what allows them to perform smoothly, instead of like some chaotic mob that would be slaughtered quickly."
"I heard the order over the radio and I went in," says Shaw. "That is all I'm gonna say, sir."
oooooooooooo
"Amad bin Atwa is implicated in the USS Cole bombing six years ago," says Rear Admiral David Pruit, standing with American and Iraqi officers in front of a wooden table inside a large room. "The Mossad found out that he was in Iraq leading insurgents."
"And he was tracked to Basra, right?" asks Sturgis.
"That is right," says an Iraqi officer, clad in his dress uniform. "After we verified his hideout, we made the decision to take him. Obviously he slipped away."
"Why take him alive instead of simply launching an airstrike?" asks Bullrider.
"We believe there might be some intelligence inside the hitdeout," says Admiral Pruit. "We're still analyzing."
"So what do you think of the accusation by Lieutenant Commander Rivers?" asks Sturgis.
"I'll need to find out what happened, with your help of course."
"Of course, sir," says Sturgis.
ooooooooooo
"We've been looking for bin Atwa since we identified him here," says an Iraqi sergeant as he walks just outside the headquarters building. "I helped plan the mission that your SEALs participated in."
"I was wondering," says Captain Bullrider. "What did you do during the invasion?"
"My unit was in Baghdad," says the Iraqi soldier. "I was a sniper. I took out three of the enemy."
"Oh," replies the Marine captain, knowing whom the Iraqi meant by "the enemy". "I..I never met anyone who killed American troops in combat before."
"I'm a soldier; there was a war and I did my duty."
"So why are you working with us now?"
"You're not the enemy anymore. any way, I am Sergeant Khalil Foumad. Ima an aide to Colonel Azid."
"Captain Carlos Bullrider from the Marine Corps."
oooooooooooooo
"It was around 2200 local time that the SEAL team requested howitzer support," says the Marine lieutenant, standing just a few feet away from the M777 howitzer that was used to provide artillery support for the SEAL mission.
"You overheard the radio chatter, right Lieutenant?" asks Bullrider.
"Some of it, sir."
"You never heard the order to go in?" asks the captain.
"I was aware that there were two teams," says the lieutenant. "I heard the order for the main team to go in."
"Was there an order given for the other team?" asks Bullrider.
"I would not know, sir."
"What did you hear?"
"I heard someone yell that they did not give the signal to arttack. I think that was Commander Rivers, sir."
oooooooooo
ABU GHRAIB PRISON
BAGHDAD, IRAQ
1405 ZULU
The Abu Ghraib prison is an old structure which was originally used to house political prisoners, and later used as a POW camp for captured Iraqi soldiers. memories of the POW abuse scandal two years ago is still fresh.
At this particular time and place, a captured terrorist is being interrogated in one of the concrete-lined interrogation rooms as Commander Sturgis Turner watches. Iraqi Army Colonel Hamdi Azid questions the terrorist.
Sturgis listens. He understands little Arabic, but from the tone he knows that the colonel is not in any good mood at all.
The interrogation lasts about two hours. At one point, the colonel slaps the terrorist in the face.
"He's not talking," the colonel says after he leaves the room.
ooooooooooooo
1820 ZULU
That evening, Sturgis has dinner in a stateroom reserved for high-ranking officers.
"I understand you led the hunt for a terrorist in a submarine," says Admiral Pruit.
"Yes, sir, I did," replies the Navy commander, recalling the events three years ago. "I have a lot of experience as a submariner."
"We're hoping you could help us find Amad bin Atwa," says Commander Rivers.
"The scope of my investigation here is to find out what happened and what actions should be taken regarding Petty Officer Shaw," says Sturgis.
"And what would your advice be?" asks the admiral.
"We went through the tapes, and no one else heard any order to attack before Shaw's team went in," says Sturgis. "Because this happened during combat, I would recommend a court-martial.
"I agree," says Pruit. "A general court-martial for Petty Officer Shaw.
"That does seem a little extreme, sir," says Sturgis. "Why not a special court-martial?"
"His actions led to the escape of bin Atwa," says the admiral.