Summary Of Jim Fredrick's Black Hearts

Black Hearts is a narrative written by Jim Fredrick that covers the happenings of, Bravo Company 1-502nd Infantry 101st Airborne Division who were deployed to Iraq in 2005. The failure of their leadership is covered throughout and accounts for mistakes ranging from the general officer all the way to the privates on the ground. At the highest level, LT general Ricardo Sanchez failed to understand and acknowledge the severity and delicacy of the situation that his command group was about to enter into. As soon as they arrived the failures of leadership began to pile up with poor information, planning and time management. In most wartime scenarios units have a six month train up time before entering in and taking over a new AO from another unit. To add to their issues, the entire time the 502nd was in …show more content…
Goodwin was also getting berated by Kunk for his inability to lead the company according to Kunk’s standards. 1st platoon started to unravel at this time during the deployment. While manning the TCP’s several incidents began to occur that were a cause for concern. SSGT Yribe shot a woman and then tried to cover up his mistake by dragging her body inside a TCP saying she charge their position. When the Army came to investigate this incident, they were not able to uncover the cover-up, and they were not charged with any crimes. The TCP’s continued to be a problem later when an insurgent was able to kill a squad leader and a team leader of 1st platoon. 1st platoon began to seek means in order to help cope with their deployment and harsh living conditions. They would purchase drugs and alcohol from the Iraq army members. Drinking and drug abuse became a common occurrence inside the platoon. Members were starting to crack under the mental stress. PFC Green was one of the individuals to be diagnosed with combat stress and sent back to the platoon after he explained his desire to “kill all of the Hadjis.”