I have been in the army since 1980. From the time of my enlistment and up until now, I have traveled around the world. I have served with some amazing men and women. I love the army. There are many soldiers, men and women, who serve with honor and integrity. These are the folks who are given a bad name by soldiers conducting themselves as vigilantes with no regard for the army’s values.

Two of my sons have served in the army. One is currently serving in Baghdad. One has elected to end his affiliation with the army due to his bad experience with poor leadership.

There are those soldiers who misuse their positions. I have seen everything from mockery to downright physical abuse. Now, I am not talking about a good old-fashioned ribbing; I am talking about someone knowingly trying to humiliate and destroy another human being. These people prey on the weak and thrive on the fear they produce. It is important for me to bring light to the seriousness of the misuse of power, trust, and confidence by unethical leaders.

These are the people who I want you to know about.

I came into my deployment to Iraq with fourteen years of experience. I was a high school teacher for eighteen years. I had taught in some of the roughest inner city schools in the nation. I was educated. I had been highly trained and I was proficient in my Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), including soldiering skills, and I was a respected teacher. I felt that this would be enough to make it through any situation. I found out that my current level of training would not be enough, and my personal courage and moral integrity would be challenged. I was humiliated, degraded, and ostracized by my leadership because I didn’t go along with the status quo. On a personal level, I was outraged at the general lack of resolve and crass mentality presented by my chain of command. Professionally, I lost respect and trust in my chain of command. Not only did this affect me, it affected every soldier I deployed with.

Soldiers rely on their leaders as role models. When leaders abuse this connection, and knowingly manipulate inexperienced soldiers it is reprehensible. The ability for any one person to demoralize an entire company is unconscionable. This abuse is not talked about openly because of fear of retribution. But when junior troops get together behind closed doors, they open up to the horrors they are subjected to by less than proficient leaders. It is up to every soldier to raise their voice and be heard. If we [soldiers] allow this good-old-boy system to go unchecked, then we have failed the soldiers we are training to become the next leaders in this great army of ours.

I have written this book to the best of my recollection. I have elected not to include the names of those involved. This story is more about the types of actions that occur in the day-to-day operations of a corrupt system than about the people themselves.