If you were looking for an example of one of our young leaders living up to the Army Values under the difficult circumstances of today's battlefield than you could look at the example set by LT Dave Spangenberg.

My unit was not unlike most others in the battalion. We worked hard when it was time to work, and we played hard when the time was offered. Our camaraderie was good, morale was stable, and we were getting back into the swing of everyday life back in garrison.

While serving as an Infantry Company Commander in Baghdad, my company conducted an air assault raid in support of another battalion. After landing, we were to clear a small part of a village and capture a mortar team and their equipment.

I had just reported to Fort McClellan, Alabama to attend the Military Police Officer's Basic Course (OBC) and was thrilled to begin my Army career as a young second lieutenant. I was no different than any other fresh second lieutenant, young and searching for my comfort zone.

A senior field grade officer, well respected and recently promised a command, was deployed to Iraq to assist in working with contractors charged with training the Iraqi army.

While serving as an advisor to the Iraqi Army in June 2005, an Iraqi officer proudly announced that his unit had captured four insurgents three days earlier. When asked where they were, he replied "in my jail that I have created".

"Our values, our ethics, and our honor separate us from the insurgents and make us different from them? If you don't want to be treated like an insurgent, then don't act like one."

The Maywand District killings were the murders of at least three Afghan civilians perpetrated by a group of Army Soldiers in 2010.

In Ad-Dawr, Iraq, where there had been heavy insurgent activity in the last month, Soldiers on patrol observed an adult male walking by himself after curfew near the center of town. Though an interpreter, the platoon leader ordered the man to halt, but he continued to walk away.

Private security companies have aided US Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom since the summer of 2003. By December 2005, the US Government paid in excess of $750 million to such firms. Further, private security contractors account for the second largest military presence in Iraq with approximately 8500 personnel.

On 20 August 2003, at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Gunner (vic. Taji, Iraq), during the interrogation of Mr. Yehiya K. Hamoodi, an Iraqi Police Officer, LTC Allen West, Commander of 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Battalion (2-20 FA), 4th Infantry Division (4ID), fired his side arm into a clearing barrel while Mr. Hamoodi's head was held over the barrel.

We had an incredibly rough start. We lost four men before we began to feel more settled and secure in our assigned sector. We learned the enemy's tactics and became familiar with the area. As violent conflicts and non-battle related incidents decreased, our spirits began to rise.

In March of 1968 a platoon of Soldiers from the Americal Division, led by 2LT William Calley, commited atrocities in the village My Lai. This case study examines the My Lai massacre 50 years later.

A wedding party Mukaradeeb, a small village in Iraq near the border with Syria, was the site of American shooting and bombing on May 19, 2004. The ceremonies began on Tuesday morning and stretched through until the late evening.

The Troop deployed back to Fort Campbell from Afghanistan exhausted after fourteen months of combat operations. I had taken command of the Troop mid-way through the deployment and I would take them back to combat in approximately one year.

From 2004 through 2006 I served as a company commander in a recruiting battalion in Southern California. Before arriving, I had no idea what recruiting conditions were like in the area and reality came as a shock.

This situation is still not resolved. I am a new Battalion Command Sergeant Major at a TRADOC post. I arrived at my unit in June and have been getting to know my way around on my own. My predecessor was well-liked but left very quickly.

In February 2005 in the Al Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, an insurgent cell ambushed an Iraqi Police patrol from the rooftops and ground level of a narrow street. An American patrol heard the shots being fired and approached from the flank/rear of the insurgent position.