Sunrise Over Fallujah Themes

This is Birdy's first war. The only combat experience he previously had was at training, when he knew nothing was real. Sometimes, training only involved shooting on a screen, like in a video game....

From the American Revolution on, women have served in support roles for the army, but they weren't accepted into active combat until after the Vietnam War. So by the time of the Iraq War, they'd on...

As a Black American, Birdy's position in the Iraq War is complicated. He's an American, but often, he looks more like the Iraqis than some of the people in his own unit. He also understands what it...

Like most American soldiers, Birdy sees Iraq as an outsider looking in. His impressions are mostly first impressions—he doesn't have a deep understanding of the country.They're also visions of a...

Being surrounded by death has the tendency to make a person think about religion, since most religions usually have ideas about how the soul lives on after death. Birdy doesn't think about the soul...

People keep calling Birdy a hero-type, which bothers him. You might say the guy can't take a compliment, but really, he doesn't see it as true. He's never felt more afraid than he does during the I...

For Birdy, guilt is a feeling that goes along with war. He can't have war without guilt. Throughout Sunrise Over Fallujah, he feels bad that others die while he doesn't, and that he didn't treat hi...

In Sunrise Over Fallujah, most of the manipulation comes from the media. Birdy and the other soldier notice it pretty quickly, since they are seeing things in Iraq that the media isn't reporting. T...