“They were brothers—brothers from the old army.” Major Clay Steerforth, USMC, and Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Mujeed, Iraqi Defense Forces, are two men willing to gamble their lives in pursuit of an ideal. Separated by culture but united by war, they cross paths in war-torn Iraq and unwittingly aid each other in their divergent pursuits of victory—both in combat and in personal fulfillment. Destiny makes them friends. Their bond is cemented after pondering the meaning of war, grasping at the promise of love, and sharing the knowledge that chance and death and are woven into the fabric of their profession.