Black Hearts tells the story of some bad soldiers of the 1st Platoon, Bravo Company of the 1-502nd Infantry Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division, who were plagued by leadership toxic and lack of control over the soldiers. The book documents the events that led to the final deaths of the soldiers involved in the terrible incident that occurred on March 12, 2006. Four soldiers were arrested in the brutal murder of an Iraqi family, a result of the lack of leadership and structure these soldiers received. Black Hearts takes an in-depth look at what happened to this struggling platoon and the unfortunate events that occurred during their deployment. The entire battalion was at a disadvantage before leaving the United States, given the mission to replace the 48th Infantry Brigade in southern Baghdad. Unlike the usual five or six months where a unit would normally conduct reconnaissance and gather intelligence on the AO it would occupy, the 1st Battalion had to gather everything it could in 6 weeks. LTC Kunk was chosen by Colonel Ebel to lead the fight in the population centers because he thought he would be engaging and able to communicate with others. This proved to be the first major problem in the chain of command that would hinder the efficiency of operations. While preparing for the deployment of the 1st Platoon at JRTC, Bravo Company made a tactical error that led to the capture of 9 soldiers. Even with this information Kunk had developed a plan without any input from any of his company commanders, and would not accept any kind of input or use the resources he had at his disposal. LTC had little to no importance in communicating with his subordinates, destroying trust in his commanders and ruining his lines of communication. If... middle of paper ......front why wouldn't he ask his soldiers to do something that he himself wouldn't be willing to do. He showed great personal courage by living this lifestyle, realizing that his chances of surviving the deployment were very slim and still volunteered to put his life at risk as often as he could afford it. He was also very loyal to the people to his left and right. He would take an extra watch to allow members of his platoon to sleep more, taking the stress of constant action off his subordinates. Although he was only in command for a short time, he was still credited with allowing his platoon to maintain the relaxed standards they had initially struggled with and the cause of much of the abuse they received from LTC Kunk. He was not meeting standards and therefore was not fulfilling his duty to maintain his platoon to Army standards.
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