Hodges is getting ready to retire from the Corps, having completed a rather undistinguished career as a military attorney. Childers, for his part, has remained in the field. Now he finally has his command. He is sent to Yemen during a civil disturbance to keep the peace around the American embassy, and, if necessary, to evacuate the ambassador. What Childers finds after the helicopters arrive is an angry mob who are throwing stones and shouting curses.
Snipers are on the roofs of houses and interspersed among the civilians in the courtyard.
An unseen enemy is firing upon his men. Three of them have already fallen. After he successfully evacuates the ambassador, his wife and young son, sending with them the shot-up American flag, he finally decides that for the safety of his men he must order return fire. And when the slaughter is over, there are 83 dead and more than 100 wounded, most of them women and children. By the time the press gets there, the local gendarmes have removed all evidence of weapons from the crowd.