Sublime

was desperate to find his men some cover, to

Patton and Montgomery approached the level of military genius, and their physical courage was beyond doubt. But it was Eisenhower who accepted responsibility.

Ike’s enthusiasm compensated for his awkwardness.

“Soldiers like to see the men who are directing operations,” wrote Eisenhower. “Diffidence or modesty must never blind the commander to his duty of showing himself to his men, of speaking to them, of mingling with them to the extent of physical limitations.”84

Ike wrote superb letters, and he continued almost weekly to tell Mamie how much he missed her.

But as Fox Conner bore his burden in the cotton field, his daydreams carried him to fields of battle far away from Calhoun County. In Fox’s mind, his back carried a soldier’s pack rather than a burlap sack. Instead of stumbling behind a plow, he was marching behind a caisson. Even when raking manure in the Mississippi heat, Fox saw the pungent pile

would trade their seven-month deployment to Ramadi for that man’s life, living here?” No one raised a hand. Some Marines looked uncomfortable. Some looked angry. Some looked furious. “Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if this man supported the insurgency. The translator said the man was a bad guy. An ‘ali baba.’ But clearly, this man has suffered. And i