Sam

The Special Forces lieutenant's name was Sam. He was born in Syria and grew up in Cleveland. His parents were originally from Iran. The way he told it, he was still in high school when he decided that he could spend his life getting shaken down at airport checkpoints, or he could enlist. Now he spent his days wandering the wildernesses of the Middle East, looking for bad guys.

He had pretended to be complaining. But I could tell that he loved his job. Even if it might kill him.

• The assault...