Black Hearts

One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death

By: Jim Frederick

Narrated by: Corey Snow

This is the story of a small group of soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division's fabled 502nd Infantry Regiment - a unit known as the Black Heart Brigade. Deployed in late 2005 to Iraq's so-called Triangle of Death, a veritable meat grinder just south of Baghdad, the Black Hearts found themselves in arguably the country's most dangerous location at its most dangerous time. Hit by near-daily mortars, gunfire, and roadside bomb attacks, suffering from a particularly heavy death toll, and enduring a chronic breakdown in leadership, members of one Black Heart platoon - 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion - descended, over their year-long tour of duty, into a tailspin of poor discipline, substance abuse, and brutality.

Four 1st Platoon soldiers would perpetrate one of the most heinous war crimes U.S. forces have committed during the Iraq War - the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the cold-blooded execution of her and her family. Three other 1st Platoon soldiers would be overrun at a remote outpost - one killed immediately and two taken from the scene, their mutilated corpses found days later booby-trapped with explosives.

Black Hearts is an unflinching account of the epic, tragic deployment of 1st Platoon. Drawing on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with Black Heart soldiers and first-hand reporting from the Triangle of Death, Black Hearts is a timeless story about men in combat and the fragility of character in the savage crucible of warfare. But it is also a timely warning of new dangers emerging in the way American soldiers are led on the battlefields of the 21st century.

©2010 Jim Frederick (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Harrowing account of the atmospherics, commission and aftermath of a war crime.... A riveting picture of life outside the wire in Iraq, where '[y]ou tell a guy to go across a bridge, and within five minutes he's dead." ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

This is my current unit

1-502IN this is great information 2BCT 101st (aaslt) Strike, first strike, Air Assault. I was in a similar situation 3-21IN 1-25SBCT 2011-2012

Read for PME

I was suspecting a history but I found it was not just a lineage of the unit but history, story by story and constant updates on what was going on around them. The book was well written.

great application of battlefield leadership

Great application of battlefield leadership for the business world and life in general. The combat stories really drive the lessons home.

Depressing but good

This book isn't one you can read in one day. It's well written (minus too many direct quotes with wording such as "I was like" and "he was like", which got old rather quickly,) well researched, and well read. The topic is very heavy but it's very important. Fantastic read.

Accurate portrayal of the challenges of war

Great book, very detailed, filled with un-edited accounts of true war. Good narration as well, easy to listen to.

Very good view of social concepts and theories of.

Very good view of social concepts and theories of. Highly recommended. Looking forward to a follow up on bravo.

Difficult, Eye Opening, Moving Book

Military, war, and detailed audio books are often difficult to listen to verses read due to the amount of names and place that are sometimes hard to keep track of without being able to reference in print, however for Blacks Hearts listening does not take away from it's powerful account of this tragedy in Iraq. My respect for those that served in this book could not be higher.

Frederick states in the prologue something to the effect that there were " good leaders that had bad days, and bad leaders that had good days." And that this account was not an indictment against the leaders decisions that ultimately resulted in this horrific war crime, and it is not, yet does not absolve guilt either.

Black Hearts, is a harrowing tale of war and the impossible situations that leaders and soldiers on the ground experienced. Which unfortunately resulted in, while not unprecedented a preventable war crime.

If you want to know what you're getting into with this book, imagine Karl Marlantes' novel on Vietnam "Matterhorn" meets Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", set in the worst location and time during the Iraq war and sadly nothing about is fiction.

I highly recommend this book, but warn it pack a punch.

Cold truth

A story of the reality of war and the numerous mistakes made up and down the chain of command.

Fantastic

Although the story started slowly, it is definitely a must read that displays the horrors of war.

Powerful

This was a truly powerful, intense, account of the actions of the Black Hearts, and primarily Bravo Company. The narrator does an excellent job of inflecting his voice to show emotion, and it was easy to follow who was speaking with his subtle changes in pitch while reciting conversations between the Soldiers. This book left me stunned, and mortified at the depths a person can sink to. There are so many leadership lessons to be learned here. Chief amongst them is ownership of what you do, and fail to do.
5 Stars