As America and the people of Iraq are challenged to make sense of the decade that followed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, tens of thousands of people who witnessed the violence and the cauldron of change that accompanied the fall of Saddam Hussein are not here to testify. In their eyes is a story of sacrifice, of lives wasted of children never permitted to grow up.

Imagine telling the story of the war in Iraq from the perspective of one young Iraqi who cared deeply about his country and who also worked on the front lines as an Arabic interpreter. He was forced to consider danger at the edge of the conflict and the vulnerable Iraqis — his friends and neighbors — that he wanted to protect. It's a story of the war through one young man named Muhammad, and nicknamed Roy to protect his identity and that of his family.

Blake Hall is a former Army captain. He led a reconnaissance platoon in Iraq from July 2006 to September 2007. Ibrahim is a former interpreter for the U.S. Army and Mohammed’s cousin.