Sunrise Over Fallujah: List 8

by Walter Dean Myers
This historical work of fiction follows the U.S. Civilian Affairs Battalion during the 2003 Iraq War and conveys the horrors of war for all involved — military and civilian alike.

This list covers vocabulary from "Jerry Egri was a Polish-American guy assigned to"–"We got an official notification of Victor's transfer."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5, List 6, List 7, List 8, List 9, List 10
25 words 6 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. liaison
    a means of communication between groups
    Jerry Egri was a Polish-American guy assigned to our unit for one week until he got his regular assignment. He was going to be the liaison between the American troops and the Polish soldiers who were fighting with the Coalition Forces.
  2. dehydration
    depletion of bodily fluids
    Then Omar got the teenagers to sit out and got some really young kids in to play against us. By that time we were all standing with our tongues out and our hands on our knees and Captain Miller was warning us about dehydration.
  3. loyalty
    the quality of being steadfast in allegiance or duty
    The 422nd served up some lunch and the film crew took pictures of some of the Iraqis and some officers. Miller wouldn’t let them take her picture.
    “Tribe loyalty,” she said.
    That was cool.
  4. infidel
    a person who does not acknowledge your god
    “I don’t play so well, but I am Islam, so I win.” He reached over and touched each of his friends on the chest. “Islam, Islam, Islam.”
    “And we aren’t Islam so we don’t win?” I asked.
    Omar touched each of us. “Infidel, infidel, infidel, infidel, infidel, infidel…”
    He had to get up and walk around the table to get to me and Pendleton, and he did.
  5. detonate
    cause to burst with a violent release of energy
    The radios were a problem because the bad guys were wiring their bomb detonators between the phone and the ring-tone device. They would wait for a convoy to come along, then call the number. Instead of ringing, it would detonate the bomb.
  6. directive
    a pronouncement encouraging or banning some activity
    A directive had even come down from CENTCOM about what we could put in our emails.
    I could see that. The more information our guys put online, the more the bad guys would know and use against us.
  7. vaccination
    taking a substance, usually by injection, against a disease
    “How’s she doing?” I asked.
    “They don’t know,” he said. “You got a bunch of doctors in a university hospital and they don’t know what’s wrong with her. All they know is that she’s having a reaction from the vaccination she had to have so she wouldn’t get sick.”
  8. insubordination
    defiance of authority
    “Kennedy, do you know what insubordination is?” Coles asked.
    “Yeah, that’s when you mouth off and they put you in some safe stockade so you don’t get killed,” Marla said.
  9. stockade
    a place where persecuted groups are forcibly confined
    “Kennedy, do you know what insubordination is?” Coles asked.
    “Yeah, that’s when you mouth off and they put you in some safe stockade so you don’t get killed,” Marla said.
  10. barrack
    lodge in buildings used to house military personnel
    We were supposed to convoy up to Ba’qubah escorting a bus-load of Iraqi policemen and a bus of PR guys. There would be a ceremony, and then we would all come back to the Green Zone, except for the Iraqis, who would go back to their training barracks.
  11. chafe
    become or make sore by or as if by rubbing
    I had got an infection of some kind between my legs; it felt like jock itch, and the bouncing around in the Humvee chafed it more.
  12. scowl
    a facial expression of dislike or displeasure
    The company that was working on extending the freshwater lines had hired private guards, a lot of ex-Special Ops guys, some good old boys from stateside police departments, and just some dudes who didn’t mind killing people. They dressed like they had all just come out of central casting: sunglasses, bandanas, beards, earrings, and scowls.
  13. mode
    a particular functioning condition or arrangement
    “Cease fire! Cease fire!” Captain Coles’s voice was calmer than ours. Then it went into panic mode as two heads came up over the ridge. “Fire! Fire!”
  14. flank
    the side of military or naval formation
    Third Squad’s Humvee was off the road and Evans pulled up to them. At first I thought they had just driven off the road to guard the flank. But Evans signaled us over.
    “I’ll check it out,” I said, sliding out of the Humvee.
  15. deploy
    place troops or weapons in battle formation
    Two A-10s flew overhead and circled us, looking for bad guys. The first medevac chopper came and took Victor and Jonesy, who had a piece of shrapnel cut through his chin, and the two PR guys. A 3rd ID company rolled up and deployed around us. The next medevac took a cameraman and Pendleton.
  16. standoffish
    lacking cordiality; unfriendly
    Darcy showed up with her plastic mug full of coffee. She sat at the end of the table and cupped it in her hands. She was still standoffish, but drawing closer.
  17. altar
    the table in Christian churches where communion is given
    The memorial was in front of the tent we were using for a chapel. We lined up in four rows. First, Second, and Third Squads were in the first row, with other CA Squads behind us. Some guys from the 3rd were there, too. Miller was crying. So was Jonesy.
    The ceremony was brief. Pendleton’s boots, M-16, and Kevlar were on the small altar.
  18. kinship
    a close connection marked by common interests or character
    Finally Coles stepped forward and took a paper from his pocket.
    “Lord, have mercy on us as we feel the pain of loss, and the endless emptiness that marks the passing of Corporal Pendleton; and have mercy on us as we feel sorrow for ourselves, and for all the angel warriors for whom we feel kinship. Let us fear death, but let it not dwell within us. Protect us, O Lord, and be merciful unto us. Amen.”
  19. merciful
    showing or giving forgiveness
    Finally Coles stepped forward and took a paper from his pocket.
    “Lord, have mercy on us as we feel the pain of loss, and the endless emptiness that marks the passing of Corporal Pendleton; and have mercy on us as we feel sorrow for ourselves, and for all the angel warriors for whom we feel kinship. Let us fear death, but let it not dwell within us. Protect us, O Lord, and be merciful unto us. Amen.”
  20. doom
    an unpleasant or disastrous destiny
    The day began badly. The smell from the river drifted over us like the stink of doom. Nothing was right.
  21. unnerve
    disturb the composure of
    “You go out and you see people shopping,” she said. “Women buying onions and bread or people having coffee. Then down the street somebody gets blown up. Jesus, it’s weird.”
    It was weird—weird and unnerving. Somebody buying onions, somebody getting their fingers blown off, somebody dying.
  22. vague
    lacking clarity or distinctness
    We had all heard about the death squads. There was some sort of vague connection between them and the people we were pushing toward the leadership of the new Iraq....Now that Saddam was out and we had put the Shiites in power, there was a sudden explosion of mysterious killings.
  23. execute
    murder in a planned fashion
    Some of the construction guys, engineers, started talking about bodies that had been found at the power plants north of Baghdad.
    “Those dudes were just executed,” one of them said. “It had to be other Iraqis. There wasn’t anyone else around.”
  24. sanity
    normal or sound powers of mind
    The thing was that killing was taking on a different meaning to me. To take a human life had always been so heavy a deal. It had always meant that some terrible thing had happened, some horrible wrong had occurred that brought people to the far ends of sanity. But now I was willing to kill because I was afraid of being killed...
  25. randomness
    the quality of lacking any predictable order or plan
    The amazing thing was the randomness of the dying. If you were American, your picture might be in some daily newspaper. If you died on a slow news day, your mother’s grief might be captured in a thirty-second spot. If you were Iraqi, there would be no mention of your dying unless you could be called an insurgent.
Created on Fri Nov 29 14:44:14 EST 2024 (updated Mon Dec 09 12:27:22 EST 2024)

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