cover image Murder in Baker Company: How Four American Soldiers Killed One of Their Own

Murder in Baker Company: How Four American Soldiers Killed One of Their Own

Cilla McCain, . . Chicago Review, $24.95 (282pp) ISBN 978-1-55652-947-4

McCain, a writer who grew up on army bases, takes aim at the military and the ways soldiers bring the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq home with them. In recounting the murder of 25-year-old Army Specialist Richard T. Davis by four fellow members of the army’s Third Infantry (a case that inspired the movie In the Valley of Elah ), McCain examines the tragic results of the increasing number of street gang members recruited into the army, post-traumatic stress, and “noncombat deaths” of soldiers resulting from accidents, illness, suicide, and murder. When Davis returned home to Fort Benning, Ga., in July 2003 after serving in Iraq, he was driven by four other soldiers to a wooded area, murdered, and his body set on fire. When Lanny Davis, a Vietnam veteran, attempted to find out what happened to his son, he confronted coverups, military red tape, and, finally, an incompetent investigation. McCain sifted through government paperwork, police statements, court transcripts, and firsthand interviews. The result is a raw and compelling overview of a shocking killing, its aftermath, and a military ignoring its soldiers’ needs. (Feb.)