Quixote in Ramadi

“Quixote in Ramadi: An Indigenous Account of Imperialism” is a dark humor novel that is introspective and capricious, despite dealing with the serious issues of childhood abuse, neo-colonialism, homicide, genocide, and ethnic persecution. It tells the story of an indigenous female soldier in the US Army who deploys to Iraq at the height of the tension of the Fallujah massacre and the Abu Ghraib scandal, and faces unexpected catastrophes and corruption. While her command leadership frivolously spends defense funds in Baghdad's Green Zone and turns local Iraqis into personal servants, she is sent along with three other soldiers to one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq, Ar Ramadi. In Ar Ramadi, she faces direct combat while performing checkpoint operations, personnel searches and house raids with Marine infantry units in addition to losing friends, earning the trust of locals, and responding to military suicides and homicides in the region. This takes place all while her command severs their supplies, escalates persecution of minorities in the company, and launders thousands of dollars in defense funds intended for equipment and radios for those in austere regions like Ar Ramadi. This unit, ironically, is an Army mental health company. A Jewish officer and the indigenous soldier fight the command and are threatened with imprisonment. Although they faced brazen retaliation, they refused to be terrorized into submission. The soldier confides in her predominantly male Marine counterparts of the abuse taking place, who then encourage her to take matters into her own hands. The soldier is forced to confront the powers that be and finds herself facing the same trials as her ancestors. She fights to prevent the same history from repeating itself in Iraq. Throughout “Quixote in Ramadi,” flashbacks to child abuse, racial inequality, and family history are tied in to reveal myriad social and racial injustices that still exist in the United States.