Casualty of War; Steven Green went to Iraq vowing to 'kill'em all.' The Army says he went way too far.

Byline: Sarah Childress and Michael Hirsh (With Michael Hastings in New York)

Even before he went to Iraq, Steven Green scared people. Growing up in oil-rich Midland, Texas, a small community full of pumping jacks, pickup trucks and fast-food restaurants, Green was known as a petulant loner and a hard-drinking druggie. Mostly what people remember is his seething, seemingly random rage. His best friend, Mike, recalls remarking to Green once that he wanted to punch another kid standing nearby. "I'll do it!" Green said, and ran over and socked the boy. "A lot of people didn't accept Steve," says Mike, who requested that his last name be withheld.

Green's parents had divorced when he was 4, his parents drank, and he drifted from home to home. But he was anxious to better himself, acquaintances say. And the Army seemed to offer everything Green lacked: money, friends, a place to stay, possibly even fame. Boot camp, Green later told friends, was great. He bragged about being a part of the world's most powerful military, and he was excited to get to Iraq. When he enlisted in February 2005, Green exultantly told Mike and others, like the mother of one of his friends, Alma Thomas: "I'm gonna go over there and kill 'em all."

Just a week into his tour, Green's mood changed. His unit, the 502nd Infantry Regiment, was on the front lines of the insurgency in the Sunni Triangle town of Al Mahmudiyah. On his MySpace page, which was oddly titled "imalittlegirl," he sent messages to Mike saying he'd seen body parts flying through the air. It was nothing like Red Faction, his favorite videogame. "Dude, I can't do all this. I thought it'd be cool to kill people, but I saw my buddy get shot in the face. It's not pretty," Green wrote.

Exactly what happened to Steven Green in Iraq is not clear. All that is known is that seven weeks after being honorably discharged for what the Army called a "personality disorder," Green was arrested in June for a horrific crime. According to the indictment, he raped an Iraqi girl in Al Mahmudiyah and murdered her and her family. Five other soldiers in the 502nd have been charged with complicity in the crime.

Green's case has helped to spur a closer look at the Army's standards for recruitment and training. Green enlisted and passed basic training at a time ...