Though Sunrise Over Fallujah focuses on the Iraq War of 2003, war itself is the novel’s main theme. From the outset, the reader finds that Birdy’s uncle served in the Vietnam War. Due to this, Birdy imagines a connection between the two men. This connection returns in stark contrast at the novel’s end. Initially, Birdy had hoped he too could have war stories like he imagined his uncle did but ultimately realizes that there are no words to explain the toll of war on an individual. Words in themselves are too light, he says. War has shown him a reality he never imagined.

When the Civil Affairs unit is being briefed on their role in the war and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the first Gulf War is also mentioned. The officers and decision-makers are certain that, due to the “successes” of the Gulf War, the enemy and the lay of the land are well understood. As the novel progresses, Birdy and his fellow soldiers find that there are no textbook answers to war. A tribal leader alludes to this when he tells Captain Coles that the first war, the hot war, was won by the American and Coalition forces.