Arvidas was a Marine Captain in the United States Marine Corps who lost two men Ryan Downing and Private First Class Martin Reggio to the street gang, La Vida Mala. As such, Arvidas's superiors kept him and his unit stationed in Iraq for the time being as they feared that they would come back and kill the gang members responsible in an act of revenge despite Arvidas insisting that none of his Marines would go after any "street punks" which is the term he used to describe members of the LVM.