Full Spectrum Warrior begins on September 24th, 2004 in Southern Zekistan, a fictional country experiencing the real world problems of ethnic cleansing and terrorist sponsorship. The impressive opening cinematic has you introduced to the men of a unit patrolling the streets discussing whether or not the locals, referred to as "Zeeks" appreciate what they are doing or hate them for being there. You are given each of the soldier's nicknames and even some of their likes and dislikes. The developer, Pandemic, wants you to know these men. They want you to care whether they live or die, even the annoying ones, because it is teamwork and caution that will get you through the game.

Originally contracted by the U.S. military to create a MOUT (Military Operations on Urban Terrain) simulator that could be played on Xboxes by soldiers, Pandemic was asked to focus on leadership and preservation of life. In most military-themed games you run around killing nearly everything in sight. Even your own character's life may seem expendable in some titles where extra lives or respawning make death seem merely an annoyance. "Oops! I died again. Now I have to wait 18 seconds before I can spawn in again!"

For team leaders in the Armed Forces who give orders to men with families at home, an "Oops!" doesn't carry as its only consequence a pause before the next spawn. They won't win confrontations by bringing back the enemy's flag to their own base. Soldiers make decisions that can get people killed. Hopefully it is the enemy. By requesting that Pandemic make your men individuals with names and personalities, it was the military's hope that they won't be viewed as expendable or discarded so easily.