'I Write To Understand What I Think': A Veteran Turns To Words After War
Elliot Ackerman served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He sees the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East as "all one war" and explains why that's particularly tough on his generation of veterans.
Two weeks into the fight for Fallujah, Elliot Ackerman's company commander told him he was both the luckiest and the unluckiest lieutenant he'd ever met. The luckiest — because right out of the gate, Ackerman was in the thick of the biggest battle the Marine Corps had experienced in decades. And the unluckiest — because everything he ever did after that would seem inconsequential.
That was back in 2004. Ackerman eventually served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, duty for which he was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor and the Purple Heart. As it turned out, his commander was kind of
