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26 Facts About Elliot Ackerman

1.

Elliot Ackerman's books have received significant critical acclaim, including nominations for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medals in both fiction and non-fiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

2.

Elliot Ackerman served as a White House fellow in the Obama administration and is a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

3.

Elliot Ackerman is a contributing writer to The Atlantic and The New York Times.

4.

Elliot Ackerman was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Valor, and a Purple Heart during his five deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

5.

Elliot Ackerman is the son of businessman Peter Ackerman and author Joanne Leedom-Ackerman and the brother of mathematician and wrestler Nate Ackerman.

6.

Elliot Ackerman studied literature and history at Tufts University, where he joined Naval ROTC.

7.

Elliot Ackerman holds a master's degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

8.

Elliot Ackerman completed many of the United States military's most challenging special operations training courses.

9.

Elliot Ackerman worked as both an infantry and special operations officer, initially assigned as a platoon commander in 1st Battalion, 8th Marines.

10.

Elliot Ackerman served multiple tours of duty in the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

11.

Elliot Ackerman led a 75-man platoon that aided in relief operations in post-Katrina New Orleans.

12.

Elliot Ackerman was briefly attached to the Ground Branch of the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division.

13.

In 2004, Elliot Ackerman led a Marine rifle platoon of 45 men during the Second Battle of Fallujah.

14.

USA Today reported that Elliot Ackerman was the assault force commander of a group of US Marines that carried out a raid that led to the death of an estimated 33 to 92 civilians in Azizabad, Afghanistan, in August 2008.

15.

Elliot Ackerman received the Bronze Star for Valor for leading his Marine special operations team through an ambush in Herat Province, Afghanistan, in which one Special Forces soldier was killed.

16.

Elliot Ackerman left the Marine Corps in 2009 as a captain after being assigned to the CIA.

17.

In 2021, Elliot Ackerman was one of the people who worked with other veterans, journalists, and activists to help evacuate as many Afghan allies as possible in 2021, during the US withdrawal.

18.

Elliot Ackerman served as chief operating officer of Americans Elect, a political organization known primarily for its efforts to stage a national online primary for the 2012 US presidential election.

19.

Elliot Ackerman has served on the board of the Afghan Scholars Initiative and as an advisor to the No Greater Sacrifice scholarship fund.

20.

Elliot Ackerman is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

21.

In 2012 to 2013, Elliot Ackerman served as a White House fellow in the Obama administration.

22.

Elliot Ackerman has written and published five novels, the upcoming Halcyon: A Novel, and two memoirs.

23.

Elliot Ackerman was a writer for Esquire, and is a contributor to The Daily Beast.

24.

Elliot Ackerman has done something brave as a writer and even braver as a soldier: He has touched, for real, the culture and soul of his enemy.

25.

Elliot Ackerman has created people who are not the equivalents of the locally exotic subjects in your average NPR story, and he has used them to populate a fascinating and topical novel.

26.

Elliot Ackerman was a featured author at the Miami Book Fair in 2017.