Elliot Ackerman

Ackerman is the author of several novels, including Red Dress in Black and White, the memoir Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning, and The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan. He served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart.

Recent Articles

Biden Administration Has Doomed Ukraine

Since the war began, the Biden Administration has been too slow to support Ukraine, writes Elliot Ackerman.

By Elliot Ackerman

Ukraine Can Only Win if the U.S. Delivers More Weapons Faster

The U.S. has consistently been two to three months behind the Ukrainians in their requests for critical military aid. That must change

By Elliot Ackerman

Ukraine's Winter Offensive Could Decide the War

Winter brings a tipping point for Ukraine, with victory on one side and global peril on the other, writes Elliot Ackerman

By Elliot Ackerman

Ukrainians Don't Just Blame Putin For the War. They Blame Russians.

It was coming up on five a.m. and we were still at the casino. Our hotel in Lviv boasted a basement filled with card tables, slot machines, and a full-sized roulette wheel, which is where...

By Elliot Ackerman

How NATO Pilots Could Help Defend Ukraine

This past week, it’s rumored that a pilot known as the “Ghost of Kyiv” defeated six Russian aircraft before being shot down and killed. If true, this makes him the first fighter ace of the...

By Elliot Ackerman

The Last Person Who Believes in Western Intervention

I usually love the Olympics, but I have found these games difficult to watch. Whether it was the cynical use of a Uighur torchbearer by the Chinese, or that Russia seemed to be biding its...

By Elliot Ackerman

More January 6ths Are Inevitable. How We React Is Crucial

Shortly after 9 p.m., on February 27, 1933, the Berlin fire station received an alarm: the Reichstag, the center of German government, was on fire. This was four weeks after Adolf Hitler had assumed power...

By Elliot Ackerman

Afghanistan Withdrawal Exposes a Fault Line in Our Democracy

“The baby boomers’ turn is over,” said Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller in a video this past Friday. “I demand accountability, at all levels. If we don’t get it, I’m bringing it.” His post, which...

By Elliot Ackerman

How We Could Sleepwalk Into a War With China

China and the United States today are on a collision course. No less an authority than Henry Kissinger said just over a year ago that the U.S. and China are in the “foot hills of...

By James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman

American Exceptionalism Blinds Us To Election Risks

Lieutenant Colonel Jabbar of the Afghan Commandos was good at chess. Like his namesake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played for the L.A. Lakers, he was also exceedingly tall and stood out in a crowd. In 2008,...

By Elliot Ackerman

Why Comparing the Fight Against COVID-19 to War Is Ethically Dangerous

The risks physicians, nurses and other health care workers face, by reusing masks and gowns, resemble the risks soldiers faced over 15 years ago when patrolling Iraq in unarmored vehicles. A shortage of personal protective...

By Elliot Ackerman and Allan S. Detsky

What Peace in Afghanistan Might Mean

Having fought in both Iraq and Afghanistan, I am often asked what I think distinguished the two wars from one another. The answer is imagination, and I believe this is the critical element upon which...

By Elliot Ackerman

After Soleimani Killing, War With Iran Will Likely Continue as It Has for Decades

In 1981, at the outset of the Iran-Iraq War, Qassem Soleimani witnessed his country’s first use of human wave-style tactics. That costly practice would become one of the hallmarks of a conflict that would claim...

By Elliot Ackerman

All Americans Bear the Blame for the Failed Afghanistan War

In New York Times Co. vs. United States, the landmark 1971 case which permitted the publication of the Pentagon Papers, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in his majority opinion wrote, “Only a free and unrestrained...

By Elliot Ackerman

President Trump's Pardons of Soldiers Shows How Little He Knows About War

This past Friday President Trump signed pardons for Army First Lieutenant Clint Lorance and Army Major Mathew Golsteyn, and signed an order directing the promotion of Special Warfare Operator First Class Edward Gallagher to the...

By Elliot Ackerman

A New Generation Enlists for a War Older Than They Are

This week's special report on the U.S. military, as a new generation joins its longest war, is the latest in nearly a century of TIME coverage of American armed forces and the allies fighting alongside...

By Elliot Ackerman

Why Bringing Back the Draft Could Stop America’s Forever Wars

The way to end America's forever wars is to bring back the draft

By Elliot Ackerman

The Remarkable Story of the Man Who Volunteered to Enter Auschwitz and Try to Tell the World About It

In the darkest years of the Second World War, Witold Pilecki, a Polish cavalry officer turned resistance fighter, undertook the most audacious of missions: to get himself arrested by the Germans and sent to the...

By Elliot Ackerman

The Absurd Fight Over Trump's July 4th Parade

In 1777, the first Fourth of July commemoration was celebrated in Philadelphia with bonfires, bells, and fireworks. The next year, 1778, General George Washington celebrated with a thirteen-gun-salute, one for each of the colonies, along...

By Elliot Ackerman

What a Turkish Film Can Teach Us About American Fear

The story of a ship captain who seeds suspicion to stay in power reminded me of the actions of some of our presidential candidates

By Elliot Ackerman
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