Videos, author information and to talk directly with authors during our live programs. Facebook. Com booktv. Elliot ackerman is next on booktv. The decorated afghanistan and iraq war veterans book is a novel about an afghan boy who joins a u. S. Funded militia following the u. S. Invasion. So our guest tonight is elliot ackerman. Hes a decorated veteran of the United States marine corps and a writer whose work has been published in the new yorker which alone would be an accomplishment for me for the rest of my life [laughter] the atlantic, time and the new republic among others. Mr. Ackerman is also a contributor to the daily beast and a member of the council on foreign relations. He served as white house fellow in the obama administration, and prior to that he spent eight years as both an infantry and special operations officer. He served multiple tours of duty in the middle east and southwest asia. As a Marine Corps Special Operations Team leader mr. Ackerman operated as the primary