In this original Esquire essay, Elliot Ackerman returns to Iraq twelve years after the Second Battle of Fallujah to confront the places, memories, and losses that never left him.
Blending memoir, reportage, and battlefield reflection, Ackerman revisits the rooftop, doorway, and streets where Marines fought and where his friend Dan Malcom was killed.
Fallujah, Memory, and Return
The essay follows Ackerman back through Baghdad, Al Anbar Province, and Fallujah as he searches for the physical locations tied to one of the Iraq War’s most intense battles.
War, Brotherhood, and Loss
At its emotional center is the memory of Dan Malcom, the Marines who fought beside Ackerman, and the enduring bond between those who survive combat and those who do not.
Iraq After Fallujah
Ackerman also reports from a country still shaped by the aftermath of the American war, ISIS, sectarian conflict, and the battle for Mosul.