Welcome back to A Man Should Know, a weekly column from Elliot Ackerman about how today’s lost boys can become tomorrow’s good men. This week, Elliot reflects on an often-overlooked skill in a man’s life: owning and treasuring something of value.
In the summer of 2006, I was part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed aboard the amphibious ship USS Iwo Jima. Israel had invaded Lebanon weeks before, and our unit of Marines was responsible for evacuating Americans out of Beirut.
This sounds more exciting than it was. We mostly sat on the ship, ready to respond if Hezbollah interfered with the U.S. Navy ferrying civilians between Lebanon and Cyprus. We had all been fighting in Iraq the year before, and it felt particularly frustrating to be sidelined with an evacuation mission while the war raged nearby.
