Thank You for Your Service (35 page)

First, I am indebted to the people I’ve written about in these pages for trusting that their stories matter.

I also want to thank the following people and organizations for their generosity, confidence, and support:

Sarah Crichton, my believing editor at Sarah Crichton Books / Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Also at FSG: Jonathan Galassi, Jeff Seroy, Brian Gittis, and Daniel Piepenbring.

Melanie Jackson, my literary agent, without whom there would not be this book.

Don Graham, Katharine Weymouth, Marcus Brauchli, Liz Spayd, Marty Baron, Shirley Carswell, Peter Perl, Kevin Merida, Cameron Barr, Eli Saslow, Stephanie McCrummen, Greg Jaffe, and Julie Tate at the Washington Post.

John Nagl, Nate Fick, Kristin Lord, Sara Conneighton, Shannon O’Reilly, Meg Harrell, Nancy Berglass, Ellen McHugh, Phil Carter, Bob Kaplan, and Tom Ricks at the Center for a New American Security.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Sheri Quarfoot, Ken Quarfoot, Cathy Speight, Ralph Kauzlarich, Brent Cummings, Tim Hester, Francie Hester, Bob Barnes, Lynne Perri, Steve Adler, Lisa Grunwald, Phil Bennett, Steve Coll, Lucian Perkins, Karl Vick, Dana Priest, Anne Hull, and especially Katherine Boo.

Julia, Lauren, Jon, Adam.

Lisa, most of all.

David Finkel is the author of
The Good Soldiers
, the bestselling, critically acclaimed account of the U.S. “surge” during the Iraq War and a
New York Times
Best Book of the Year.

An editor and writer for
The Washington Post
, Finkel has reported from Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, and across the United States, and has covered wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Among Finkel’s honors are a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 and a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant in 2012. He lives in the Washington, D.C., area.