• rajiv srinivasan
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• Soldier

rajiv srinivasan, a captain in the united states army, is an admissions officer at west point and young veteran of operation enduring freedom, where he served as platoon leader in kandahar, afghanistan (2009-10). his essays for fortnight are on the topics of the academy, values of duty, honor, and loyalty, leaders and attrition, diversity - then and now, military superstructure, and veterans and the millennial generation. he deployed as a stryker platoon leader in attack company, 2-1 infantry in the taliban hotbed of zhari, kandahar from 2009-2010. there, rajiv and his platoon were tasked with building a combat outpost with the afghan national army and conducting combat patrols in zhari district. he was awarded a bronze star and the combat action badge for leadership under fire. rajiv is also a frequent contributor to the new york times, pbs's "regarding war" series, and time magazine, commenting on military and veteran affairs. he is a 2008 graduate of the u.s. military academy at west point where he graduated in the top 5 percent of his class majoring in comparative politics & arabic. he is currently a ph.d. candidate at kings college london specializing in counterinsurgency. as a result of his work on fortnight, rajiv met us secretary max cleland, who has since served as his mentor.