He was convicted of murder, then pardoned by Trump. His troops suffered a different fate.Why I wrote 'The Cursed Platoon' • By Greg JaffeI first became interested in the 1st Platoon last November when the unit's platoon leader, 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, was pardoned by President Trump. Lorance, who was being hailed as a hero on Fox News, had been convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 19 years in prison for ordering the killing of three Afghan men. No one was talking about Lorance's men — the soldiers of 1st Platoon — who had turned him in and testified against him at his trial. I soon learned that these men had borne a terrible burden. Five of the three dozen soldiers from the platoon have died since returning home in 2013. At least four others have been hospitalized for depression or suicidal thoughts. "The Cursed Platoon" is a harrowing war story, but it's also a story about the way conservative media stars like Sean Hannity and our noxious political climate warp reality and hurt real people who deserve so much better. "I thought of the Army as this altruistic thing," one of the 1st Platoon soldiers told me earlier this year. "I thought it was perfect and honorable. It pains me to tell you how stupid and naive I was. The Lorance stuff just broke my faith." Read "The Cursed Platoon" → | 
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