As a teenager, Graham Platner had taken part in anti-war rallies during the Iraq War. He didn't
join the military because he believed in the cause, but as he admitted, "l wanted to be a
soldier since I was two years old ...at 19, I was also a young man drawn to an adventure - and
serving overseas was the ultimate adventure. "
Was Platner really so disillusioned and cynical about the military in 2012? Then why does a
$1,000 donation to a Democrat in 2018 list his employer as one of the incarnations of
Blackwater? In an interview, Planter was described as having felt a conveniently "renewed
call to service" in 2018 that led him to work in Afghanistan as a security contractor.