Stevenson: Afghanistan war veteran faces painful truths about the conflict, his service

In July, I found myself in Massachusetts for the wedding of a good friend. While there, I took a day trip that had been on my mind since 2008: I traveled to the working-class town of Beverly, Massachusetts, to visit the grave of Stephen R. Fortunato, killed in action 14 October 2008 in Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan. Stephen was my good friend, my buddy. To me and other soldiers, he was just Fortunato. Fortunato had been in the Army a year longer than me when we both arrived at Fort Hood, Texas.