Tours of Duty: Porn and Patriotism

“All my life I wanted to be a Marine,” porn performer Jack Hammer tells me over dinner just before Veteran’s Day. Hammer joined the Marine Corps right out of high school. He was 18. At the time, porn wasn’t on his radar; he planned on spending the rest of his career in the military. But after eight years in the Marines, which included one tour in Kuwait during the Gulf War, Hammer ended his military career.

Like many veterans, he was disillusioned when his tour ended. Many of his friends were sick with Gulf War Syndrome. “We were all sick cause of all those pills they…