Hamilton Alumni & Veteran Writes War Novel
By: Rachel Polansky
Updated: February 7, 2013
One Hamilton alum paid a visit to his old stomping grounds tonight, with
a message. Matt Zeller, a 2004 grad, served as an embedded combat
adviser in Afghanistan. While he was there, he wrote about all of his
experiences, and then he took those writings and turned them into a
book. Zeller gave a lecture tonight recounting the tough challenges and
his emotional journey through Afghanistan.
"I had this Taliban detainee we had captured after a firefight. I had 300 bullets, he had 8. And he looked at me and he pointed at my watch and he said you Americans have all the watches. We have all the time. And what he was saying was we're gonna out-bleed you. It doesn't matter how many battles you win, we're gonna win the war because we're gonna exist long after you're gone," says Matt Zeller, veteran and Hamilton College graduate.
Zeller says he named his book after that experience. The book, Watches Without Time: An American Soldier In Afghanistan is available around the country.
"I had this Taliban detainee we had captured after a firefight. I had 300 bullets, he had 8. And he looked at me and he pointed at my watch and he said you Americans have all the watches. We have all the time. And what he was saying was we're gonna out-bleed you. It doesn't matter how many battles you win, we're gonna win the war because we're gonna exist long after you're gone," says Matt Zeller, veteran and Hamilton College graduate.
Zeller says he named his book after that experience. The book, Watches Without Time: An American Soldier In Afghanistan is available around the country.



