In this week’s debut Fog of War and Humanity feature in The South Shore Press, historian and host Rich Acritelli sits down with Northport native Dani Koulermos, a U.S. Army veteran whose journey from military police training to creative arts therapist reveals both the cost of service and the power of resilience.
Koulermos grew up surrounded by veterans—her grandfather was a Marine and longtime American Legion commander—and her early patriotism led her to enlist in the Army in 2011. She trained as a military police officer at Fort Leonard Wood during the early years of integrating women into A.O.E.T., describing the six months of combined basic and AIT as “the best training of my life.”
Her first deployment took her to Korea, where she worked near the DMZ and stood on ground where her grandfather fought decades earlier. But it was also where she suffered the first of two serious Humvee accidents that fractured her spine. A second rollover at Fort Drum ended her career. “I didn’t want to get out,” she said. “But physically I couldn’t.”
Returning home with injuries, PTSD, depression, and a six-month-old child, Koulermos fell into years of alcohol and opiate dependency. “Many join the military to escape dysfunction,” she said. “Coming back broken makes everything harder.” Recovery, she explained, became her turning point—one she embraced to break her family’s cycle of trauma.
Today, Koulermos works as a creative arts therapist, helping veterans express moral injury, shame, and trauma through non-verbal mediums like art and film. “Veterans often can’t speak certain memories aloud,” she said. “Art gives them a safe way to communicate what they carry.”
She has also taken an active role in veteran-suicide awareness, joining Suffolk Legislator Chad Lennon in endurance events such as the 66-mile Orient-to-Hauppauge walk, where she completed 50 miles. “Community saves lives,” she told Acritelli. “Looking someone in the eyes matters. Accountability matters.”
Acritelli closed the segment by praising her courage and commitment to others—an example, he said, of the humanity behind every uniform.
The Fog of War is a production of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County. Visit them at www.hmtcli.org/podcasts