Eckerd was a soldier who served in the Republic Army during the Great Galactic War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire before being recruited into the black ops program of the Republic Special Forces Division as part of the assassination squad known as the Surgeons. The squad was later imprisoned by the Republic on the planet Berrun after it started hunting the families of enemy targets.
Sergeant Fideltin Rusk, Eckerd's former commanding officer
A soldier in the Republic Army during the Great Galactic War with the Sith Empire, Eckerd served in a squad under the command of the Chagrian Sergeant Fideltin Rusk. Alongside fellow soldiers Karsim and Naja, Eckerd participated in the squad's first mission, which was to free several Republic prisoners of war from an Imperial outpost. However, intelligence on the mission was incorrect, forcing the squad to fight through more enemy forces than it expected. Despite its disadvantage, the squad was able to rescue all of the prisoners and escape, albeit with heavy injuries, without a single fatality.
In the years following that mission, Eckerd was among the squad members who were recruited into the Republic Special Forces Division's black ops program, and the squad was tasked with the assassination of Imperial leaders by General Elin Garza. The squad, which became known as the "Surgeons," soon began to go after its targets' families, in order to send a message to the Empire. However, their targeting of civilians eventually saw Eckerd and the others arrested by the Republic for war crimes; the squad readily confessed to their actions out of pride, and they were imprisoned in a detention center on the planet Berrun as a result. Though the squad's members were young at the time of their arrest, the severity of their crimes meant they were sentenced to life in prison. Sergeant Rusk later sought out his former squadmates, curious as to why they had seemingly vanished, and was dismayed to discover their service history and resultant imprisonment.
A loyal soldier, Eckerd's time in the Special Forces black ops program turned the trooper into a killer who no longer respected the moral code of warfare. Eckerd was proud of the Surgeons' targeting of civilians, and confessed to the Republic upon the squad's arrest, believing that the unit's actions were just. Sergeant Rusk—who considered Eckerd and the others to be the best soldiers to ever serve under him—was disturbed to learn that his former squad mates had changed to the point that they targeted women and children.
Eckerd was mentioned by the Jedi Knight companion character Fideltin Rusk in Star Wars: The Old Republic, a 2011 video game released by BioWare and LucasArts. While Rusk's squad is first mentioned in the conversation "Bad Intel," Karsim, Naja, and Eckerd are not named until the conversation "Vanished."