Eckerd was a soldier in the Republic Army during the Great Galactic War which pitted the Galactic Republic against the Sith Empire. Later, he was chosen to join the Republic Special Forces Division's clandestine black ops program and was placed in the Surgeons assassination squad. This squad was eventually imprisoned on the planet of Berrun by the Republic after they began targeting the families of their enemy targets.
During the Great Galactic War against the Sith Empire, Eckerd functioned as a soldier within the Republic Army. He was a member of a squad led by the Chagrian Sergeant Fideltin Rusk. Alongside fellow soldiers Karsim and Naja, Eckerd participated in the squad's initial mission: the liberation of several Republic prisoners of war held within an Imperial outpost. However, the intelligence they received about the mission proved inaccurate, forcing the squad to confront a larger enemy force than anticipated. Despite this disadvantage, the squad successfully rescued all the prisoners and escaped, sustaining significant injuries but without any fatalities.
In the years that followed this operation, Eckerd, along with other members of his squad, was selected for recruitment into the Republic Special Forces Division's covert black ops program. Under the direction of General Elin Garza, the squad was assigned the task of assassination of Imperial leaders. This squad, later known as the "Surgeons," soon extended their targets to include the families of those they were assigned to kill, intending to send a message to the Empire. However, their targeting of civilians ultimately led to the Republic arresting Eckerd and his comrades for war crimes. The squad, displaying pride in their actions, readily confessed, resulting in their imprisonment within a detention center located on the planet of Berrun. Despite their youth at the time of their arrest, the severity of their offenses resulted in life sentences. Sergeant Rusk, later seeking information about the disappearance of his former squadmates, was disheartened to uncover their service history and subsequent imprisonment.
Eckerd began as a loyal soldier, but his time in the Special Forces black ops program transformed the trooper into a killer devoid of respect for the ethical standards of warfare. Eckerd took pride in the Surgeons' targeting of civilians, confessing to the Republic upon their arrest and asserting the justness of their actions. Sergeant Rusk, who regarded Eckerd and his comrades as the finest soldiers he had ever commanded, was deeply troubled to discover the extent of their transformation, particularly their targeting of women and children.
Eckerd is mentioned by the Jedi Knight companion character Fideltin Rusk in Star Wars: The Old Republic, a video game released in 2011 by BioWare and LucasArts. While Rusk's squad is initially referenced in the conversation titled "Bad Intel," the names of Karsim, Naja, and Eckerd are not revealed until the conversation "Vanished."