Who am I?
I spent nearly 30 years working for the U.S. government on defense-related subjects, including intelligence analysis, military operations research, book and report writing, and editing and briefing reports in support of the Department of Defense, the Armed Services, Central Intelligence Agency, National Guard, and others. During my career I authored or co-authored more than 50 articles, reports, and books on military history, combat modeling and simulations, irregular and asymmetrical warfare, urban warfare, landmines, and other defense-related issues.
My books include Artillery Hell (with Curt Johnson), Hitler’s Last Gamble (with Trevor N. Dupuy and David Bongard), Cracking Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, American Thunder, Tough ’Ombres in Normandy, and hopefully many more.
I have always had a fascination of history in general and military history in particular. I grew up as an Army Brat. Of course I was interested in military history, I was born at Fort Knox Kentucky for Pete’s sake!
My Dad was a career Army officer - first Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft), then Antiaircraft Artillery, and finally Air Defense Artillery, which was all the same thing - shooting down enemy aircraft. He retired in 1969 but I pursued my interest through college studies and war gaming and finally I got a job putting my knowledge to use, working for Trevor N. Dupuy at HERO/DMSi doing analytical studies for the Department of Defense in the late Cold War.
Trevor and his Dad, R. Earnest Dupuy had written a wonderful series of military history books geared to young adults - the 12-volume Military History of World War I and the 18-volume Military History of World War II - which I had read avidly when younger, as well as many other adult titles. And now I was working for him (R. Earnest had died 12 years before I started working for Trevor).
Trevor was a character, a retired U.S. Army Colonel (Field Artillery) who had served with Omar Bradley, Douglas MacArthur, and may others. He firmly believed in the two-Martini lunch and riding in a car driven by him was an experience - his driving habits were apparently ingrained in him while speeding through the jungles of Burma in a Jeep. We all believed his motto was “Death Before Downshift!”
After Trevor died in 1995, I continued to work for the Dupuy Institute, which was created to carry on his work. However, in 2008 financial problems with the Institute led me to seek work elsewhere and I spent the next eight years working for other defense contractors. And I began writing books on my own.
Photograph courtesy of Jolly Sienda Photography and Studio, Bremerton, Washington. https://www.jollysiendaphotography.com/
