F. J. ‘Bing’ West served in Marine infantry in Vietnam and as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan administration. He is a graduate of Georgetown University (BA) and Princeton University (MA), where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. He is currently president of the GAMA Corporation, which designs wargames and combat decisionmaking simulations.

West is the author of several books, including: Small Unit Action in Vietnam, The Village, Naval Forces and National Security. The Pepperdogs: a Novel, The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the US Marines, and No True Glory: a Frontline Account of the Battle of Fallujah. The March Up was awarded the Marine Corps Heritage prize for nonfiction, as well as the Colby award for military nonfiction. For Univeral Studios, West is writing the screenplay with his son, Owen, who served in Force Recon in Iraq. (See www.westwrite.com.) West appears on The News Hour and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.