Bing West served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan administration. He was a member of force recon team Primness, which ambushed a North Vietnamese battalion thus initiating Operation Stingray, whose behind-the-lines tactics are the backdrop for The Pepperdogs. His nonfiction book The Village (Pocket Books) has received high praise for describing close combat. He was a lead CNN military analyst during Desert Storm. Three generations of Wests have served in Marine infantry and his firm, GAMA Corporation, conducts combat training for the Marine Corps. He lives in Newport, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. Contact him at www.westwrite.com and… www.pepperdogs.com.