Acknowledgments

Nobody writes a book alone. From mentors to inspiration, to help with the minutia of research or life, this has been a team effort through and through. I am simply the lucky one able to put my name on the cover. I must first acknowledge all those whom I have had the honor of serving with throughout my career in the US Army, and especially those we lost in Iraq and Afghanistan; you are dearly missed. I hope that the effort that went into this book serves as an example of how to harness our experiences into new purpose and meaning. Many thanks also to Kyle Jahner and Marc DeVore, who provided the initial impetus for this study. That was the first time the Army Times has motivated me to do more than throw the magazine away.

My doctoral adviser, Peter Mansoor, has been a mentor par excellence. He provided an environment much like that I was used to in the Army, a classic officer–noncommissioned officer mentorship relationship, for which I am eternally grateful. Without his assistance and support, along with that of Geoffrey Parker, Lydia Walker, Mark Grimsley, David Steigerwald, Jennifer Siegel, R. Joseph Parrott, Randolph Roth, Christopher McKnight Nichols, Bartow Elmore, and the rest of the History Department faculty, this book would not have happened. Likewise, my Buckeye graduate school peers have been critical to my development as a historian: Ben St. Angelo, Max von Bargen, Rebecka Beard, Mitch Carter, Hugh “Buck” Gardenier, Benjamin Lyman, Paul McAllister, Carson Teuscher, and Guido Rossi. We made graduate school a “team sport,” and if it were not for a global pandemic, it might have been even more fun.

Also, thanks go to many outside Dulles Hall. My intellectual journey toward this project began at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and I owe a debt of gratitude to the many encouraging scholars I met there. I thank my professors in Chapel Hill, Joseph Glatthaar, Wayne Lee, and Miguel La Serna, for inspiring me to pursue graduate-level history. Mary Elizabeth Walters, Joseph Stieb, and J. Davis Winkie were incredible graduate student mentors there as well. Of course, the folks who helped ease my transition from paratrooper to academic go far beyond the historians I mention. Dana Copeland helped start me off on the right foot in the summer of 2017. Hilary Lithgow, professor of English at Chapel Hill, has provided invaluable guidance, mentorship, and coaching to develop my writing skills. Likewise, she is an invaluable resource for veterans making the transition to university life at Carolina. Without her, Shane Hale, and Luke Fayard, Chapel Hill might have been a dreary place for veterans. But most significantly, I must thank my dear friend Eric Michael Burke, who showed me that, yes, an enlisted grunt can do serious history.

Many others outside the campuses in Columbus and Chapel Hill have been incredible in so many ways. Ingo Trauschweizer and I had essential early conversations that shaped the research for this manuscript. Cavender Sutton, Adam Toering, Nate Finney, John Curatola, Ben Schneider, and Ruth Lawlor have all read chapters or assisted with the source material to make this work even better. Led by Gregory Daddis, Lorien Foote, Rob Citino, and Kara Dixon Vuic, the 2022 summer seminar in military history provided an inspiring group within the broader military history community that I lean on consistently. Steph Hinnershitz, Adam Givens, Jennifer Popowycz, Mike Bell, and Jeremy Collins, alongside fellow “Camp Clausewitz” campers Ryan Booth, Marjorie Galelli, Seth Givens, Hayley Hasik, Chris Juergens, Shaun Mawdsley, James Sandy, Ryan Reynolds, and the rest, have been vital sources of mentorship, advice, and sometimes emotional support.

The research for this book has been supported by generous funding from all over the country. Thanks to the Department of History at Ohio State University, the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, the Bradley Foundation, the Society for Military History, the Eisenhower Foundation, and the Truman Foundation for providing me with generous travel grants. Without this tremendous support, this book would not have been possible. The Mershon Center especially provided me with a second academic home at Ohio State. Dorry Noyes runs a tight ship, and her team of Kyle McCray, Andrew Mackey, and Dani Wollerman helped me grow as an academic and person while on campus.

Many thanks also to my colleagues at Fort Leavenworth at Army University Press. Especially to Roy Parker, who despite his cavalry nature, welcomed this old paratrooper with open arms, and alongside Donald Wright, Kate Dahlstrand, Randy Masten, Kevin Kennedy, Rob Thompson, Chris Carey, and so many others helped me find not only an intellectual home but a cultural one as well. I could not ask for a better job after making the probably ill-advised decision to go to graduate school.

No historical project is possible without those admirable archivists who “know where the bodies are buried.” The wonderful team within the National Archives and Presidential Library system, as well as the Library of Congress, were critical for digging through the vast army records system. The Bentley Historical Library and Anderson University Library were instrumental in getting me started while the large collections were closed during the pandemic. Without the assistance of Diana Bachman, Sarah McLusky, and Caitlin Moriarty at Michigan and Nicholas Stanton-Roark at Anderson, this work would have taken at least another year. Many thinks must also go to Abigail Gardner at the National Defense University Library; John Aarsen, Rafael Alvarez, and Chris Ruff at the 82nd Airborne Museum; Susan Lintelmann at the United States Military Academy Library; and Justine Melone and Thomas Buffenbarger at the US Army Heritage and Education Center.

I am deeply indebted to David Silbey, the series editor, and Bethany Wasik, my acquisitions editor at Cornell. They were instrumental in seeing my vision and helping bring it to fruition. They exhibited unfailing confidence in my project from the first time we spoke, a confidence I did not have in myself. Also, many thanks to Maysan Haydar, my fellow Buckeye and Mansoor advisee who finally introduced me to David. The two unnamed peer reviewers provided indispensable feedback that I endeavored to incorporate to make this book even better. I am humbled and honored to receive such amazing help from them and from the rest of my colleagues who have read this manuscript in full or in part. And, of course, my gratitude goes to the entire team at Cornell University Press, including Kristen Gregg and Karen Laun for helping me through the publication process. And to Glenn Novak, for taking a decent manuscript and making it shine. Thank you for helping make my dream of publishing a book become a reality.

But most of all, I must thank my family. My amazing parents, Fred and Debbie Williams, provided an essential foundation upon which to build my mind and were models for both parenthood and work ethic. My father passed away in 2003, and though he is the epitome of the working class and did not attend college, I am sure he is more than proud. My grandfather, who served as an officer in the US Army from 1943 to 1964, the primary years that this study concerns itself with, was likewise an inspiration for me to understand better the period in which he dedicated his life to service. With everyone blazing the trail, both figuratively and literally, this accomplishment is possible. And finally, my wife and children: Megan, Charlotte, and Franklin. Long days and nights pursuing this project have often made life difficult at home. Still, your encouragement and love have been nothing short of instrumental in completing this project. I love you and the kids more than I could ever express.

Any errors and shortcomings contained within the pages that follow remain the sole responsibility of the author. My sincere hope is that this book makes everyone proud, especially after having played such a vital role in this process. But most important are those to whom the book is dedicated.