IACSP Q&A With Bing West

A graduate of Georgetown and Princeton Universities, Francis J. “Bing” West fought as a Marine infantry officer in the Vietnam War and later served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs under President Reagan. He is also the author of best-selling books about war and the Marine Corps.

His books include “The Village,” which has been on the Marine Commandant’s Reading List for 40 years; “The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq,” “The Wrong War,” a history of the Afghanistan war, “Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead,” written with General James Mattis, and his current novel, “The Last Platoon: A Novel of the Afghanistan War.”

Public Service Award and the Department of Navy’s Distinguished Civilian Service Medal. He is also the recipient (twice) of Marine Corps Heritage, the Colby Military History Award, the General Goodpaster Prize for Military Scholarship, the Free Press Award, the Father Clyde Leonard Award, the Marine Corps Russell Award for Leadership, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Media Award.

He has covered numerous wars as a combat correspondence and his articles have appeared in The Wall St. Journal, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The National Review, The Washington Post and other publications.

He is a member of the Hoover Military Historians Working Group at Stanford University, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Infantry Order of St. Crispin.

He was interviewed by Paul Davis.

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