Bing West Francis J . " Bing " West ( Boston , Massachusetts , May 2 , 1940 ) is an American author and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs during the Reagan Administration . His 2004 book " The March Up : Taking Baghdad with the First Marine Division " , written with United States Marine Corps General Ray L . Smith , received the 2004 William E . Colby Award , as well as the 2004 General Wallace M . Greene , Jr . Award given by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation for " distinguished non - fiction dealing with U . S . Marines or Marine Corps life . " West writes about the military , warfighting , and counterinsurgency . In the Vietnam War , he fought in major operations and conducted over a hundred combat patrols in 1966 - 68 . For the United States Marine Corps , he wrote the training manual " Small Unit Action in Vietnam " , describing how to fight in close combat . As an analyst at the RAND Corporation , he wrote a half dozen detailed monographs about fighting against an insurgency . Later , as Assistant Secretary of Defense , he dealt with the insurgencies in El Salvador . From 2003 through 2008 , he made 16 extended trips to Iraq , going on patrols and writing three books and numerous articles about the war . Since then , he has made six trips to Afghanistan . Life and career . West is from the Massachusetts communities of Dorchester , Boston , Milton and Scituate . He is a graduate of Georgetown University ( BA ) and Princeton University ( MA ) , where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow . West was an infantry officer in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War . He served with a Combined Action Platoon that fought for 485 days in a remote village . He was also a member of the Marine Force Reconnaissance team that initiated " Operation Stingray " : small unit attacks behind enemy lines . He authored a study at the RAND Corporation entitled " The Strike Teams : Tactical Performance and Strategic Potential " . This paper was the featured event at the 1970 Department of Defense Counterinsurgency Research and Development Symposium . The RAND Military Systems Simulations Group implemented a classified model of West ' s concept . This doctrinal innovation was directly opposed by Military Assistance Command Vietnam ( MACV ) , which favored the Army ' s concept of Air - Mobility " Fire and Thunder Operations " . By way of rebuttal , West wrote " The Village " , chronicling the daily lives of 15 Marines who protected Vietnamese villagers by living among them in their hamlets . The book became a classic of practical counterinsurgency and has been on the Marine Corps Commandant ’ s Required Reading List for 36 years . West served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Ronald Reagan administration , and chaired the United States Security Commissions with El Salvador , Morocco , Tunisia , Egypt , Israel , Jordan , Pakistan , South Korea , and Japan . He is currently president of the GAMA Corporation , which designs wargame s and combat decision - making simulations . Among other awards , West is the recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal , the Department of the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Medal , and Tunisia ' s Medaille de Liberté . A member of the Council on Foreign Relations , the Middle East Institute , the Military Order of the Carabao , and the Infantry Order of St . Crispin , he appears frequently on C - SPAN and " The News Hour " on PBS . Writing . West is the author of seven books . His collaboration with retired Marine Major General Ray " E - Tool " Smith , " The March Up " , was awarded the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation ' s General Wallace M . Greene , Jr . Award for non - fiction , as well as the William E . Colby Award for military history . West also authored a foreword for " Boredom by Day , Death by Night : An Iraq War Journal " by Marine Sergeant Seth Conner . The Veterans of Foreign Wars presented West with its National Media Award in 2005 , after he wrote the book " No True Glory : A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah " . His book " The Strongest Tribe " , is a history of the Iraq War that was a " New York Times " Best Seller and was ranked by " Foreign Affairs " magazine as # 7 among the top foreign policy books of 2009 . In " The Strongest Tribe " and in a subsequent article in " Military Review " about counterinsurgency lessons , West argued that the current doctrine of nation - building and winning hearts and minds by economic development was based on Western liberal theory rather than the realities of battle . West has grave reservations about extolling the effects of " non - kinetic COIN " ( counterinsurgency ) . He believes that the warriors , not the people , defeat warriors , and that America ' s mistake in both Iraq and Afghanistan was to concede all authority to appoint and to remove for cause military and police officers . He believes insurgencies proceed from the bottom up , and must be dealt with at the local level . To that extent , each American battalion operates as a separate franchise . Variations among units are extraordinary because the high command has lacked a set of practical guiding principles . His articles have appeared in " The Wall Street Journal " , " The New York Times " , " The Atlantic " , " The National Review " , and " The Washington Post " . Personal life . West lives with his wife , Elizabeth , in Newport , Rhode Island . He has a daughter Kaki West , who is a Los Angeles - based model - turned - actress and a son , Patrick West who is an events professional in New York City . References . Notes Sources