Bing West
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Francis J. ‘Bing’ West, originally from the Dorchester section of Boston, served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. A true warrior-scholar, West authored an extremely influential study while a Visiting Research Associate at the RAND Corporation 1966 - 1968 entitled: "The Strike Teams: Tactical Performance and Strategic Potential". This paper was presented at the Annual DoD Counter insurgency Research and Development Symposium, October 1968. The RAND Military Systems Simulations Group implemented a classified model of this concept. This doctrinal innovation was directly opposed by MACV {Military Assistance Command Vietnam} in favor of the Army's concept of Air-Mobility "Fire and Thunder Operations".
He served 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 decision-making simulations.
West is the author of several books relating to the United States Military. His collaboration with retired Marine MajGen "E-Tool" Smith, The March Up, was awarded the Marine Corps Heritage prize for nonfiction, as well as the Colby award for military nonfiction. Critics of The March Up, including some active duty Marines, argue that the book does not accurately portray events at several stages of the invasion, particularly the battle for Nasiriyah. This charge appears to stem from the book's quick composition. Tellingly, the book carries no source notes and it is frequently difficult to discern reported fact from opinion in the narrative.
He is currently writing the screenplay for No True Glory with his son, Owen for Universal Studios. West appears on The News Hour on PBS and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
[edit] Books
- Small Unit Action in Vietnam, Summer 1966 ISBN 0-405-00018-9
- The Village ISBN 0-7434-5757-9
- The Pepperdogs: a Novel ISBN 0-7434-5643-2
- The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the US Marines ISBN 0-553-38269-1
- No True Glory: a Front-line Account of the Battle of Fallujah ISBN 0-553-80402-2
