What is the Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters story?
I’m a coal-miner’s son. My family had dramatic ups and downs. I was a wild kid. I joined the Army as an enlisted man in 1976. The Army straightened me out. I became an officer through OCS. I picked up a couple of degrees along the way and started writing essays and novels while still on active duty. After serving as a Military Intelligence officer in conventional units, I became a Foreign Area Officer specializing in the dying Soviet Union and the “new” Russia. I Got tapped as the Army’s global scout and found myself in dozens of different countries, from Bolivia to Burma. My job wasn’t to pull triggers, but to observe other countries in crisis and report back. It was a fascinating chance to see just how ugly humanity can get, from refugee camps to roadblocks manned by drunken thugs. I loved the Army and serving our country, but I chose to retire in 1998, shortly after promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel, since I was outraged by the Clinton administration’s passivity in the fac
