Born and raised in California, I served in the U.S. Army from 1971 to 1974. I hold BA and MA degrees in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara. My professional career has included stints as the director of a naval museum in San Francisco and as a staff historian for both the Army and Air Force, but I’ve spent most of my working life as a journalist specializing in military affairs. During 18 years on the staff of Soldiers magazine I reported from throughout the United States and from Northern Ireland, Israel, Egypt, New Zealand, Bosnia, Kuwait and Iraq. After retiring as Soldiers’ managing editor, I spent 14 years as editor of Military History magazine.

I am also a longtime free-lancer on defense topics and aviation, military and maritime history. I have written for print and online magazines in both the United States and Great Britain, including Air & Space, Time, The Daily Beast, The History Channel, The History News Network, World War II, Jane’s Defense Weekly, Rotor & Wing, Ships Monthly, Sea Classics and Air Enthusiast, among others. I have been a featured speaker/author on media outlets including the BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, SiriusXM, Japan's NHK, Fox News and The John Batchelor Show. In addition, I have been an on-camera commentator for documentary films produced in the United States, the United Kingdom and Austria. I have written 12 non-fiction books. The most recent—"G.I. G-Men" (March 2026) was published by Kensington, while the previous five—"Escape from Paris" (Oct. 2019), "Dawn of Infamy" (Nov. 2016), "The Castaway's War" (May 2016), "Last to Die"​ (July 2015) and "The Last Battle"​ (May 2013)—were all published by Da Capo/Perseus/Hachette. "The Last Battle" made the New York Times best-seller list (twice), has been translated into 14 languages and is now in development by Endurance Media as a major motion picture.