Dr. Bill McCollum joined the Command and General Staff College leadership faculty in November 2005.  His education and leadership experience include an EdD, Organizational Leadership, Air War College and US Army Command and General Staff College, Commander of 1^st Battalion (AH-64 Apache), 4^th Aviation Regiment, and Vice President for University Relations at Baker University’s main campus in Baldwin City, KS.  Dr. McCollum now serves as an Associate Professor of Leadership, leading a teaching team and section of 18 faculty and 80 students.

Major Bill Putnam is currently serving as a battalion executive officer and he is slated to deploy in 2013.  He has previously served in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  Major Putnam has a master's degree in international relations from the London School of Economics, and is the author of Tales From the Tigris, a book that chronicles his first deployment to Iraq in 2003-2004 when he ran the Baghdad Mosquito. 

Bing West served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan administration. A graduate of Georgetown and Princeton Universities, he served in the Marine infantry. He was a member of the Force Recon team that initiated attacks behind North Vietnamese lines.

He wrote the counterinsurgency classic, The Village, that has been on the Commandant's Reading List for 40 years. His books have won the Marine Corps Heritage Prize, the Colby Award for Military History, the VFW Media Award and the General Goodpaster Soldier-scholar Award. He has been on hundreds of patrols and operations throughout Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Bing is a member of St. Crispin's Order of the Infantry and the Council on Foreign Relations.

U.S. Army Pfc. Tymothy Quigg contributed to this article. Capt. Couture and Pfc.Quigg were stationed at FOB Sharana, Afghanistan in 2011-2012 with the 578th Engineer Battalion, Task Force Mad Dog Intelligence Section. The mission focused on three lines of effort: Partnership Effects, Construction Effects, and Route Clearance Effects throughout Paktika, Paktia, Khowst, and Ghazni Provinces.

Colonel (USA ret) Bob Killebrew writes and consults on national defense issues as a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. His most recent writings include The Crossover of Urban Gang Warfare and Terrorism (National Strategy Forum, Fall 2008) and Terror at the Border for Armed Forces Journal, December, 2008. With Jennifer Bernal he authored the CNAS study Crime Wars; Gangs, Cartels and U.S. National Security, published in 2010. He is currently working with Matthew Irvine on U.S. – Colombian security policy.

Brad Freden has been a Foreign Service Officer for 22 years.  He is currently assigned to the U.S. Naval War College, where he is completing a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies.  His previous assignments include Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge’ d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Ljubljana, Slovenia; Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs in Sofia, Bulgaria; Political-Military Affairs Officer in Prague, Czech Republic; Political Officer in Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Vice Consul in Merida, Mexico. He also served in Washington in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and the State Department Operations Center. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Freden served in the U.S. Air Force.  Mr. Freden is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where he received a Master of Arts in International Relations, and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he majored in International Politics. He is originally from California.

Brad Fultz is a Marine Captain currently serving his second tour in Afghanistan. The idea for this article is based off of personal experience in Helmand Province in 2009-2010 as well as the reading and studying of Afghan history and the state building process.    

Col Bradley E. Weisz was assigned as the Deputy CJ3, ISAF Joint Command in Kabul, Afghanistan supporting Operation ENDURING FREEDOM during this writing.  He participated in the MTT deployments to the ISAF Joint Command Regional Commands and Afghanistan National Security Forces Commands.  He is currently assigned as the Deputy Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group TWO, Little Creek, Virginia.  His background is aviation command and control. 

CPT Brandon Anderson is the AS3 for 1-307th TSBn in FT Dix, NJ. He has served in command and staff positions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea, and the United States, including commander HHC/4-23 IN, Zabul and Helmand Provinces, Afghanistan(2009-2010);  Police Mentoring Team Leader and ARSIC J3A, Helmand and Kandahar Provinces, Afghanistan (2007-2008); and Platoon Leader, D co. 1-506th IN, Al-Anbar, Iraq (2004-2005). He is a graduate of the Infantry Captain’s Career Course, Ranger School, and Airborne School. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Art, Philosophy, and Literature from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Brandon C. Miller is a civilian All-Source Intelligence Analyst. His past experience includes Non-Commissioned Officer experience in the 10^th Mountain Division with deployments to Hawijah, Iraq in 2007-08, and Kunduz, Afghanistan in 2010. Brandon currently works in the field of counter-terrorism. Special thanks to Benjamin York, PMP and LTC Christina Bloss, for editorial review. 

Dr. Brandt Smith is a Social Scientist with 20+ years of experience in Iraq, Taiwan, Thailand, China and Myanmar (Burma).  Most recently, Dr. Smith completed his second tour of duty as a Department of Army Civilian in Iraq where he embedded with the US Army.  His 5 ½ years in Iraq had him traveling the entire country connecting with Kurds, Sunnis and Shi’a interviewing hundreds of Iraqi nationals nationwide.  From 2006-2008 he served as director of a non-government organization (NGO) and later as a Human Terrain System, Social Scientist in eight southern Iraqi provinces.

Brenda Bi Hui Ong is currently reading for an MA in Security Studies program (2012) at Georgetown University, and works for the Singapore Police Force. She also holds a BA (Hons) in Politics, Psychology and Sociology (2011) from the University of Cambridge.

Captain Brett Friedman is a Field Artillery Officer and works at Training and Education Command in Quantico, Virginia. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University and is currently working on a Master’s Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies through the Naval War College Distance Education Graduate Degree Program. He blogs at the Marine Corps Gazette blog and can be followed on Twitter at the handle @brettfriedman. 

 CPT Brian J. Hancock was an Information Executive who joined the U.S. Army and completed basic training in 2006.  CPT Hancock is currently the Executive Officer and Effects Officer for the 307th Tactical Psychological Operations Company (Airborne) deployed to Kandahar Afghanistan in support of the 10th MTN Division (LI). 

Lieutenant Colonel Brian M. Michelson, U.S. Army, is currently serving as the Deputy Commander of the 95^th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne). His previous assignments include command and staff positions in Afghanistan, Iraq, South Korea, Laos and CONUS.