Lieutenant Colonel Cabaniss, a native of Tucker, GA, was born on 14 September 1968. After graduating from Tucker High School, he attended the United States Naval Academy. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps on 30 May 1990, following graduation from the Naval Academy. He has been assigned to and served in the following FMF Units : 1st Battalion, 6th Marines (Jul 91-Sep 93) as Rifle Platoon Commander and Company XO; 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines (Jul 97 - May 00) as Battalion Logistics Officer, Rifle Company Commander, and Battalion Operations Officer; 8th Marine Regiment (Jun 06 - Sep 07), as Regimental XO, Individual Augment, Chief, Future Ops Section, Combined Forces Command/Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan; II MEF (Forward) (Sep 07 - Feb 08) as Senior Watch Officer; 2nd Marines DIV (Feb 08 - Jul 08) serving in G-3 Operations; 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines (Jul 08 - Jan 10) as CO; 2nd Marines DIV (Jan 10 - Present) in G-3 Operations.  LTC Cabaniss was also assigned to the following Supporting Establishment Units : Marine Corps Recruiting Station, Raleigh, NC (Sep 93 - Jun 96) as Operations Officer and XO; Marine Barracks, Washington D.C. (Jun 00 - Jul 03) as Operations Officer; Marine Military Aide to the President of the United States, The White House (Jun 04 - Aug 06).  He has also been assigned to the following schools on his tour of duty : The Basic School, Infantry Officer Course, Amphibious Warfare School, and USMC Command and Staff College.

Colonel Gian P. Gentile received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986 and was commissioned through ROTC as second lieutenant of Armor. He has served in command and staff positions in the continental United States, Germany, and Korea, and in Iraq in 2003 and 2006. In 2003 he was a Brigade Combat Team Executive Office in the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit. In 2006 he commanded a Cavalry Squadron in the 4th Infantry Division in west Baghdad. He is a graduate of the Army's School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) and he holds a doctorate in history from Stanford University. His book How Effective is Strategic Bombing? Lessons Learned from World War II to Kosovo, was published by New York University Press in 2000. He has had articles published in the Pacific Historical Review, Air Power History, Journal of Military History, Joint Forces Quarterly, Parameters, and Armed Forces Journal. He has also published numerous opinion articles in the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Times, International Herald Tribune, and Army Times. He is a member of the Armor Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Phi Beta Kappa. Currently he directs the Military History Program at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Jones was educated at Sherborne School and Reading University, where he read History. He joined the Army in 1990, commissioning into the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment and spending the next 6 years at Regimental Duty in the Armoured Infantry role in Germany as a Rifle and then Recce Platoon Commander, prior to taking over as Operations Officer and then Adjutant. During this time he served in both Northern Ireland and Bosnia.

Since then he has served for 2 years in the Ministry of Defence with responsibly for Military Aid to the Civil Authorities and Counter Terrorism before attendance at the Advanced Command and Staff Course. Thereafter he commanded a Rifle Company in 1st Battalion The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, before serving as Chief of Staff of 12 Mechanized Brigade, including a deployment to Iraq in 2005. In 2006 he took over as Military Assistant to the MOD’s Director of Operations (Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments)).

He has commanded 4th Battalion The Rifles since January 2008. The Battalion has just completed an 11-month commitment in Afghanistan, deploying in 2 tranches. He hands over command this summer and heads to the Advanced Command and Staff Course as an instructor.

He was appointed MBE in 2001 for his service in MOD. He is married with 3 children.

Colonel Lacroix enrolled in the Canadian Forces on 19 November 1975.

He has occupied various command and staff appointments including: Battery Comd of X Battery and Commanding Officer 5RALC; Detachment Commander Yukon Territories; and Deputy Commander JTF Afg/ TF Kandahar.

Staff appointments include EA Army DComd; LFWA G1; DLFR 5 LFC; J3 International 1, NDHQ; COS LFAA;LFC G1; and was recently appointed as Army DLFD.

Colonel Lacroix operational tours include: four years with 1 RCHA Germany, Cyprus, Haiti, East Timor and Afghanistan.

Colonel Lacroix enjoys all sports and is a wanna be hockey player and golfer. His enjoys all types of music particularly blues and enjoys reading mystery novels.

Major Adair joined 3 Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) in 2000 serving as a Rifle Platoon Commander for two years that included a deployment to Afghanistan as part of Operation APOLLO. He was then posted to National Defence Headquarters for two years as the Staff Officer to Director General Information Management and Strategic Direction. Major Adair returned to regimental duty to 2 PPCLI in 2004 and was a Company second in command during Operation ARCHER, Roto 1 (Afghanistan) in 2006. Upon return, he became the Adjutant of 2 PPCLI and was the Battle Group Operations Officer during Operation ATHENA, Roto 5 in 2008 . He is currently Officer Commanding C Company 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and has just returned from a deployment as part of Operation PODIUM; the Canadian Forces contribution to the security of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. He is slated to attend the Marine Corps Command and Staff College this summer.

Major Jim Gant is currently assigned to the Afghanistan Pakistan Hands (AFPAK Hands) Program as a Tribal Engagement Advisor. AFPAK Hands is designed to develop cadres of officers (and civilians) from each of the military’s services who agree to three to five year tours to the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Under the program, the Pentagon plans to assemble a dedicated cadre of about 600 officers and civilians who will develop skills in counterinsurgency, regional languages, and culture, and then be “placed in positions of strategic influence to ensure progress towards achieving US government objectives in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Gant, a Special Forces Officer, has served with the 1st Special Warfare Training Group and the 3rd, 5th and 12th Special Forces Groups to include tours as a Team Leader and Unconventional Warfare Instructor. In Iraq, he served as a Transition Team Leader with the Iraqi National Police Commando Battalion. Gant has also served as an infantry Rifle/ Scout Platoon Leader. His combat awards include the Silver Star, Army Commendation with Valor Device and the Iraqi National Police Medal of Honor. Gant is author of One Tribe at a Time.

Lester W. Grau is the Research Coordinator for the Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Defense Language Institute (Russian) and the U.S. Army's Institute for Advanced Russian and Eastern European Studies. He retired from the US Army in 1992 at the grade of Lieutenant Colonel. His military education included the Infantry Officers Basic and Advanced Courses, the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Air Force War College. His Baccalaureate and Masters degrees are in International Relations. His doctorate is in Military History. He served a combat tour in Vietnam, four European tours, a Korean tour and a posting in Moscow. He has traveled to the Soviet Union and Russia over forty times. He has also been a frequent visitor to the Asian subcontinent, especially Pakistan and Afghanistan. He visited Iraq in October 2003. He is a recent CENTCOM Fellow.

Les has published over one hundred articles and studies on tactical, operational and geopolitical subjects. His book, The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan was published in 1996. The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War , co-authored with Ali Jalali, was published in 1998. The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost was published in 2001. The Partisan’s Handbook and The Coils of the Anaconda: America’s First Conventional Battle in Afghanistan should be published this year. This year, he is also republishing General Skeen’s 1932 Passing It On: Short Talks on Tribal Fighting On the North-West Frontier of India.

Daniel Marston, DPhil. Oxford University, Fellow at the Royal Historical Society, holds the Ike Skelton Distiguished Chair in Counterinsurgency at the US Army Command and General Staff College. He was previously a Research Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University and a Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He is author of the Phoenix from the Ashes: The Indian Army in the Burma Campaign, 1942-45, winner of the 2003 Field Marshal Templer Medal, and co-editor of Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare (two editions). He has served as a visiting fellow at the Multi-National Forces Iraq Counterinsurgency Center for Excellence at Taji, Iraq, and advises the British, American and Australian militaries on Counterinsurgency history and doctrine. He has been advising in Iraq and Afghanistan, since 2006.

Dr. R. Scott Moore is currently on detail from OSD Policy to the Center for Complex Operations, serving as the Deputy Director. Prior to joining OSD Policy, he was the Senior Director for Stability Operations at the Center for Adaptive Strategies and Threats at Hicks and Associates, Inc. and a division chief at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). A Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer from 1976 to 2001, Dr. Moore participated in combat and complex operations in Latin America, Southwest Asia, the Balkans, and Africa and commanded units from platoon to battalion landing team. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1976, and holds an M.A. in History from Duke University, an M.A. in International Relations from Salve Regina University, and a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. He is also a graduate of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the Naval War College.