About Us
JOHN grew up in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. He attended Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia, where he was selected to the All-Conference Team for swimming and lettered in baseball. In 1999, John matriculated to the Virginia Military Institute as a member of the Class of 2003. While at VMI, John majored in History and International Studies and served as the managing editor of VMI's student newspaper, THE CADET. He studied counter-terrorism at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel and commissioned out of VMI's Air Force ROTC program. John has been published in The Washington Post, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and National Review, and was a contributor to the Encylopedia of World War I and World War II.
LTCOL P hails from the star city of the south, Roanoke, Virginia. A 1989 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, he is an artillery officer in the United States Marine Corps, with time in both the active and reserve sides. He served in Iraq in 2004. COL P came to OPFOR as a guest blogger, but has now joined the team full time. He also runs Rule 308, where he denounces gun control and other aspects of socialism, and proclaims the greatness of the United States.
LIGHTNING SLAB, aka Captain Charlie, is a Marine infantry officer and a 2001 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. He has been deployed four times, to include combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. When he's not blogging here at OPFOR, Lightning can be found at Lightning in the Sky.
Bullnav is a 1989 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, OPFOR's resident swabbie, and Lt Col P's Brother Rat. He was commissioned in the Navy and served on two submarines and a Destroyer Squadron staff. During that time he completed 3 overseas deployments: the Med, the AG, and the North Atlantic, earning Submarine Warfare Officer, Nuclear Powered Warship Engineer Qualifications, and the Submarine Command qualifications. Bullnav left active duty for the sweet life of a civilian puke in 2000, but hasn't hung up the uniform quite yet, as he continues to serve in a variety of assignments with the US Navy Reserve.
Townie 76 aka COL Hank was born in Lexington Virginia and graduated VMI in 1976. He entered the Army in November 1976 as an Armor Officer. He left the Army in 1984 and joined the Virginia Army National Guard where he remained until 1998 when he returned to Active Duty as a Title 10 Active Guard and Reserve Officer. He retired from the Army on 31 July 2006 and was recalled to active duty the next day where he is now beginning his third year as a recalled retiree. COL Hank has served in various Command and Staff assignments in his thirty two years of service, to include assignment in Korea, Germany, Kosovo, Iraq, and Kuwait. He currently is the Command Historian and Chief of the Red Team for United States Army Central (USARCENT aka as Third Army).
Richard S. Lowry is the award winning author of the best selling book, “Marines in the Garden of Eden,” Berkley, New York, 2006 and OPFOR's official guest blogger. He is an internationally recognized military historian and author. Richard served in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service from 1967-1975 and spent the time from 1975 to 2002 designing sophisticated integrated circuits for everything from aircraft avionics to home computers. Richard turned to serious writing after 9/11 and published “The Gulf War Chronicles,” iUniverse, New York, in 2002. He is currently working on his next book project. “The Surge” will tell of General Petraeus’ attempt to win the peace in Iraq. For more information on Richard and his work, visit http://www.marinesinthegardenofeden.com
