R. Alan King (Born May 8, 1963) is an American soldier and award-winning author. He is a retired colonel, U.S. Army Reserve. He was awarded two

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

Medals with

Valor device Valor, valour, or valorous may mean: * Courage, a similar meaning * Virtue ethics, roughly "courage in defense of a noble cause" Entertainment * Valor (band), a Christian gospel music group * Valor Kand, a member of the band Christian Death * ' ...

and under his command, the 422 Civil Affairs Battion received the Presidential Unit Citation during "

Operation Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

Early life

Born on May 8, 1963, in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

, King grew up in northern Virginia. As a child, he moved with his family to

Woodbridge, Virginia Woodbridge is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince William County, Virginia, United States, located south of Washington, D.C.. Bounded by the Occoquan and Potomac rivers, Woodbridge had 44,668 residents at the 2020 census. Woodbridge o ...

, and in 1981 he graduated from

Woodbridge High School (Virginia) Woodbridge Senior High School is a public secondary school located in Lake Ridge (north-west of Woodbridge), Prince William County, Virginia, United States. History The school was founded in 1964 in the Marumsco Hills Subdivision due to extensi ...

in Woodbridge, Virginia.

Academics, honors and awards

King graduated from East Tennessee State University with a BS in criminal justice in 1987 and from

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs ...

with a Master of Arts in international relations and management in 1997. King graduated from the U.S. Air Force Air War College in 2002. He is pursuing a doctorate from the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

in International Development. He authored the book ''Twice Armed: An American Soldier's Battle for Hearts and Minds in Iraq'', Zenith Press 2006, that won the 2008 William E.

Colby Award The William E. Colby Military Writers' Award was established in 1999 by the William E. Colby Military Writers' Symposium at Norwich University in Vermont in order to recognize "a first work of fiction or non-fiction that has made a major contributi ...

for significant contributions to international relations and intelligence operations. King was recognized by Oklahoma State University for outstanding contributions to the political issues in Iraq and designated an honorary Henery G. Bennett Distinguished Fellow in 2007. On September 11, 2006, King testified before the House of Representatives, Subcommittee for National Security on the security situation in Iraq.

Military career

King enlisted in the Maryland Army National Guard as an infantryman in 1983. He was commissioned Infantry in the Army Reserve in 1985 and then into the Regular Army in the Adjutant General Corps in 1987. He served with the XVIII Airborne Corps and later in the 7th Special Forces Group (Abn) deploying in support of " Operation Just Because". King transferred into the Army Reserve in 1991 and branch transferred into Civil Affairs. He served as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Personnel, United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Abn) from 1992 to 1997. King then attended the Psychological Operations Officers Course and commanded the 310th PSYOP Company in Georgia. He assumed command of the 422d Civil Affairs Battalion in July 2001. King served as the senior civil-military advisor to the 3rd Infantry Division during "

" and received two Bronze Star Medals for Valor and two Bronze Star Medals for achievement (2003–2004). He and the 422d Civil Affairs Battalion were credited with capturing three individuals from the infamous "Deck of Cards," and almost a dozen of the top 200 most wanted, including "Baghdad Bob" and the Chairman of Atomic Energy. While under his command, the 422d Civil Affairs Battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Several Civil Affairs teams from the battalion were under the tactical control of maneuver units from the 3rd Infantry Division.

References

External links

King discusses ''Twice Armed''
at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was founded in 2003, and its spe ...

on June 12, 2008 * {{DEFAULTSORT:King, R. Alan Living people American male writers East Tennessee State University alumni Webster University alumni American chief executives United States Army civilians 1963 births