I often am asked how I became interested in the Falkland Islands War. It might seem a little unusual to some that an American military man became so interested in a British war and eventually wrote a book about it. In 1982, my family and I were stationed in Panama, and I was serving in a position that afforded me the opportunity to see lots of message traffic about the Falklands War. I had absolutely no involvement in that war, but I became fascinated by what the British achieved. As a logistician, I was amazed at how they pulled off that victory with so little wherewithal at the start and facing so many setbacks. A few years later, I was attending a military school and faced some writing requirements. I chose to focus on the Falklands War. Hardly anything was in print at the time, and so I wrote to one of the commanders who was there; he was kind enough to answer my many questions. Eventually I went to England and met with several of the key leaders. That increased my interest even more. A half a dozen years later, in the early 1990s, I had more time to research and write about the war when I was a military fellow at the Hoover Institution of War, Revolution and Peace. It was then that I started expanding my work into a book. I made my second of three trips to England at that time to interview people and continue my research. Eventually, however, my budding book project became sidetracked by needs of my military career and then another career in industry. Upon retirement, though, I was committed to finishing my project. With the help of many in the UK and certainly my wife, Kathy, I eventually completed it. By then I was amazed that no one had told the logistics story. The logistics behind the stunning British victory is so incredible that I just expected someone to tell the story before I did. I am grateful no one did.
