The author, Sam Hatcher, is an award winning journalist and former newspaper editor and publisher. He is an alumnus of Cumberland University, a member of the university's board of Trust, a former faculty member at Cumberland and Lipscomb University. After some 36 years of service he retired at the rank full colonel from the Army National Guard where his record of service included stints in the Middle East, Europe, South and Central America and a final assignment at the Pentagon chairing a National Guard Communications Board.