Mr. John Donovan is a retired soldier, the son of a retired soldier, and the grandson of a soldier of the Great War, and can trace a martial lineage back to a member of Roger's Rangers. He views himself as the least distinguished of the lot, and his ribbon rack reflects that. Like his father and grandfather, he served the guns of the Field Artillery. He also dabbled in Operations and was one of the first Simulations Operations officers to be named in that career field. In addition, he has a brief as a WMD response planner, and has worked as a military historian. He's classic middle class, with a Master's that he paid for, but doesn't use. Since he hung up the tye-dyed green clothing, he has worked as an analyst for a middling-sized defense contractor, doing mostly simulation development, management, and of late, analytical work. He raised the ramparts of Castle Argghhh! in September of 2003, as a place to explain what the media could not or would not (or when they did, badly), as well as to provide a forum to show that people who happened to own a whole lot of firearms weren't necessarily menaces to society, waiting to suddenly burst forth in a roseate fire of mayhem and malice. He blogs things military, 2nd Amendment, and politics, and is prone to posting bad jokes now and then. When he's not being a gadfly to DoD about getting their story out, he is a gentleman farmer. He is married to a fellow blogger, has one son, eight cats, two dogs, two horses, five goats, and an uncounted number of chickens and guinea fowl, plus 7 horses a-boarding. All resident on the 80 acre motte and bailey in northeast Kansas, where he and his wife sit in the hot tub after putting up the hay and wave at the blue-bloods flying overhead as they travel from coast to coast marveling at the bitter people clinging to bibles and guns below them. All that clinging is a challenge, since we also like big margaritas (rocks and salt, please) and have to keep at least one hand free for those.

Ward Carroll is the editor of Military.com, responsible for all news, editorials, commentaries, and other content on the site and in newsletters. During his 20-year Navy career Ward served in four different F-14 squadrons accumulating more than 2,800 flight hours in operations that included five extended aircraft carrier deployments to hostile regions. His last tour on active duty was at his alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy, where he taught English, leadership, and ethics. He retired at the rank of commander. Immediately following his retirement, he worked as the communications director for the V-22 Osprey program at the Naval Air Systems Command. Ward’s writing has appeared in a wide variety of periodicals including Golf World, Hits, and Proceedings. He was editor of Approach magazine as a lieutenant and in recent years wrote the popular “Grampaw Pettibone” column for Naval Aviation News. His three novels about a Tomcat pilot -- Punk's War (2001), Punk's Wing (2003), and Punk's Fight (2004) -- have been widely praised for their realistic portrayals of a Naval Aviator's life. He earned the Naval Institute Press’ “Author of the Year” honors in 2001. He has two other published works: The Aide (2005) and Militia Kill (2006). He currently blogs at Defensetech.org and his personal site, wardcarroll.com. Ward’s military decorations include the Strike Flight Air Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards). He is married with two teenaged sons and splits his time between southern Maryland and San Francisco.

Pete Geren joined the Department of Defense in September of 2001 to serve as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense with responsibilities in the areas of inter-agency initiatives, legislative affairs and special projects. Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Geren was an attorney and businessman in Fort Worth, Texas. From 1989 until his retirement in 1997, Geren was a member of the U.S. Congress, representing the Twelfth Congressional District of Texas for four terms. He served on the Armed Services, Science & Technology and the Public Works and Transportation Committees during his tenure in the Congress. Geren received his BA degree from the University of Texas in 1974 and his JD from University of Texas Law School in 1978.