Bob Orkand, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel of infantry, served on the staff of the U.S. Commander Berlin at the height of the Cold War. In Vietnam, he was operations officer of an airmobile infantry battalion of the 1st Cavalry Division. He commanded a mechanized infantry battalion in the prototype Volunteer Army brigade and later was Pentagon spokesman on the Volunteer Army project. After retirement, he was president and publisher of the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania. He has a degree in English from Columbia University, where he was awarded the Bunner Medal in American Literature.