NICHOLAS IRVING spent six years in the Army's Special Operations 3rd Ranger Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment, serving from demolitions assaulter to Master Sniper. He was the first African American to serve as a sniper in his battalion and is now the owner of HardShoot, where he trains personnel in the art of long-range shooting, from Olympians to members of the Spec Ops community. He also appeared as a mentor on the Fox reality show American Grit and is the New York Times bestselling author of The Reaper, The Way of the Reaper, and a series of military thrillers featuring Vic The Reaper Harwood. He lives in San Antonio, Texas. Brigadier General A. J. TATA, U.S. Army (Retired), commanded combat units in the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and the 10th Mountain Division. His last combat tour was in Afghanistan in 2007 where he earned the Combat Action Badge and Bronze Star Medal. He is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Sudden Threat, Rogue Threat, and Hidden Threat. He is a frequent foreign policy guest commentator on Fox News, CNN, CBS News, and The Daily Buzz. NBC's Today Show featured General Tata's career transition from the army to education leadership where he has served as the Chief Operations Officer of Washington, DC Public Schools for firebrand Chancellor Michelle Rhee and as the Superintendent of the 16th largest school district in the nation in Wake County/Raleigh, North Carolina.