West's major books draw directly on his military experience. The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division (2003), co-written with his father, the military historian Bing West, chronicles the Marine drive on Baghdad during the 2003 invasion and won the William E. Colby Award. His second book, The Snake Eaters (2009), follows U.S. advisors embedded with Iraqi units and offers a candid assessment of counterinsurgency. Written from inside the ranks, his work is noted for its realism, moral clarity, and insight into the lives of American infantrymen in combat.
Owen West
Owen West is an American author, Marine Corps veteran, and former government official best known for his vivid, first-person accounts of modern warfare. He spent two decades in the Marine Corps, on active duty and in the reserves, fighting in the 1991 Gulf War and completing three combat tours in Iraq before retiring as a colonel. In parallel, he built a long career on Wall Street, becoming a managing director at Goldman Sachs. In 2017 he returned to public service as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, serving until 2020.