Dr. Richard W. Stewart retired as chief historian of the US Army in October 2015 after 40 years of combined service both as a civilian, in the reserves, and on active duty. He received his PhD from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1986. His historical works include War in the Persian Gulf: Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, August 1990-March 1991 , The United States Army in Somalia, 1992-1994 , Operation Urgent Fury: The Invasion of Grenada, October 1983 , and U.S. Army in Afghanistan: Operation Enduring Freedom, October 2001 to March 2002 . He served as the general editor of the two-volume American Military History and was coauthor with Brig.

Gen. (Ret.) John S. Brown of American Armed Forces and Battles in the Pacific: World War II for the American Battle Monuments Commission. As an Army officer, Stewart deployed to the Persian Gulf for Desert Storm, Somalia in 1993, Bosnia in 1997, and Afghanistan in 2002, retiring as a colonel in June 2002. He lives in the Washington, DC, area.