Ralph Peters

This article is about the military officer, novelist and essayist. For the president of the Long Island Rail Road, see Ralph Peters (LIRR).

Ralph Peters
Born	(1952-04-19) April 19, 1952 Pottsville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	Pennsylvania State University
Alma mater	St. Mary's University, Texas (MA)
Occupations	Former U.S. Army officer, military analyst, writer
Political party	Independent
Spouses	Janice Stickler (divorced) Marion Ann Martin (divorced) Katherine McIntire ​ (m. 1994)​
Parent(s)	Ralph Heinrich Peters Alice Catherine (née Parfitt) Peters

Ralph Peters (born April 19, 1952) is a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and author.

In addition to his non-fiction books, he has published eight novels under the pen name Owen Parry, including Honor's Kingdom, which was awarded the Hammett Prize. Three of his novels published as Ralph Peters received the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction.

Early life and education

Peters was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and grew up in nearby Schuylkill Haven. He is of German and Lutheran descent on his father's side, and Welsh and Methodist descent on his mother's. His father was a coal miner and businessman.

His wife, Katherine McIntire Peters, is the deputy editor of Government Executive, a division of Atlantic Media.

Career

Military

Peters enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1976 following his graduation from Pennsylvania State University.

Peters' first assignment was in Germany. After returning from Germany, he attended Officer Candidate School and received a commission in 1980. He served with 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment, then part of the 1st Armored Division.

Peters spent ten years in Germany working in military intelligence, and was later appointed a Foreign Area Officer, where he specialized in the Soviet Union. He attended the Command and General Staff College. His last assignment was in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence. He retired in 1998 as a lieutenant colonel, following 22 years of military service.

Author

Peters's first novel, Bravo Romeo, a spy thriller set in West Germany, was published in 1981. His subsequent novels progressed from futuristic scenarios involving the Soviet Army to themes such as contemporary terrorism and failed state issues. His protagonists are often presented as military mavericks who have the knowledge and courage to tackle problems others cannot or will not. In 2008, he published the memoir Looking for Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World. His novel The War After Armageddon was released in 2009. He is a regular contributor to the military history website Armchair General and also serves on its Advisory Board.

Peters has also written a number of historical war novels about the American Civil War that have been well received and recognized with the Hammett Prize and the W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction.

He has published numerous essays on strategy in military journals such as Parameters, Military Review, and Armed Forces Journal, as well as reports for the United States Marine Corps (see Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities). Peters formerly wrote a regular opinion column for the New York Post and has written essays and guest columns for USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Monthly, and Army magazine. He is a member of the Board of Contributors for USA Today's Forum Page, part of the newspaper's Opinion section.

Views

Iraq War

Peters strongly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ensuing Iraq War. In July 2017, Fox News host Tucker Carlson told Peters: "I would hate to go back and read your columns assuring America that taking out Saddam Hussein will make the region calmer, more peaceful, and America safer when, in fact, it has done exactly the opposite, and it has empowered Russia and Iran, the two countries you say you fear most."

Afghanistan

In February 2009, Peters called for U.S. troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan, writing, "we've mired ourselves by attempting to modernize a society that doesn't want to be – and cannot be – transformed." He continued, "We needed to smash our enemies and leave. Had it proved necessary, we could have returned later for another punitive mission. Instead, we fell into the great American fallacy of believing ourselves responsible for helping those who've harmed us."

Bowe Bergdahl

Peters expressed sympathy for POW Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's family, but speculated (Fox News, July 19, 2009) that Bergdahl might be "an apparent deserter ... if he walked away from his post and his buddies in wartime – I don't care how hard it sounds – as far as I'm concerned the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills." He characterized Bergdahl's description (in the Taliban produced video) of U.S. military behavior in Afghanistan as collaboration with the enemy, even if coerced. Peters hoped Bergdahl would be reunited with his family, but argued that the US media had glorified one captured soldier who Peters claimed had shamed his unit and lied, while ignoring genuine heroes and casualties (The O'Reilly Factor, July 21).

Donald Rumsfeld

In 2011, Peters criticized former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying: "I am allergic to Rumsfeld. We did a great thing in Iraq, but we did it very badly. He is an extremely talented man but he has the tragic flaw of hubris. His arrogance is unbearable. My friends in uniform just hate him."

Obama foreign policy

During Stuart Varney's Fox Business Network show on December 7, 2015, Peters referred to President Barack Obama as a "total pussy", leading Fox News to suspend him for two weeks.

Russia

In July 2017, Peters said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is comparable" to Adolf Hitler. "He hates America. He wants to hurt us. ... Russia is evil. Russia is our enemy."

Israel

Peters praised President Donald Trump for his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Fox News

In March 2018, Peters publicly quit his role as an expert commentator on Fox News. In his farewell letter to colleagues, he wrote:

Four decades ago, I took an oath as a newly commissioned officer. I swore to "support and defend the Constitution," and that oath did not expire when I took off my uniform. Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed.

In the same letter, he also called the Trump administration "ethically ruinous" and accused Fox News of "harming our system of government for profit", calling the network a "propaganda machine" for the Trump administration. On Anderson Cooper 360°, Peters likened Trump's behavior to sedition.

Awards

In 2013, Peters was named as the recipient of the W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction from the American Library Association for his novel Cain at Gettysburg. He received the award again in 2014 for Hell or Richmond and in 2016 for Valley of the Shadow and in 2020 for Darkness at Chancellorsville.

In 2002, he received the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch (IACW/NA) for Honor's Kingdom.

Bibliography

Novels

• As Ralph Peters
  • Bravo Romeo – 1981
  • Red Army – 1989
  • The War in 2020 – 1991
  • Flames of Heaven: A Novel of the End of the Soviet Union – 1993
  • The Perfect Soldier – 1995
  • Twilight of Heroes – 1997
  • The Devil's Garden – 1998
  • Traitor – 1999
  • The War After Armageddon – 2009
  • The Officers' Club – 2011
  • Cain at Gettysburg – 2012
  • Hell or Richmond – 2013
  • Valley of the Shadow – 2015
  • The Damned of Petersburg – 2016
  • Judgment at Appomattox – 2017
  • Darkness at Chancellorsville: A Novel of Stonewall Jackson's Triumph and Tragedy – 2019
• As Owen Parry
  • Faded Coat of Blue – 1999 ; OCLC 41035507
  • Shadows of Glory – 2000 ; OCLC 44949833
  • Call Each River Jordan – 2001 ; OCLC 48754087
  • Honor's Kingdom – 2002 ; OCLC 48613435
  • The Bold Sons of Erin – 2003 ; OCLC 52041095
  • Our Simple Gifts: Civil War Christmas Tales – 2004 ; OCLC 49699128
  • Strike the Harp!: American Christmas Stories – 2004 ; OCLC 54529066
  • The Rebels of Babylon: a Novel – 2005 ; OCLC 56068791
• As Robert Paston
  • The Hour of the Innocents – 2014

Nonfiction

• Fighting for the Future: Will America Triumph? – 1999
• Beyond Terror: Strategy in a Changing World – 2002
• Beyond Baghdad: Postmodern War and Peace – 2003
• New Glory: Expanding America's Global Supremacy – 2005
• Never Quit the Fight – 2006
• Wars of Blood and Faith: The Conflicts That Will Shape the 21st Century – 2007
• Looking For Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World – 2008
• Endless War – 2010
• Lines of Fire: A Renegade Writes on Strategy, Intelligence, and Security – 2011

Sources

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.

External links

• Interview on New Glory at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on September 21, 2005
• Interview on Wars of Blood and Faith at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on November 29, 2007
• Constant Conflict Archived April 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • In Depth interview with Peters, August 3, 2008