Thomas J. Cutler is a retired lieutenant commander and former gunner's mate second class who served in patrol craft, cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft carriers. His varied assignments included an in-country Vietnam tour, small craft command, and nine years at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he served as Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Seamanship & Navigation Department and Associate Chairman of the History Department. While at the Academy, he was awarded the William P. Clements Award for Excellence in Education (military teacher of the year). He is the founder and former Director of the Walbrook Maritime Academy in Baltimore. Currently he is Fleet Professor of Strategy and Policy with the Naval War College and is the Director of Professional Publishing at the U.S. Naval Institute. Winner of the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Naval Literature and the U.S. Maritime Literature Award, his published works include A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy (Naval Institute Press/Naval Historical Center, 2005) [one of the books in the Chief of Naval Operations Reading Program], The Battle of Leyte Gulf (HarperCollins, 1994), and Brown Water, Black Berets: Coastal & Riverine Warfare in Vietnam (Naval Institute Press, 1988). His books have been published in various forms, including paperback and audio, and have appeared as main and alternate selections of the History Book Club, Military Book Club, and Book of the Month Club. He is the author of the 22nd and 23rd (Centennial) editions of The Bluejacket's Manual, and revised editions of Jack Sweetman's The Illustrated History of the U.S. Naval Academy and Dutton's Nautical Navigation. He and his wife, Deborah W. Cutler, are the co-editors of the Dictionary of Naval Terms and the Dictionary of Naval Abbreviations. He has served as a panelist, commentator, and keynote speaker on military and writing topics at many events and for various organizations, including the Naval Historical Center, Smithsonian Institution, Navy Memorial, U.S. Naval Academy, MacArthur Memorial Foundation, Johns Hopkins University, U.S. Naval Institute, Armed Forces Electronics Communications and Electronics Association, Naval War College, Civitan, and many veterans' organizations. His television appearances include the History Channel's Biography series, A&E's Our Century, Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor, and CBS's 48 Hours.