Stanton S. Coerr is a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. Born in Winston-Salem, he received a BA from Duke University, an MA from the Harvard Kennedy School, and an MA with highest distinction from the Naval War College, where he was awarded the Colbert Memorial Prize and the Forrestal Award. A SuperCobra attack helicopter pilot, Coerr went over the border on the first night of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 in command of five marine teams attached to the British Army. He lives in Virginia with his wife and three sons.