Through an inverted military career, H. John Poole has discovered a few things that more promotable people miss. After spending his first two years as a combat commander, he did his last seven as an enlisted tactics instructor. That allowed him to see why U.S. troops have always had so much trouble with counterinsurgency. Their tactical techniques are quite simply outmoded. Those techniques are so unlikely to surprise anyone as to be 'premachinegun' in format. This oversight on their commanders' part and how it can be corrected forms much of the framework of Poole's work. Since retirement from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1993, Poole has has traveled extensively in the Communist and Islamist worlds and written eight other U.S. tactics manual supplements. He has also conducted multiday training sessions for 39 U.S. battalions, 9 schools, and 7 special operations units. As most U.S. intelligence personnel know too little about the Eastern thought process and evolution of squad tactics, these supplements also provide currently deployed GIs with a rare glimpse into their enemy's mind. Since 2000, Poole has gone to Mainland China (twice), its hermit neighbor, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, and Tanzania. Over the course of his lifetime, he has been to the following Caribbean nations: Bahamas, Turks & Cacos, Caymans, Haiti, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Antigua, Guadaloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad, and Aruba. He has lived in Mexico and Panama and revisited both places on several occasions. He has also been through every other Central American country except Belize. As for South America, he has traveled within the last year to Venezuela, and previously throughout Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.Between early tours in the Marine Corps (from 1969 to 1971), Poole worked as a criminal investigator for the Illinois Bureau of Investigation (IBI). After attending the State Police Academy for several months in Springfield, he was assigned to the IBI's Chicago office.