'Twice Armed' Wins 2008 Colby Award

CHICAGO, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The memoir of one of the most-decorated veterans of the Iraq war and his experiences capturing some of the most-wanted former Iraqi regime leaders has won the 2008 Colby Award.

Tracing the events of the war from the Coalition's advance on Baghdad, the fall of Saddam Hussein and on through the reconstruction period, R. Alan King, a reserve lieutenant colonel provides a unique perspective of the conflict from the perspective of local Iraqi leadership. Recounting his relationships with those leaders and their combined efforts to stabilize the region, Colonel King describes how the unit he commanded became one of the most highly decorated civil affairs battalions in the history of the U.S. Army.

"Rarely do the combination of military service and scholarship meet so well as in Alan King's fine work," said historian and Symposium co-founder Carlo D'Este on behalf of the selection committee. "In keeping with the way that our armed forces must fight on the new battlefield, King uses an extraordinary understanding of mid-east culture and social attitudes to achieve the mission. The vivid, no holds barred re-telling of that story makes this book an outstanding recipient of the 2008 Colby Award."

Named for the late Ambassador and former CIA Director William E. Colby, the Colby Award recognizes a first work of fiction or non-fiction that has made a significant contribution to the public's understanding of intelligence operations, military history or international affairs. The Award will be presented on behalf of the members of the Colby Circle by co-founder Carlo D'Este and Colby's son, Paul Colby, on April 3, 2008 at Norwich University, the nation's oldest private military college, in Northfield, Vermont.

The William E. Colby Military Writers' Symposium is held each April at Norwich University. Founded at Norwich in 1996, the Symposium has brought over ninety of the country's top authors, historians, journalists and filmmakers together to participate in open forums, lectures and classroom sessions. In 2002, the Symposium established national headquarters in association with the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago (http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org).

Now in its 13th season, this year's residency features such guests as: Medal of Honor recipient Drew Dix, Mark Stoler, Col. T.X. Hammes, USMC (Ret.), SSG David Bellavia, James Hornfischer, William E. Butterworth III, Jack Hamann and Sally Shelton-Colby. The focus of this year's residency is entitled "The New Battlefield."

Members of the Colby Circle include such notables as: co-founders D'Este and W.E.B. Griffin, Lewis Sorley, Philip Caputo, Winston Groom, Elizabeth Norman, Ed Ruggero, Tom Clancy, Stephen Coonts, Mark Bowden, Fred Chiaventone, Joseph Galloway, Williamson Murray, James Bradley, Frank Sesno, H.R. McMaster, John Katzenbach and Marvin Kalb.

For more information on the William E. Colby Military Writers' Symposium at Norwich University, visit the website at: http://www.colbysymposium.org.