Allan Millett & Eric Kirsch: The United States Marine Corps

Renowned author and academic Allan Millett discusses the history and heritage of the U.S. Marine Corps with fellow Marine Eric Kirsch, a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As part of the 2015 ON WAR Military Symposium, this program was made possible by sponsors of the 2015 Liberty Gala.

COLONEL ALLAN R. MILLETT, USMC (RETIRED), PhD, is Ambrose Professor of History and Director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans, and is Raymond E. Mason Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at The Ohio State University. An acclaimed military historian, award-winning author, and internationally recognized authority on The Korean War, Millet has earned numerous awards for his writings and his teaching, including the 2008 Pritzker Literature Award and the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from The Society for Military History, which also named its doctoral research fellowship in his honor. His books include For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States from 1607 to 2012; The War for Korea, 1950-1951; The War for Korea, 1945-1950; and Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps.

ERIC KIRSCH is a former Captain in the United States Marine Corps who served multiple combat deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant after graduating with honors from The Citadel in 2004, Kirsch served in Iraq as Human Intelligence Exploitation Team (HET) Officer in Charge before being selected for further training at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy (JCITA), earning the title of Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in 2009. Since his honorable discharge in 2012, Kirsch has served as an Offensive Counterintelligence Operations instructor at JCITA; as a civilian Special Agent with NCIS; and as a civilian Advisor to the American Government and the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraqi Kurdistan. He is the founder and CEO of Torchlight USA.