Gordon L Rottman entered the US Army in 1967, volunteered for Special Forces and completed training as a weapons specialist. He was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group until reassigned to the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam in 1969-70. A highly respected and established author, Gordon is now a civilian contract Special Operations Forces Intelligence Specialist at the Army's Joint Readiness Center, Ft Polk.

The bitter fighting in the Pacific Theater required new forms of warfare, and the gathering of detailed intelligence information on the remote and varied islands and their determined defenders. As a result, new scout, raider and reconnaissance units were formed