Wade Ishimoto was born in Hawaii shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He enlisted in the US Army in 1961and retired 20 years later. His military career saw him serving as a Military Policeman, a counterintelligence agent, a human intelligence case officer, and 14 years in Special Forces. Among his notable assignments were as the Project Gamma Operations Sergeant during the Green Beret Murder case in 1969, Special Force School Instructor of the Year in 1974, a founding member of the Delta Force, and leading a roadblock team on the fateful 1980 attempt to rescue 53 American hostages in Iran (Operation Eagle Claw). After his military retirement, he served on the investigation of the Branch Davidian incident, the Khobar Towers bombing, was the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, and a Special Assistant to the Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow with the Joint Special Operations University, a Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment, and was inducted into the Special Operations Command Commando Hall of Honor. He has been written about in Delta Force, The Guts to Try, Best Laid Plans, Those Gallant Men, Killer Elite, Never Surrender and A Murder in Wartime