About Austin Bay
Austin Bay’s resume is manifold: Author and syndicated columnist, professor, developmental aid advocate, radio commentator, retired reserve soldier, war game designer, consultant in organizational planning and training simulations.
To date, Bay has authored two non-fiction books, three novels, and one pamphlet (Embrace the Suck) on language and military lingo. Embrace the Suck is now in an expanded second edition.
Listen to an NPR interview about this “milspeak” pamphlet and read a selection of definitions.
Bay’s latest non-fiction book is Cocktails from Hell (Bombardier Books, 2018). The book analyzes how belligerents in five 21st century wars create and attempt to employ power combinations – power cocktails made with the “elements of power,” to include diplomacy, information, military and economic power. The book discusses “narrative warfare” as an integrated element in Russian operations (covert and overt) and Chinese strategic warfare. The wars Cocktails… addresses are Korea, China in the South China Sea and Himalayas, Russia in Ukraine, Iran in Yemen and Congo in anarchy.
In 2011, Bay’s military biography of Kemal Ataturk, was published as part of Palgrave MacMillan’s “Great Generals” series. The book focuses on the years 1905-1923. Ataturk: Lessons in Leadership from the Greatest General of the Ottoman Empire can be purchased on Amazon.com or your local bookstore.
The Quick and Dirty Guide to War series, co-authored with James F. Dunnigan, was an assessment of current and potential armed conflicts. Dunnigan and Bay not only include background on countries around the world and the political and renegade factions present in those countries, but also provided analysis of those factions and projections (common in war gaming) for what may occur in the near and far future. The first edition appeared in 1985. Updates containing substantially new material appeared in 1992, 1996 and 2008. Dunnigan and Bay also co-authored From Shield to Storm (Wm Morrow, 1992), a military analysis of Operation Desert Storm.
Bay has written for various newspapers and magazines since the 1980s. In the early 1990s, he was a guest columnist with The Houston Chronicle; then, he wrote a military issues and foreign affairs column for San Antonio Express-News. Creator’s syndicated his weekly column in 2000. His weekly syndicated column focuses on international issues–especially security and defense issues. If your local newspaper does not subscribe and you wish to read the column, you can read it online.
Periodically, Bay authors and co-authors articles for the Wall Street Journal, The New York Observer, The American Spectator, Weekly Standard and New Criterion. In 2016 Bay wrote a weekly political column for The New York Observer online. He is currently a co-blogger at Glenn Reynold’s Instapundit.com blog.
Bay has appeared as a guest analyst on Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, and ABC News Nightline. For eight years (1998-2006), he was a commentator on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” Bay did a regular weekly segment on KLBJ’s Morning Show from 2001 through 2014. Twice a month he appears with James F. Dunnigan on the podcast “Strategy Talk”, a 25 minute podcast with James F. Dunnigan which airs on StrategyPage.com.
Bay, who has had two commercial wargames published, served for four years as a consultant in wargaming at the Pentagon. He holds the rank of Colonel (Armor), retired, in the U.S. Army Reserve.
In 1999, Bay served as deputy commander of a Hurricane Mitch recovery operation in Guatemala. During the 1970s, Bay served four years on active duty in Germany and at Fort Hood in Texas. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in 2003, but was recalled to active duty and served in Iraq in 2004. For this tour of duty in Iraq, he was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service. His other medals include the Legion of Merit.
Since 1999 Bay has served on the Episcopal Diocese of Texas World Missions Committee. He has been involved with several developmental aid projects in Central America and sub-Saharan Africa. He firmly believes in a “Local-to-Global” philosophy of change and community service.
He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in 2003, but was recalled to active duty and served in Iraq in 2004. For this tour of duty in Iraq, he was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service.
While in Iraq on active duty, NPR Radio had Bay record a commentary via satellite phone. The piece, “Of Sandstorms and Guarded Hope in Baghdad,” can be heard here.
He makes speeches to various organizations. Past presentations cover such topics as the “Struggle for the Terms of Modernity,” “Actionable Intelligence,” and “The New Greatest Generation.” If you are interested in booking a speaking engagement or contacting him about his planning and training consulting services, please contact info@austinbay.net.
From 2004 to 2018 Bay taught a strategy and strategic theory course at the University of Texas for its Plan II Undergraduate Honors students.
Bay has a PhD in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He is also a graduate of Rice University, the US Army Command and General Staff School, and the US Army War College.
Bay is a member of The Reserve Officers Association. He is also a Global Fellow at the Innovation, Creativity & Capital (IC2) Institute, The University of Texas at Austin (McCombs School of Business).
