Dean Ruth was born on December 22, 1970 in Sterling, Illinois. His parents are Steve Ruth and Alice Ruth. He grew up with his half-brother, Mark. When he was eleven, his mother and father got divorced. His father later remarried a woman named Anne, who had a son from a previous marriage named Josh. Dean's father and stepmother had a child together named Courtney. At this point, Dean was living with his father, and his half-brother Josh, and his half-sister Courtney. He went to Sterling High School in Sterling, Illinois. His brother, Mark, was killed on a train track while he was in high school. After that tragedy, Dean decided to join the army after he graduated high school in 1989. He spent the summer with friends before he left for basic training. He left for basic training in August 1989. He was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia where he spent four months. At basic training, he learned many important lessons on how to be a good soldier. This boot camp challenges the men and women, both mentally and physically. Dean learned combat and how to operate military vehicles. After basic training, he was sent to his first post at Fort Hood, Texas. In Fort Hood, he started training more specifically for war. Dean was specialty trained in combat weaponry, handling large transportation equipment, and many other survivor skills. He first drove a BFV (Bradley Fighting Vehicle). A BFV is a very protective vehicle made to transport infantry. It can carry up to six soldiers and has a machine gun. He spent a couple of years at Fort Hood until he received orders to go to Saudi Arabia to fight in the Desert Storm war. He drove the Bradley Armored Personnel Carrier in the 2nd Infantry Hell on Wheels Division. Operation Desert Storm, or the Gulf War, was fought between August 2, 1990 and February 28, 1991 in Iraq, Kuwait, the Persian Gulf, Israel, and the Arabian Peninsula. The dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, had ordered the Iraqi army into Kuwait. Kuwait is a neighboring country to Saudi Arabia, and both countries provided one-fifth of the world's oil supply. The United States feared that Iraq would also take control of Saudi Arabia and control the oil supply to the United States. At the beginning of the war, President George W. Bush sent US troops to Saudi Arabia to help defend it from the Iraqi army. Then, the American troops moved to Kuwait and southern Iraq. In Saudi Arabia, Dean found it difficult to sleep at night because of the wind. He often had to sleep in tents or on the ground. It was easy to get lost because the wind would change the dunes of the Arabian Desert every day. From Saudi Arabia, he traveled through Kuwait and Iraq to fight against the Iraqis. He spent nine months overseas fighting in the Operation Desert Storm, and then he went overseas to Korea for one year. While he was in the army, he married a woman named LynAnn Merser and had his first daughter Aaren Ruth. They got divorced in 1998. Later he had a son named Cristopher Ruth with Alyssa Dittmar. In 1998, he moved back to Illinois. Dean met his fiancé, Susan Flanagan in Illinois. Susan's son, Jacob authored this book after he learned about his step-dad's experiences as an Operation Desert Storm Veteran.
About the Author: Jacob is a 14-year-old freshman at Belvidere North High school. He lives in Poplar Grove, Illinois. He is a starting lineman on his freshman football team, a junior varsity wrestler, and a junior varsity shot putter for track and field. He is active in National Society Children of the American Revolution (N.S.C.A.R.), Civil Air Patrol, scouts, and his youth group at his local church. He loves to read, play video games and hang out with friends. Jacob wants to someday be in the United States military himself, so he enjoyed writing this book about his stepdad's journey through the army even more, and hopes you do, too.