Bill Ardolino

Bill Ardolino is an Associate Editor of The Long War Journal and author of Fallujah Awakens: Marines Sheikhs and the Battle Against al Qaeda published by Naval Institute Press in 2013.

Fallujah Awakens focuses on the US Marine Corps counterinsurgency campaign and tribal “Awakening” that took place on Fallujah’s peninsula in 2006-2007. Bill Ardolino describes a dramatic improvement in security that took place after U.S. Marines allied with local tribal leaders to help pacify their area. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, Fallujah Awakens is one of the few stories that highlights the perspectives of both U.S. forces and Iraqi citizens.  Fallujah Awakens can be found at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other major booksellers, and all of the author’s proceeds are donated to the Semper Fi Fund, which helps injured or ill service members through support, housing, transportation, and many more services that help wounded veterans.

billardolino_profile
Bill Ardolino

He has worked in some of the most pivotal areas of operation during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was embedded with the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Army, the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police in multiple locations in Baghdad, Habbaniyah, and Fallujah from 2006 to 2008. Ardolino was also embedded with the Afghan Army, the Afghan Police, the Afghan Air Force, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army during the years of 2010, 2011, and 2013 in the Helmand, Kandahar, Nimroz, Kabul, and Khost provinces of Afghanistan.

Bill Ardolino has taken photos and has written reports and columns for The Long War Journal, Wired, The Washington Examiner, The Weekly Standard, and Small Wars Journal.  He has also been a guest on multiple shows including: The Dennis Miller Show, The Charles Adler Show, The John Batchelor Show, and Sky News Arabia.  His work focuses on counterinsurgency doctrine (COIN), combat operations, the development of indigenous security forces, Iraqi and Afghan politics and civil affairs.

Bill Ardolino received the 2014 General Wallace M. Green, Jr. Award, presented by the Marine Corps. Heritage Foundation to the author of distinguished non-fiction.  His work has been cited by the likes of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Defence R&D Canada, the Institute for the Study of War and the RAND Corporation along with many other think tanks and academic institutions.