Richard E. Killblane

Richard Killblane (born 1955) is an American author, Historian and Army Officer. He serves as the Unites States Army Transportation Historian. He authored the war history, The Filthy Thirteen. This is the true story of the demolition section of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment that inspired the book and subsequent movie, The Dirty Dozen. The story is preserved as the comical oral history (war story) of the unit's tough and mischievous leader, Jake McNiece. Killblane seeks to preserve the institutional memory of military transportation and advise the Chief of Transportation and his staff on the use of military history in the development of doctrine, training and force structure. As an adjunct faculty for the Transportation School and Army Logistics University, Killblane teaches, develops curriculum and advises on the integration of military history and heritage. He leads Staff Rides of historical battlefields and teaches lessons from history. He writes special manuscripts, monographs and articles for publication. Killblane has deployed to Southwest Asia and contingencies, such as Haiti, to preserve the history of the military transportation and serve as the Transportation Corps' point of reference on questions relating to distribution operations. Killblane served as the Assistant Command Historian for the Air Force Technical Applications Command from September 1999 - August 2000. In that capacity, he assisted the Command Historian in researching and writing the annual command histories. A West Point graduate of 1979, Killblane served as Infantry and Special Forces Officer for 11 eleven years. He commanded a Special Forces Team and light infantry rifle company during Operations Nimrod Dancer and Just Cause in Panama. He trained three El Salvadoran Battalions in counter-insurgency operations and planned operations for 1st Special Operations Command and 7th Infantry Division (defunct).