James "Doc" Crabtree

James "Doc" Crabtree is a former soldier, an historian and an artist. He has written many articles relevant to the military art and is also a cartoonist, producing several strips including Buster's Battery and Out On A Limb. He has published both articles and illustrations in The Fort Bliss Monitor, The ARCENT Desert Voice, the Leavenworth Lamp, Military Review, Air Defense Artillery Magazine and Slick Times.

Crabtree's main area of expertise is air defense, although he has also studied the U.S. Civil War, World War One, World War Two, and the Middle Eastern Wars. He spent considerable time in the Middle East.

Doc Crabtree's Orange Berets was written about the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), the international peacekeeping force stationed in the Sinai. Major Crabtree was the Staff Officer for Press and Visits (SOPV) for the Multinational Force and was a member of the U.S. Army's Task Force Sinai, the American contingent of the MFO. Written from 2007 journals, it includes impressions of the various contingents which helped keep the peace, as well as the Egyptians and Israelis. It also includes cartoons and photos by the author during his tour there.

Desert Fox 1998 is about President Clinton's 70-hour war against Iraq while he was being impeached. This is also illustrated by cartoons as well as personal observations by the author during his trip to Kuwait.

James D. Crabtree most recent book is based on his experiences during Operation Desert Storm, complete with some cartoons and other illustrations. This work looks at his time as a U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Hawk missile Tactical Control Officer and includes never-before-published information on a second weapon system secretly used during the Persian Gulf War. Secrets and Scuds was the first book to publicly discuss the Alpha System.

Some facts of interest: Crabtree's book On Air Defense was a featured book for the Military Book of the Month Club when it was released. Also, a copy of Guerrilla Air Defense was found "on Bin Laden's bookshelf" during the raid on his compound in 2011.