Master Sergeant Regulo Zapata Jr., USA (ret.)  was an Army Special Operations NCO and retired as a Master Sergeant in 2003 after 28 years of service with the U.S. Army Special Forces. He now lives in Gilroy (California). Master Sergeant Regulo Zapata Jr.is the author of Desperate Lands: The War on Terror Through the Eyes of a Special Forces Soldier.

According to the book description of Desperate Lands: The War on Terror Through the Eyes of a Special Forces Soldier it “is the unprecedented story of U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers and the missions they have carried out while fighting the war on terror in the Horn of Africa and in Afghanistan. The book is unique and timely, in that it tells the compelling story of our nations struggle and of its soldiers fighting a new and different kind of war never fought before a Global War on Terror. This true story comes at a time when our nation has divided feelings and opinions about this war a division that exists among both government leaders and the American people. These pages offer a different perspective that of lower enlisted soldiers reflecting their personal experience in combat zones in Africa and Afghanistan as they witnessed and experienced the fog of war. The author Special Forces Master Sergeant Regulo Zapata, Jr. shares his extraordinary journey through ancient and desperate lands at the front lines of this ongoing war. Here are true stories of sacrifice, bravery, excitement, horror, anger, tedium, fear, camaraderie, and more a firsthand look behind the headlines at the reality of the exceptional and difficult challenges U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers face as they defend America against the terrorist threat.”

One reader of Desperate Lands: The War on Terror Through the Eyes of a Special Forces Soldier said, “For most of us, the War on Terror is "background sound" from CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and the three-letter networks. For the servicemen on the front lines, however, the War on Terror is quite something else: grinding fatigue, hypervigilance against deadly enemies, energy-sapping heat, blood and agony and even death.  Author Zapata brings home the reality of what it means to be on the other side of the world, far from family and comfort, pouring out and risking life to keep us all free.  In words that bear the stamp of credibility only possible from a soldier who's been there, Special Forces Master Sergeant Zapata tells it as it really is. There are tons of books to read, but if you choose this one, you'll finish it and tell yourself you're glad you did!

The ways that they prepared for their deployment made me not hate commute traffic as much. Reading about the weight that they have to carry in their packs made me appreciate the weight of my tool-bag at work.”