Greg Michaels, a native of Pullman, Washington, enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school graduation in 1984.  He completed basic training in San Diego and infantry training – specifically as an LAV crewman – at Camp Pendleton, California in 1985.

Greg Michaels first duty station was 2d LAV Battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  Later, he was transferred to 1^st LAV Battalion, Camp Lejeune, completed a WestPac deployment with Alpha Company, and in 1990 was order to the Persian Gulf.  During a second tour at Camp Lejeune he became battalion master gunner of 2d LAI Battalion.  After a tour of duty as an instructor at the LAV Leaders Course, he was assigned as a platoon sergeant in 1^st LAR Battalion at Camp Pendleton.  Greg Michaels is the author of Tip of the Spear: U.S. Marine Light Armor in the Gulf War.

According to Benis Frank, the former chief historian for the United States Marine Corps, the book is “an absolutely splendid, outstanding book.  The first written on combat LAV employment, Tip of the Spear provides excellent descriptions of the LAV, its units and missions, and of the personalities – both officers and enlisted – involved.  It also does an exceptionally find job describing the training that made this new weapon an asset.”

According to David G. Crist, Historian, United States Marine Corps Historical Center, “this is one of the best personal accounts of the war I have read.  As both a member of an LAI unit during Desert Storm and a military historian, I have kept up with the historiography.  This book is well written and an engrossing story that fills a huge void in the history of war.”