Colonel John C. Scharfen, USMC (ret.) “holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford and a master’s degree in international relations from Georgetown.”  Colonel John C. Scharfen is the author of The Dismal Battlefield: Mobilizing for Economic Conflict; Soviet Tactical Doctrine for Urban Warfare; and, On Falcons' Wings: An Intrepid Generation.

One reader of The Dismal Battlefield: Mobilizing for Economic Conflict said, “This book proposes that there are five sources of national power -- social, psychological, political, military and economic. Three of these instruments, the political, military and economic are most often translated into force. (E.g. Coercive diplomacy, military warfare, economic sanctions.) Nations have devoted great resources to the preparation for and study of political and military force. Nations (to include the United States) have devoted almost no energy or resources to the preparation for and study of the use of economic force. Such neglect has rendered our decision makers, defense and economic intellectuals dangerous in the employment of this instrument or for combating a coercive economic threat. There is an urgent requirement that the U.S. decision making mechanisms, bureaucracy, and educational and training institutions be reorganized to focus on a more productive use of this coercive instrument. This book does not advocate a wider use of sanctions or other economic instruments, but does advocate a more selective, more proficient use of this power, and prescribes approaches to that end.”

According to the book description of On Falcon’s Wings: An Intrepid Generation , “If you liked Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation, you will love On Falcons’ Wings. Author John Scharfen tells the inspirational, heroic, sometimes humorous stories of American men and women living in an Air Force retired officer community. There are profiles of the: Air Force officer who landed a crippled airplane backwards during WWII; Army officer who captured a German Mark IV tank while afoot; Air Force officer who, having been shot down in Germany, walked across the country to freedom; Combat hardened Marine who, upon retirement, became the military correspondent for The New York Times; Young girl’s WWII travails in leaving German occupied France; Coast Guard officer who commanded an LCI at the Normandy landings; A naval aviator who flew multiple WWII missions against the Japanese homeland; and, Foreign Service officer who, upon retirement, appeared in 24 movies.

There is a thread that runs through these profiles of achievement, heroism, sacrifice and patriotism that will make you want to salute these exceptional Americans of an intrepid generation.”