Darkhorse

About the Author

Amatangelo “AJ” Pasciuti began his military career as a rifleman and team leader with the renowned 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, deploying three times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. During one of these deployments, he played a key role in a historic sniper vs. sniper mission—tracking down and eliminating a notorious enemy sniper known as “Juba” while recovering a stolen Marine sniper rifle. This marked the first mission of its kind by an American service member since the Vietnam War. AJ continued his service as a Recon Team Leader and Platoon Sergeant with 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, deploying to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, from 2009 to 2010 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. From 2010 to 2013, he served with 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company, deploying with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as a Force Recon Team Leader. Committed to mentoring the next generation of Marines, AJ returned to instructor duty with the Reconnaissance Training Company from 2013 to 2017. During this time, he was selected for the highly competitive Infantry Weapons Officer (Marine Gunner) program, marking his transition from enlisted to officer, where he deployed twice to support global response operations in the Indo-Pacific region. In January 2020, AJ’s career came full circle when he transitioned to the School of Infantry–West. There, he led the development of the Infantry Marine Course, a groundbreaking initiative that modernized the foundational training for enlisted Marines, better preparing them for the complexities of modern warfare. AJ retired from the Marine Corps in 2023. He holds a Master of Business for Veterans from the University of Southern California and a Master of Public Leadership from the University of San Francisco, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at the University of San Diego. Neil McGinness is a New York Times bestselling content creator and writer. In 2021, McGinness partnered with the world’s #1 bestselling author, James Patterson, to develop the New York Times bestselling series, The Shadow (Little Brown, 2021). McGinness’s most recent nonfiction book, on the origins of superheroes, Pulp Power (Abrams, 2022), was a bestselling new release in graphic novel/comic book criticism and adopted for an American Literature course curriculum by a major university.