In 1998, after arriving at West Point for assignment as the United States Military Academy's Staff Judge Advocate, I was selected to be Professor and Head of West Point's Department of Law. That's when I had the good fortune of meeting Professor Gary Solis, with whom I began a personal and professional relationship that has been one of the highlights of my career.

Professor Solis, a retired United States Marine, had revitalized a moribund Law of War program in the Department of Law and created the first elective at the Military Academy on that topic. Because I had come from recent operational law assignments, the subject area was of great interest to me, and we frequently talked about related issues, both historical and contemporary. After I moved to the Department of Law, we continued to develop our shared interest and, on occasion, we had the chance to teach the elective together. When Gary left his professorial position in the summer of 2001, I took over the teaching of the course, building on the great foundation he had laid.

Over the next few years, the department asked Professor Solis to return to West Point as Visiting Professor, normally a one-year arrangement. Because of his remarkable contributions, including devising and coordinating an overall cadet program in the law of armed conflict (LOAC) that included practical training exercises as well as classroom instruction, he was asked to stay on as our Visiting Professor for a second year, until he again retired.