Gary Solis '71 Publishes Text on Law of War

Gary Solis '71, a nationally recognized expert in the law of war, has authored a new textbook on  The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War, recently published by Cambridge Press.

Solis is a retired U.S. Marine with 26 years active duty, including tours in Vietnam and service as a Marine judge advocate and military judge.  He has been awarded many honors, including West Point's 2006 Apgar Award and the Army's Meritorious Civilian Service, Superior Civilian Service, and Outstanding Civilian Service Medals.  

Solis came to King Hall in 1968, after his second Vietnam tour as a Marine Corps officer.  After graduation, he returned to active duty as a Marine judge advocate.  His LLM from George Washington University is in criminal law.  Upon retirement from military service, he earned a doctorate in the law of war from The London School of Economics & Political Science, after which he taught British law at the LSE.  Moving to the United States Military Academy as a civilian law professor, he directed the Military Academy's law of war program and, in 2005, was selected West Point's outstanding instructor.  He retired from West Point in 2006, after which he was a scholar in residence at the Library of Congress. 

The Law of Armed Conflict is a product of his West Point instruction and the law of war seminar he instructs at Georgetown University Law Center.  In draft form, the book has already been used as a teaching text at West Point and the Army Judge Advocate General's Legal Center & School.  He is also the author of Marines and Military Law in Vietnam and Son Thang: An American War Crime.