John A. Dailey

John Dailey left his home in West Virginia at seventeen to join the Marines, which led to a career of over twenty years. As a Platoon Sergeant in the Marine Corps’ 1st Force Reconnaissance Company on deployment in Australia on September 11th, 2001, he and his men soon found themselves in Afghanistan battling the Taliban. In 2003 he was selected to serve as a team leader in the first Marine Corps unit assigned to US Special Operations Command—Detachment-1. Det-1’s 2004 Iraq deployment solidified the Marine Corps’ place in special operations and led to the formation of the Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC). John received his MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina–Wilmington in 2018. John continues to train Marine Raiders and provides leadership training and performance coaching through his company, Walking Point LLC. He lives in Hubert, North Carolina, with his wife, Tracy.