In 2006, 1st Lt. Wesley Gray was deployed as a U.S. Marine Corps military adviser to an Iraqi Army battalion in the Haditha Triad. For 210 days, he lived and fought beside Iraqi soldiers in the most dangerous and austere province of western Iraq. Al-Anbar was filled with an insurgent population traumatized by a recent massacre of twenty-four men, women, and children shot at close range by U.S. Marines in retaliation for the death of one of their comrades in a roadside bombing. Despite the high tensions created by the shootings, Gray was able to form a bond with the Iraqis because he had an edge that very few U.S. service members possess -the ability to communicate in Iraqi Arabic. His language skills and his understanding of the culture led the Iraqi soldiers to call him a brother and fondly name him Jamal. By the end of his tour he was a legend within the Iraqi Army. Gray draws on the brutally honest and detailed record he kept during his tour, including extensive interviews with Iraqi soldiers and citizens. He offers a comprehensive portrait of the struggles of the Iraqi people to make their country a nation once again and includes a compelling report on the status and prospects of the U.S. government's strategy for success in Iraq.
As a Division I track athlete and a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Wes had many offers to work on Wall Street after college; however, he decided to pursue his genuine love, the academic study of finance. He was accepted and given a full scholarship to the Ph.D. program in finance at the University of Chicago.
While at Chicago, Wes successfully passed his comprehensive exams and began writing his dissertation. When not working on his research, Wes prepared final dealings for the launch of a hedge fund he had been working on for several years. Months before the official launch, Wes had an epiphany: the right thing to do before taking on the challenges of the business world was to serve his nation and fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a United States Marine.
While in the Marines, Wes served as a division-level Marine intelligence officer during the 2006 Leyte mudslide disaster in the Philippines, filled various intelligence officer positions throughout Japan, and was a battalion-level military advisor in Iraq. After deployment, while at 3rd Marine Division Headquarters in Okinawa, Japan, Wes became the division's culture and language expert. In this role, he developed and taught a curriculum on Iraqi culture and language that provided crucial training for over four hundred Marines leaving for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Because of his success developing the Iraq culture and language program, Wes was given the task to develop a specialized four-week culture and language-training program for the United States Marine Corps' embedded advisor program in Afghanistan. His military awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (with bronze star), and the Global War on Terror Service Medal.
After a four-year "sabbatical" as an active-duty U.S. Marine officer, Wes has returned to the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business to finish his Ph.D. dissertation. He also serves as a portfolio manager and managing member of Empirical Finance, LLC.
In his spare time, Wes enjoys his family, sports, and manual labor.
