DR. HOWARD G. COOMBS is an Associate Professor of History at the Royal Military College of Canada and the Deputy Director of the Queen’s Centre for International and Defence Policy, both in Kingston, Ontario. He is also a part-time Canadian Army reservist with the Canadian Defence Academy, also located in Kingston.

Coombs has had operational deployments to the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan as a military officer on regular and reserve duty. In addition to that he deployed with Joint Task Force Afghanistan from September 2010 to July 2011 as a civilian advisor to the Task Force Commander. He has been awarded the Order of Military Merit and the Canadian Forces Medallion for Distinguished Service.

He is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Staff School, Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College, United States Army Command and General Staff College, and the US Army School of Advanced Military Studies, which awarded his Master’s degree. Coombs received his PhD in military history from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.