By Charles Askins
Review & Description
About the author: Charles Askins, also known as Col. Charles "Boots" Askins, was an American lawman, US Army officer, and writer. He served in law enforcement (US Forest Service and Border Patrol) in the American Southwest prior to the WWII. He was the son of Major Charles "Bobo" Askins, a sports writer and Army officer who served in the Spanish American War and World War I. During his service in the Border Patrol, Askins won many pistol championships, and was made the leader of the Border Patrol's handgun skills program. He served in the US Army during WW II as a battlefield recovery officer, making landings in North Africa, Italy, and on D-day. After WWII, he spent several years in Spain as an attache to the American embassy there, helping Franco rebuild Spain's munition plants. After his assignment in Spain, he was moved to the Vietnamese front, where he trained South Vietnamese soldiers in shooting and paratrooping. Throughout his military career, he also indulged in big game hunting at every opportunity, and continued to do so after his retirement. He held several big game hunting records in his lifetime, as well as two national pistol championships, an American Handgunner of the Year award, and innumerable smaller titles in competitive shooting. Askins was controversial for the relish with which he described the numerous fatal shootings in his law enforcement and military careers, stating he had killed 27 men. Because he was involved in numerous shootouts along the US/Mexico border, and due to his stated practice of not keeping track of African-Americans and Hispanics, the actual number of killings he committed was potentially much higher. Askins was a contemporary of Bill Jordan, Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton, and Jack O'Connor. These people, except for Skelton, as well as Askins, Audie Murphy, and Ed McGivern, were used as inspiration for characters in the Stephen Hunter novel Pale Horse Coming. Read more
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