Dr. Michael E. Lynch is a research historian at the Strategic Studies Institute and associate professor at the US Army War College. He retired from the US Army in 2005 after 21 years of service. Prior to arriving at the US Army War College in 2003, Lynch served at Headquarters, US Army Europe, in Heidelberg Germany. Previous assignments include 1st Personnel Command, Schwetzingen, Germany; Combat Service Support Battle Lab, Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM), Fort Lee, VA; 13th Corps Support Battalion, Fort Benning, GA; Headquarters, 7th Infantry Division (FWD)/79th Forward Support Battalion, Fort Lewis, WA; 707th Main Support Battalion, Fort Ord, CA; HQ, 3rd Armored Division/Division Support Command, Frankfurt, Germany; and 54th Forward Support Battalion, Butzbach/Friedberg, Germany.
He holds a Ph.D. in History from Temple University, a Graduate Certificate in Public History from Shippensburg University, a Master of Arts in History from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from East Tennessee State University.
As a research historian, Dr. Lynch conducts and supervises research for senior Army leaders on contemporary issues to provide insight and historical context. Some of his recent publications include Huddled Masses: US Army Support to Refugee Operations, 1975- 1980 and Tell Me How This Ends: The US Army in the Pandemic Era. He deployed to Iraq in 2017 to collect on the division headquarters during Operation Inherent Resolve. As an Army War College faculty member, Dr. Lynch serves as advisor for individual students in the resident and nonresident courses, as well as USAWC Fellows at civilian institutions. His book, Edward M. Almond and the US Army: From the 92nd Infantry Division to X Corps (University Press of Kentucky, 2019), was awarded the 2019 Distinguished Writing Award for Biography from the Army Historical Foundation. Dr. Lynch also contributed chapters to Drawdown: The Liberty Dilemma ed. Jason Warren (NYU Press, 2016) and Black History of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, 1860-1936 ed. Steven Burg (Shippensburg, PA: Shippensburg University Press, 2005). Dr. Lynch’s most recent publication was “War in the Pandemic Era: Implications for the US Army,” in In Case of Emergency: The Military’s Role in the Pandemic & Future Crises ed. Carol Evans and Stefanie Hlatkey (Kingston, ON: Kingston Conference on International Security, 2021). He is currently working on a chapter on Inchon for an edited volume on amphibious operations.
Dr. Lynch is a two-time Ironman triathlete and lives in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, with his wife Machele, a former Army officer, who teaches math in middle school. They have three children: Catherine is an Engineer Officer at Fort Hood, Texas; Elizabeth works in graphic design in the marketing industry; and Joseph is a nursing student at the University of Scranton on an ROTC scholarship.