Nathaniel Fick

Nathaniel C. "Nate" Fick (born 1977) is a former United States Marine Corps officer and the CEO of Endgame, Inc., a cyber security software company. He is also an Operating Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. He came to public notice for his writing on military life and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Fick is the author of One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer, a memoir of his military experience published in 2005 that was a New York Times bestseller, one of the Washington Post's "Best Books of the Year," and one of the Military Times' "Best Military Books of the Decade."

Early life and education

Fick was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1977, and attended Loyola Blakefield high school in Towson, Maryland. Fick went on to attend Dartmouth College. He later graduated with degrees in classics and government in 1999. While at Dartmouth, Fick captained the cycling team to a U.S. National Championship and wrote a senior thesis on Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War and its implications for American foreign policy.

Career

In 1998, after his junior year at Dartmouth, Fick attended the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidates School and was commissioned a second lieutenant upon his college graduation the following year.

Fick was trained as an infantry officer and was eventually assigned as a platoon commander to 1st Battalion 1st Marines. He was an officer in the Amphibious Ready Group of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Darwin, Northern Territory training with the Australian Army for humanitarian operations deployment to East Timor until the September 11 attacks. He then led his platoon into Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom to support the War on Terror. Upon his return to the United States in March 2002, he was recommended for Marine reconnaissance training. He also completed Army Airborne School. He subsequently led Second Platoon of Bravo Company of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Fick left the U.S. Marine Corps as a captain in December 2003, and Captain Brent Morel took his place as platoon commander. Morel was killed in a firefight in Falluja in April, 2004.

Fick wrote a book, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer, detailing his experiences in the Marine Corps. He received the Colby Award for One Bullet Away in 2006.

He also occasionally writes articles about military matters, such as his criticism of Anthony Swofford's book Jarhead.

Fick became the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the Center for a New American Security and later was appointed CEO in June 2009.

Fick has spoken before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee on Iraq and spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 28, 2008.

Fick was elected to Dartmouth College's Board of Trustees in April 2012. He also serves on the Military & Veterans Advisory Council at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

It was announced by CNAS that Fick would step down as CEO at the end of November 2012 in order to "become the Chief Executive Officer of Endgame, Inc., a leading venture-backed provider of advanced cyber security solutions."

Personal life

He resides in Washington, D.C. with his family.

In popular culture

Fick and his platoon were the subject of a series of articles in Rolling Stone and the book Generation Kill by embedded journalist Evan Wright. Generation Kill was adapted into a miniseries of the same name by HBO, in which Fick was portrayed by Stark Sands.