Cavguy, I nominate Ambassadors Deane Hinton, Tom Pickering, and Ed Corr, who, with their MILGP commanders and several Southcom CINCs, helped the Govt of El Salvador defeat the FMLN. Their civilian "counterparts" Presidents Jose Napoleon Duarte and Alfredo Cristiani (although he worked with Amb Bill Walker) were also outstanding civilian practitioners of COIN and FID/SFA.

ODB, I'm one of the guys who teaches a course on Small Wars/LIC which is COIN heavy. Next semester (Fall 09) I have funding for guest speakers. If you are really interested send me a resume by PM or email.

Cheers

JohnT