Anthony Sadler is a senior at Sacramento State University, majoring in Kinesiology and Athletic Training. He lives in Sacramento.

Alek Skarlatos is a Specialist in the Oregon National Guard. A former student of Umpqua Community College, he was recently a finalist on season 21 of Dancing with the Stars. He lives in Roseburg, Oregon.

Spencer Stone is a Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force. He lives in Sacramento.

Jeffrey E. Stern is the author The Last Thousand: One School's Promise in a Nation at War. He has been named both a Pulitzer Center Fellow for Crisis Reporting, and a Graduate Fellow at the Stanford Center for International Conflict and Negotiation. Stern's reporting has appeared in Vanity Fair, Esquire, Foreign Policy, the Atlantic, Newsweek, Slate, Time, and the New Republic. He has also been featured on PBS News Hour, NPR Morning Edition, and Morning Joe among others.