Nicholas Theodore Moran (born 1975) is an American author, amateur historian, video game consultant,

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

and

US Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG) is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States Army. It is simultaneously part of two differen ...

officer.

Early life and education

Moran's ancestry is Irish on his father's side and Greek on his mother's.Who am I and where am I calling from?
at TankNet He was born in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and attended

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

from 1992 to 1996.

Career

Moran joined the

Irish Army Reserve The Army Reserve (AR) () is the reserve land component of the Irish Defence Forces. It is the second line reserve of the Irish Army. The Army Reserve involves active military service on a part-time basis, and is one of three elements of the Reser ...

in September 1997 and the

in November 2000. He was deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2005 as a tank platoon leader (during which his unit received a

Valorous Unit Award The Valorous Unit Award (VUA) is the second highest United States Army unit decoration which may be bestowed upon an Army unit after the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC). The VUA is awarded by the United States Army to units of the United State ...

), and Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010 (during which his unit received a

Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or ...

). He has been awarded both the

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

with

oak leaf cluster An oak leaf cluster is a ribbon device to denote preceding decorations and awards consisting of a miniature bronze or silver twig of four oak leaves with three acorns on the stem. It is authorized by the United States Armed Forces for a spec ...

and

Meritorious Service Medal A Meritorious Service Medal is an award presented to denote acts of meritorious service, and sometimes gallantry, that are worthy of recognition. Notable medals with similar names include: Singapore *Pingat Jasa Gemilang, or Meritorious Services Me ...

for his service. Since August 2011, Moran has been the Director of Militaria Relations for Wargaming America, described by him as a "liaison between the company and the wonderful world of the military." Since September 2011, Moran has run the

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel The Chieftain, which focuses on "long-form, in-depth videos, with a priority on getting inside vehicles to gain the 'human factors' evaluation of things from the end user's perspective as well as other materials sourced from archives." Moran has advocated for the support of Ukraine in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

since February 2022. Moran has previously been detachment commander of the 1st Armored Division Main Command Post – Operational Detachment. In early 2025 he became commander of 1-124 Cavalry.

Personal life

Moran holds US citizenship. He was previously a dual citizen of Ireland and the US, but renounced foreign citizenship in 2002 when he was commissioned as a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

officer.Nicholas Moran Online Blog
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Works

References

External links

The Chieftain's Hatch
at

WarGaming A normal wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to st ...

The Chieftain
at

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

The Chieftain
at

X (formerly Twitter) Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, imag ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moran, Nicholas living people 1975 births Alumni of University College Dublin American military historians American people of Irish descent American people of Greek descent Cold War historians Wargamers United States Army officers United States Army personnel of the Iraq War United States Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Tank personnel Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States) Recipients of the Meritorious Unit Citation YouTubers from California YouTubers from Texas People from the San Francisco Bay Area