Charles Patrick Pfarrer III (born April 13, 1957) is an American

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, film producer, and former Navy SEAL. As an author, he has penned published

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

, and non-fiction works. His works deal with themes pertaining to the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

. Pfarrer has worked on films including ''Navy SEALs'', ''

Darkman ''Darkman'' is a 1990 American superhero horror film directed and co-written by Sam Raimi. The film stars Liam Neeson as scientist Peyton Westlake, who is brutally attacked, disfigured, and left for dead by ruthless mobster Robert Durant ( La ...

'', and '' Hard Target''.

Early life and education

Pfarrer was born April 13, 1957, in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts, the son of Charles Patrick Pfarrer, Jr., a career

naval A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operatio ...

officer, and Joan Marie Pfarrer, a registered nurse. He graduated from

Staunton Military Academy Staunton Military Academy was a private all-male Military academy, military school located in Staunton, Virginia. Founded in 1884, the academy closed in 1976. The school was highly regarded for its academic and military programs, and many notable ...

in 1975, and studied

Clinical Psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

and the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Career

Military career

Pfarrer entered active duty with the United States Navy in October 1980 and completed Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I in 1981. After his commission as an

Ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...

in the U.S. Navy, he reported to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training (BUD/S) at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. After six months of training, Pfarrer graduated with BUD/S class 114 in September 1981. Following SEAL Tactical Training (STT) and completion of six month probationary period, he received the 1130 designator as a Naval Special Warfare Officer, entitled to wear the

Special Warfare insignia The Special Warfare insignia, also known as the "SEAL Trident" or its popular nickname in the Navy community, "The Budweiser", recognizes those members of the United States Navy who have completed the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) trai ...

and spent the next five years as a

Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main funct ...

. His initial assignment was to Underwater Demolition Team TWENTY ONE (UDT-21) at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virginia. Pfarrer deployed numerous times as a military advisor in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, trained NATO forces in Europe and the Mediterranean, and completed a combat deployment in 1983 to

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

during the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

when UDT-21 was redesignated as SEAL Team FOUR. As SEAL Assistant Platoon commander assigned to the Multi-National Peacekeeping Force, he witnessed the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in

. In September 1984, Pfarrer reported to

SEAL Team SIX The Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), abbreviated as DEVGRU ("Development Group") and unofficially known as SEAL Team Six, is the United States Navy component of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). The unit is often r ...

in Training Support Center Hampton Roads to begin an eight-month specialized selection and training course to become a counterterrorist operator. Pfarrer ended his naval service in June 1986 as Assault Element Commander at the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU).

Writing career

Screenwriter

While still in the Navy, Pfarrer sold a

spec script A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned and unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or ...

that he wrote in college. His film credits include writing, acting and production work in ''

Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main funct ...

'', ''

Barb Wire file:Barbed Wire Roll.jpg, Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire or bob wire (in the Southern United States, Southern and Southwestern United States), is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp ...

'' and '' Hard Target''. Pfarrer's other screenwriting credits include '' The Jackal'', ''

Virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

'' and '' Red Planet''. He became a member of the Western branch of the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

. He is an uncredited writer on the films ''

Sudden Impact ''Sudden Impact'' is a 1983 American action-thriller film, the fourth in the ''Dirty Harry'' series, directed, produced by, and starring Clint Eastwood (making it the only ''Dirty Harry'' film to be directed by Eastwood himself) and co-starri ...

'' and '' Arlington Road,'' and wrote early drafts for ''Shooter'' and ''The Green Hornet''. He is the author and creator of six graphic novels for

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

, and wrote and produced two interactive full motion videos, '' Flash Traffic'' and ''

Silent Steel ''Silent Steel'' is a 1995 submarine simulator computer game by Tsunami Games. It was created during the influx of interactive movies during the 1990s. The game is composed almost entirely of live-action full motion video, with sparse computer ...

'', both for Tsunami Media. Pfarrer's screenplay, ''Crash Site'', was in development as a feature film by ALCON media. It was to be directed by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning director Charlie Gibson and produced by John Bladecchhi and Alcon co-chiefs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

Fiction

His first published novel, ''Killing Che'', was released in 2007. Pfarrer's second novel, a work of

nautical fiction Nautical fiction, frequently also naval fiction, sea fiction, naval adventure fiction or maritime fiction, is a genre of literature with a setting on or near the sea, that focuses on the human relationship to the sea and sea voyages and highligh ...

, was published by the

United States Naval Institute The United States Naval Institute (USNI) is a private non-profit military association that offers independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national security issues. In addition to publishing magazines and books, the Naval Institute holds s ...

Press in April 2016. Based on the epic American short story of the same name by

Edward Everett Hale Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as " The Man Without a Country", published in ''Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union ...

, Philip Nolan, ''The Man Without a Country'' is a novelization of Hale's story, and tells of Nolan's court martial and his life as a prisoner on an American ship.

Non-fiction

Pfarrer was active in the 2004 effort to recall Writers Guild of America president Charles Holland, who had falsely claimed to be a wounded combat veteran, intelligence officer and Green Beret. Holland later resigned. Pfarrer's best-selling autobiography, ''Warrior Soul, The Memoir of a Navy SEAL'', was published in 2003. Pfarrer is the author of the 2011 book ''SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden'', a ''New York Times'' best-seller, which was controversial because he gave a different account of the raid than had the government. He has written op-eds for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and the

Knight Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. It was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, allowing the latter to become the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States at the time ...

syndicate. He has appeared as an author and counter-terrorism expert on CSPAN-2,

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, the Arabic network Al Hurra, IPR,

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

, ABC, ''America Tonight'' and The Australian Broadcast Company.

Bibliography

Film

Print

Video games

Awards and decorations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfarrer, Chuck 1957 births Staunton Military Academy alumni California State University, Northridge alumni Alumni of the University of Bath Living people 21st-century American novelists American male screenwriters 21st-century American memoirists American male novelists 21st-century American historians American spy fiction writers People from Biloxi, Mississippi United States Navy officers United States Navy SEALs personnel Novelists from Mississippi 21st-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from Virginia Screenwriters from Mississippi Screenwriters from California 21st-century American screenwriters