About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Preston Hughes grew up in the central Mississippi town of Kosciusko (pop. approx. 7,000). He graduated from Kosciusko High School in 1961 and entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, in July of that same year.  In June 1965, he graduated from the Military Academy and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery.

During the next five years Hughes completed Airborne and Ranger Schools, served two years with the artillery in Vietnam and two more years at the Field Artillery School and Training Center at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

In 1970, he was accepted into the Army’s Foreign Area Specialist Training (FAST) Program.  (This program was later renamed the Foreign Area Officer (FAO) Program.) He was assigned Turkey as his primary focus of specialization, with Greece and Cyprus as extended areas of interest.

Between the years 1970 and 1973 he completed the training phase of the program, which included a year of Turkish language training at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California; a year of post graduate study at the University of Utah’s Middle East Center and a year of study at the Turkish Staff Officer Course in Istanbul, Turkey.

While in Monterey, he met and married Ann Grimshaw from Cedar City, Utah.  Over the years they had three children and nine grandchildren. As of this writing they have been married for more than 49 years.  

Following completion of the Turkish Staff Officer Course, Hughes commanded an Honest John warhead detachment in western Turkey (1974). He then reported to the American Embassy in Ankara, where he served three years as Assistant Army Attache (1975-1978).  Subsequently, he was assigned to a Field Artillery Readiness Group in Atlanta, Georgia (Fort Gillem), where he served a three year tour as Field Artillery Assistor to Georgia Army National Guard units (1978-1981).

In 1981, he was appointed Liaison Officer for AFSOUTH (NATO’s Southern Region Headquarters) to the Turkish General Staff, with office in Turkish General Staff Headquarters; he was the only foreign officer in the building. He served in this post for four years.

In 1985, Hughes was given three more years of post-graduate study, during which time he earned credit toward a Ph D at the University of Mississippi. (In 1993, he competed his dissertation and was awarded a Ph D degree in Political Science, with emphasis on Comparative Politics and International Relations.)

In 1988, he was sent back to Turkey to again serve as AFSOUTH Liaison Officer to the Turkish General Staff. He retired from the Army in 1992.

Since retiring from the Army, Hughes has taught Political Science at Holmes Community College in Kosciusko, Mississippi, and at Dixie State University in St George, Utah.   Before moving to St George, Utah, in 2009, he also helped create an after school tutorial program called the LEAP Center and a biracial men’s club called “The Club”, both in Kosciusko. For additional information on The LEAP Center go to:

The LEAP CENTER- Points of Light

For a virtual visit to “The Club” go to: 

The Club of Kosciusko, MS --Additional footage from Mississippi ReMixed 2014