After obtaining a MS degree in systems management from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1976, Zabecki worked at John Deere both in the United States and West Germany.

From 2000 to 2002 he was deputy chief of the United States Army Reserve in Washington, DC, returning to USAREUR in Germany in 2002/03 as commanding general.

The 2014 English edition of The Schieffen Plan: International Perspectives on the German Strategy for World War I, edited by Hans Ehlert [de], Michael Epkenhans, and Gerhard P. Gross [de] and translated by Zabecki, received the Arthur Goodzeit Book Award from the New York Military Affairs Symposium.

[5] Zabecki served as editor in chief of the four-volume encyclopedia Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History published in 2014 and 2014 by ABC-CLIO.

The reviewer writes: "This set does not offer anything new to the field of Germany military history; however, it does a good job of compiling information together into one location.