Lieutenant Colonel Hunter Ripley "Rip" Rawlings IV is the New York Times bestselling co-author (with Mark Greaney) of the military fiction novel Red Metal and a former United States Marine Corps infantry & reconnaissance officer.

[9][10] Rawlings began his writing career as a co-Author with Mark Greaney, the author of over fifteen works of thriller and espionage fiction.

In August 2019, Rawlings signed a multiple book deal with Kensington Publishing of NYC for a military fiction series titled Assault by Fire.

[11][12] The novel takes place in the near future and involves citizens and remnant military fighters repelling a Russian invader and releases on 29 September 2020.

In August 2020, Mark Greaney and Rip Rawlings confirmed in interviews and on social media that they had been contracted to write another work of military fiction in the Red Metal series from publisher Penguin, Random house.