John Abell was a career officer on the United States General Staff, serving from the early part of the Great War, when he was a captain, to the aftermath of the Second Great War, when he was promoted to major general. A man of pale, cadaverous appearance, prone to prissy and meticulous behavior, Abell was nonetheless an exceptionally gifted strategist and administrator who managed the rare feat of rising to two-star rank without having had a field command.