Dr. Eugene DeFriest Bétit served as a German and Russian linguist and military intelligence analyst in the US Army for twenty years. After selection for the Soviet Foreign Area Officer's program, he studied Russian in California, Garmisch, Germany, and Georgetown University. where he received a MA and Ph. D.

Bétit and his wife Sheila live on Lake Holiday near Winchester, Virginia, having lived in Arlington 35 years. He is a docent at Belle Grove, a volunteer with the National Park Service at Cedar Creek National Historical Partnership Park and is the librarian for the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation