Captain Bennett graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1958 and in 1985, after 24 years active-duty service in the Coast Guard, earned a masters degree in education from The Citadel. A prolific writer, his books include Sandpounders (U.S. Coast Guard, 1999) and Surboats, Rockets, and Carronades (U.S. Coast Guard, 1976), and Coast Guardsman's Manual, seventh edition (Naval Institute Press, 1989).