Media Page
This page showcases my main writing and video projects. As I begin new projects I will feature them here. I will update as the projects progress and I with information and links to the appropriate places once they are published.
Disposable Heroes
This is a book about how the Air Force Vehicle Operations community suddenly found itself on the front lines in OIF facing a rapidly growing insurgency and how they quickly adapted to survive…and excel. It’s about what led to it, how we got through it and some the aftermath.
By the end of 2003, Army “light medium” transportation companies employing 5-ton M-923s, like the one pictured above, had converted them into gun trucks and assumed the bilk of the convoy escort mission in OIF. Airmen assigned to these light medium transportation companies assumed this same mission.
Airmen Rise to the Occasion
In early 2004, Air Force transporters began to lead a double-life. Airmen trained as drivers and dispatchers were suddenly asked to man gun trucks and assume an Army mission. After only a few weeks of “just in time” training they moved into Iraq and assumed their new duties…in the face of a rapidly growing insurgency. For seven months Airmen went outside the wire and they fought. Several were wounded and two lost their lives. Back home, convoy attacks played regularly on the news. For a while, nobody knew that Airmen were in the middle of it…not even Air Force leadership. With the exception of the Army units they escorted, they were on their own…and they succeeded. But there was no time to celebrate…no time to even absorb how deeply they were scarred. Their home units were short handed and desperately needed them to return to work. Over the next several years, most would deploy again. For many, the double life repeated several times over. Fight…then get back to work…
The mission officially ended in 2012….but history shows this will not be the last time. Whether answering the call of a sister service or to support it’s own mission, Air Force transporters will go outside the wire again. Future leadership must go farther to acknowledge these inevitable challenges…and they must train the new generation of transporters for missions outside the wire. It must be a part of their a culture.