A moving memoir of the author's experiences as an air force pilot
throughout the 1980s and the Persian Gulf War, that also confronts
his seeming postwar diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and his
subsequent realization that he did not have ALS, but rather, "Gulf
War syndrome." While lacking the polish of an experienced writer,
Donnelly makes up for this with an impressive degree of candor -
discussing his reluctance, for example, to see a doctor although he
fears that his flying skills have been impaired - and manages to
convey his feelings of loyalty to the armed services, even in the
wake of his discovery that those very same forces had experimented
on him with medicines not yet approved by the FDA. The book begins
with the disabled Donnelly's current flying - in a video game, then
turns back to his training and early military career. He ably
conveys the rigor of air force flight school and assesses the
difficulties of maintaining a family in the military. More
interesting, though, is his take on the attitudes of front-line
pilots at the tail end of the Cold War and his own feeling of a
loss of mission as bases began closing down in Europe. But all of
that alters, and Donnelly's own sense of anticipation builds, as
the situation escalates toward war in the Persian Gulf. The
sections of Falcon's Cry dealing with the war are dramatic and
unlikely to disappoint anyone who watched the "CNN war" on a TV set
- although Donnelly admits that he can't fully divulge all that
happened over Iraq and Kuwait. Donnelly's tale of his personal
sacrifices of health, mobility, and career quite naturally
overshadow the victory in the Gulf. An honest, deeply felt look at
the human cost of war. (Kirkus Reviews)
When Major Michael Donnelly was instructing his U.S. Air Force
student pilots, he used to tell them three things: Timing is
everything; it's nice to be lucky; and there is no justice. Highly
decorated fighter pilot, proud young patriot, loyal friend with a
mischievous sense of humor, loving husband and father of two, he
could not have imagined the tragic meaning those words would assume
just a few years after his tour of duty in Desert Storm. In 1996
Major Donnelly was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease, at the
unusually young age of 35; the onset of this illness marked the
beginning of a kind of torture beyond the scope of even the most
rigorous military survival training. Betrayed by his body,
eventually paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, he experienced
another betrayal perhaps even more difficult to
comprehend--betrayal by his country. For despite the fact that over
110,000 Desert Storm veterans are sick, many dying of mysterious
cancers and neurological diseases, including more than ten times
the normal incidence of ALS--and despite all evidence pointing to
U.S. troops having been dosed by low levels of Iraqi nerve agents
and exposed to chemical weapons' fallout--the Pentagon adamantly
denies any connection between their illnesses and their service in
the Gulf War. "Falcon's Cry: A Desert Storm Memoir," Michael
Donnelly's unforgettable story, is his courageous attempt to
unearth the truth and force an acknowledgment of that truth by the
government he and his fellow veterans defended with their
lives.
Flying 44 fighter jet combat missions in a war fought on an
all-or-nothing scale was thrilling for Michael Donnelly. When the
war was won, he and his country rejoiced in the knowledge that,
unlike in Vietnam, America had gotten it right in the Persian Gulf.
Less than a decade later, the world is learning what veterans and
their families have known since Desert Storm--we did not get it
right at all. Saddam Hussein is still terrorizing a large portion
of the globe. Moreover, we did not learn the lesson of Agent Orange
which the Department of Defense denied for decades was the cause of
early deaths and birth defects among Vietnam veterans and their
families. Yet, thanks largely to the testimony of the author before
the House of Representatives in 1997, a first step has been taken
toward justice for the tens of thousands of Desert Storm veterans
who are suffering virtually in isolation, many without any medical
or disability benefits. Major Donnelly believes the truth about
Gulf War Illnesses will be uncovered by studies funded in the
recently passed Omnibus Appropriations bill, as well as through
stories like his own, and he fervently hopes that America can, at
last, get it right.
General
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