In November 1991 the American flag was lowered for the last time at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. This act brought to an end American military presence in the Philippines that extended back over 90 years. It also represented the final act in a drama that began with the initial rumblings in April of that year of the Mount Pinatubo volcano, located about nine miles to the east of Clark. The following pages tell the remarkable story of the men and women of the Clark community and their ordeal in planning for and carrying out their evacuation from Clark in face of the impending volcanic activity. It documents the actions of those who remained on the base during the series of Mount Pinatubo's eruptions, and the packing out of the base during the subsequent months. This is the story of the "Ash Warriors," those Air Force men and women who carried out their mission in the face of an incredible series of natural disasters, including volcanic eruption, flood, typhoons, and earthquakes, all of which plagued Clark and the surrounding areas during June and July 1991. The author of The Ash Warriors knew the situation first hand. Col. Dick Anderegg was the vice commander of the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing when the volcano erupted, and he was at Clark throughout the evacuation and standing down of the base. He brought his own personal experience to bear in writing this story. He also conducted extensive research in the archives of the Pacific Air Forces and Thirteenth Air Force, utilized scores of interviews of those who witnessed and participated in the events, and visited Clark in 1998 to see in person how the installation had changed in the eight years since the Americans left.

Originally published in 2001. From the foreword: "In February 1999, only a few weeks before the U.S. Air Force spearheaded NATO's Allied Force air campaign against Serbia, Col. C. R. Anderegg, USAF (Ret.), visited the commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Colonel Anderegg had known Gen. John Jumper since they had served together as jet forward air controllers in Southeast Asia nearly thirty years earlier. From the vantage point of 1999, they looked back to the day in February 1970, when they first controlled a laser-guided bomb strike. In this book Anderegg takes us from "glimmers of hope" like that one through other major improvements in the Air Force that came between the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Always central in Anderegg's account of those changes are the people who made them. This is a very personal book by an officer who participated in the transformation he describes so vividly. Much of his story revolves around the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, where he served two tours as an instructor pilot specializing in guided munitions. But he also takes a look at other "Fighter Mafia" outposts in the Pentagon and elsewhere. Readers meet young Mafiosi like John Jumper, Larry Keith, Ron Keys, Joe Bob Phillips, Earl Henderson, Moody Suter, John Corder, Jim Brown, John Vickery, Jack Lefforge, Jack Ihle, Stump Bowen, Dave Dellwardt, Tommy Dyches, John Madden, and Dick Myers. As one might expect to find in a fighter pilot story, there is a lot of fun along the way. For a distilled example, consult the appendix on "Jeremiah Weed" (replete with instructions for drinking "afterburners"). Colonel Anderegg's book is likely to please anyone with an interest in fighter pilots and how they molded today's Air Force.

Discusses the terrorist truck bombing of Khobar Towers that occurred in Saudi Arabia on June 25, 1996. Nineteen American servicemen were killed and many people were injured. First published in 2008. Illustrated.