Carrier at War: On Board the USS Kitty Hawk in the Iraq War - Hardcover

Miller, Richard F.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1574889605 ISBN 13: 9781574889604

Publisher: Potomac Books Inc, 2005

Synopsis

What distinguishes Richard F. Miller's A Carrier at War is its focus on individual officers and sailors and shipboard morale as distinct from the usual bomb and bullet reporting. The USS Kitty Hawk's mission paralleled the tortuous course of events leading up to the Iraq War. Originally stationed in the northern Persian Gulf to enforce the Southern No-Fly Zone, the Kitty Hawk became one of the lead elements in the campaign to shock and awe the Iraqi armed forces, from the moment her battle group launched twelve of some forty Tomahawk cruise missiles in the first effort to kill Saddam Hussein to the round-the-clock sorties of fighter jets launched from her deck once hostilities began. The author, who was present before, during, and after the beginning of the war, interviewed the ship's captain, chaplains, aviators, the ship psychologist, doctors, the dentist, and the chief of security. He visited the brig, interviewed the jailors, ate with both officers and enlisted men and women, and, on the brink of war, attended both Christian and Jewish religious services. Perhaps of greatest importance, owing to his cigar habit, he spent many hours in the one place on board where the real face of life at sea can be observed-the enlisted personnel's smoking sponson. Here the crew relaxed and proved honest enough to enable the author to make his most surprising discoveries about the modern military.

About this title

Review:

"The author of A CARRIER AT WAR is an accomplished storyteller with a keen eye for the telling detail and interesting anecdote. He quickly befriended officer and enlisted people alike and had a front row seat for the action as USS KITTY HAWK played its part in the Iraq War. Those who have served at sea will be reminded of feelings long forgotten; those who have not will feel that they were there, as well. The book will interest a wide lay audience and will also give students of civil-military relations some extraordinary insights into life in the Navy." --Capt. John Allen Williams, USNR (Ret.); professor of political science, Loyola University Chicago; chair and president, Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society

About the Author:

RICHARD F. MILLER’s most recent books are In Words and Deeds: Battle Speeches in History, A Carrier at War: On Board the USS Kitty Hawk in the Iraq War, and Harvard’s Civil War: The History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He is an independent scholar.

About this edition

• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1574889605
• ISBN 13: 9781574889604
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272