Customer Reviews

Punk's War

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For one interested in modern Naval Aviation, Commander Carroll has written a fascinating volume for your information and pleasure.

The book is a novel about aircraft carrier operations in the post Desert Storm era, enforcing the no-fly zone over southern Iraq.

Here the reader is treated to an insider's look at the workings of an aircraft carrier at sea; launching and recovering jets, night flights, and living conditions aboard ship. But more importantly, Commander Carroll pulls back the cover of glitz and glamor of jet fighter pilots to reveal the inner workings of the mirad of inter-personal relationships that exist in a modern jet fighter squadron, aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier, and ashore in the Pentagon and other command-and-control headquarters that supervise and manage Naval Aviation.

The reader is shown how the decisions of one man in a pressure situation can affect the delicate balance that exists between war and peace.

But there's more. Commander Carroll has also entertwined throughout the entire 224 pages of this story the stuggle of character that is present at all levels of leadership. We see the difficult tension that always exists between honesty and deception, between integrity and pragmatism. There are many valuable lessons about ethics and leadership in these pages.

Don't let the title fool you; this nations needs men like Punk. May his tribe increase!

Punk's War
By Ward Carroll
Naval Institute Press
"Punk's War" is by far and away the best book I have ever read about day to day life in a Navy fighter squadron.
It's near 100% accurate, extremely well written, engaging, amusing, insightful and even thrilling in places.
The author, a Naval Academy graduate and victim of several tours as the Radar Intercept Officer in an F-14 squadron at sea, is currently an English and ethics teacher at the Academy in Annapolis, so he speaks with authority about life on the boat and in a squadron. The fact that he sat in back while the hero, a Tomcat driver with the callsign of "Punk," (having to do with his musical tastes and not his attitude) is a pilot seems to have no adverse effect on the legitimacy of the story.
(For some reasons, backseaters write the best books; pilots fly the best loops.)
Only 224 pages, the hardbound novel grabs the reader from page one and won't let go.
The story begins with the ex-Blue Angel, ego-driven squadron skipper ousting his ready alert five crew - Punk and his backseater - so he can take over the presumed MiG interdiction mission. It won't give away too much to confide that the engagement goes to hell in a hurry.
As the story unfolds, Carroll does a masterful job of combining the day to day minutiae of life on the boat while simultaneously weaving a well-told tale that's said to be fiction but one wonders ...
You'll meet the surface warfare admiral who has no idea how to handle those pesky flyboys, the air wing commander who'd rather be behind a Pentagon desk, the squadron skipper who has let his Blue Angels tour and Topgun graduation go to his head. There's the usual collection of quirky squadron characters, tough missions, dangerous shipboard approaches, a sneaky Middle East country that's trying to start a war and a bunch of likeable guys doing a very tough and dangerous job (and they're still out there doing it now).
You'll gain new insight into what it's like to fly and fight the F-14 Tomcat, how the Navy interacts with the Air Force, what happens on a strike planning mission, and how life with enlisted men (and women, nowadays) can often be tedious and not a little frustrating.
Happily, the only "love story" (which seems to be a requirement of late) woven into the fabric of this multi-colored tail is Punk's remote relationship with his girl, which is touched upon but barely enough to slow down the story. Mostly, its a wonderfully accurate and revealing look at life among the Navy's carrier elite - fighter pilots.
Carroll is also to be commended for not assuming the reader alreadys knows everything there is to know about Navy life. When he writes about life in the ready room, he describes how it looks (and it sounds exactly like everyone I've ever been in). If there's a complicated piece of equipment used by the aircraft crew, he names it and what it does.
But mostly this is a story about people, men who fly and fight F-14 Tomcats, and those who command them. If you have even the slightest interest in the subject, you'll thank me for buying this book.
- Wayman Dunlap

Ward Carrol has written a letter to the Navy, that details the good, the frustrating, the unnecessary and the necessary of serving our country. This is a clear vision of the challenges that each sailor struggles with on a personal and professional basis. The title works on two levels obviously alluding to the very real conflict that "Punk" Reichert is engaged in over Iraq. Perhaps more important, and more interesting, is the personal combat Punk is fighting; to make sense of a Navy where senior officers seem more engaged in service to self than to unit or country, and self-aggrandizement takes precedence over mission accomplishment, as well as Punk's internal struggle whether to continue in the Navy he loves but often can't understand.

The characters are fresh and ring true from beginning to end. Punk is a great protagonist. Capable of amazing idealism, dogged pragmatism, and a cynical ability to delight in the agony of others, Punk, reminds us of the value of sacrifice, integrity, and being true to one's values. The action moves things along briskly and deftly, without overwhelming the story. The characters are the main thing here, but action fans will get all the insight they could want on carrier air operations and modern air combat.

If you have served in the military recently, you immediately feel at home again. If you haven't, Punk's War will connect you to the real wars our sailors fight every day. It is a hopeful, humorous, finely crafted story that should be read and reread by anyone who cares about the military, and the men and women who serve.

This novel is a brilliantly realistic view into the life of Naval Aviators. Carroll is clearly someone who has experienced patrolling the No Fly Zones in Iraq, flying the Tomcat, and living on an Aircraft Carrier with a close-knit unit.
This book is not for the reader who enjoys the Clive Cussler-Tom Clancy hero-saves-the-world-plot, but instead wants to experience what the pilots and NFOs feel when they are out there doing their duty.
A similar book to this, but with a little more fictional and slam-bang plot is James W. Huston's Flash Point, which also gives you a realistic slice of Naval Aviation life.

The Naval Institute published two previously untried authors in the past who went on to great success with follow-on editions and movie adaptations. Move over Clancy ("Hunt for Red October) and Coonts (Flight of the Intruder) because Ward has delved into the world of carrier aviation and gone beyond the standard techno-thriller to produce a study of command relationships and tensions against the backdrop of conflict in the Middle East. Ward is adept at revealing the perspective of not only the central character, a F-14 Tomcat pilot at the "junior officer", but that of his commanding officer, air wing commander, flag staff, comrades and maintenance personnel in a fast paced snapshot of life aboard an aircraft carrier caught up in rising tensions and ultimately combat. His narrative also taps the ethos and humor of the junior officer ranks (the most numerous population of officers aboard a carrier) and depicts many rituals and rites of passage such as use of callsigns. If you were too cheap or missed the hardback version, grab the paperback and buckle up for a thriller of a ride.

Many of the reviews rightly focus on the military aspects of this book. And yet as a civilian, I found the book immensely satisfying as a character study and a slice-of-life portrait. Yes, they are Naval aviators on "the boat," and yes, the fact they are fighting a war impacts their behavior. But the focus of the story, and ultimately the power of the book, is on these men as men, as human beings. Carroll's gift is the three-dimensional qualities he gives his characters so that you recognize your own friends and pieces of yourself in them (both for good and for bad... we all have a little Soup in us). It is because of Carroll's strength as a writer that you fully experience their frustrations with their jobs, their bosses, and the system. And that experience is universal. We've all been there, and we all need to learn how to deal with our imperfect control over the imperfect systems we find ourselves in. Punk's War is an eloquent statement about life, not just the military.

A realistic look at the inner workings of our modern Navy. Not a grandiose Clancy novel, but a great story with intriguing characters you will quickly learn to admire or despise. You will associate these characters with people you already know in whatever accupation you are in. From the boss who can do no wrong to the peer who sucks up to the boss no matter what the consequences. The excitement of naval carrier aviation and combat in the skies adds spice to this gripping story. You won't put it down. A must read. I hope there will be a follow-on book.

Ward Carroll joins the short list of modern military novelists who have earned their stripes and who write with authenticity borne from their experience. Carroll's novel "Punk's War" earns highest marks for an exciting story and strong technical detail. But it is the development of the personalities of the VF104 Arrow Slingers that I found the most engaging. Having been a junior officer in the Navy a few years before Punk, I had experienced the same feelings that Punk and his shipmates confront about the Navy and their careers. Each understands the noble cause they serve and the need for sacrifice, but endures unnecessary frustration, boredom, isolation, and danger.

I salute Carroll for his FEARLESS account of the experiences of modern naval aviators and for counseling us to never forget why we serve.

It has been 18 years since I left the Navy. I wasn't in Jets, I was in Surface Warfare, mostly nuclear power. Ward transported me right back to those earlier years. His portrayal of life as a junior officer crosses all warfare specialties. -- How it's a bad idea to answer a knock on your stateroom door, when someone else will do it for you. How you work for 24 hours and then are expected to do it all over again with only a couple hours of sleep. How the people that you think are supporting you, are often zoned in on their own immeadiate survival.

He captures so many of the personality quirks that exist aboard ship. Overly serious types, funny guys, perverts, straight laced, cool and collected, competent patriarchs, green horns, and on and on. He shows how they all come together to function as a team and do a job. example: he introduces a character .. "Ensign Steven (not Steve) Grimes, had been in squadron...", and immediately I thought of a shipmate; Ensign Sandra (not Sandy), the communications officer, ...

He grabs the absurdity of situations in a high stress environment, and then shows how you have to make sense out of it. How bits and pieces that should work together always don't. And how, if you keep plugging along, things work out. How, if you ask, people will help out.

I especially like Ward's take on humanity. "Just because you don't like a cloud, don't hate the sky." His genuine love of humanity and respect for his fellow man comes through in Punk's War, loud and clear.

He fills the pages with Navy and Aviator jargon left and right. Gouge, Bogey Dope, knee knockers, and more -- Now, Ward does a great job, explaining Navy Life, but there is so much, so very much to learn and bring in for the realistic portrayal presented, that I found parts of the book in the beginning, to be tedious . I would have to take a break from reading, breath.. and then dive back in. I think this happened to me about three times in the book, and after two pages, I was back at it.

I pondered this for a bit, when it would happen. "I don't recall this happening in Tom Clancey's novels", I would think. Then immeadiately I would also recall, being an expert in Naval Nuclear Power, "Tom didn't get a lot of his details right when talking about power plants, he made things very simple." Entertaining, but simple.

Ward has it, Entertaining, and more true to life.

The final point here is this. Ward presents an action packed, entertaining, realistic portrayal of officer life in the US Navy. Spot on. The tedious parts actually serve to bring, to the front, how stressful and demanding life aboard ship and flying can be.

Tom

Now you're talking! As a surface sailor who served in carriers, this was educational, factual, interesting, and entertaining. Ward Carroll takes the reader into the Ready Room, describes characters we've all known or experienced, and introduces the reader to all phases of life aboard the "boat."
Carroll's books are the best of any military writer I've read.
Where's the movie?