Stormjammers: The Extraordinary Story of Electronic Warfare Operations in the Gulf War [Paperback]

Robert Stanek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2006

When the U.S. went to war in Iraq during the first Gulf War, Robert Stanek was there. He lived and breathed combat from the opening days of the war to its end and beyond. In this book, this bestselling author chronicles the military life, his experiences in the war with vivid accounts of combat training before the war, reflections on life, family, duty, honor, and love, and remembrances of combat missions into the heart of Baghdad. Candid and fast-paced like the best combat memoirs, Stanek focuses on the men and women he flew with, telling their stories as well as his own and creating what is ultimately an inspiring and uplifting story of the human spirit challenged by the agony and terror of war. Based on the inspiring true story, this is the only book about electronic warfare operations in Iraq written by a military flyer who was there. Robert Stanek's experiences in the Gulf War changed his life and helped drive his successful career as a writer and entrepreneur. To date, he has written and had published over 50 books. His books are sold all over the world and have been translated into many languages. His distinguished accomplishments during the Gulf War earned him nine medals, including our nation's highest flying honor, the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Editorial Reviews

Review

EC-130s have participated in every significant combat operation US forces have been involved in for nearly two decades. Now, thanks to this book by former Compass Call "crew dog" Robert Stanek, readers can ride along with Stanek and his Grey Lady Compass Call crew during 32 combat missions from January to March 1991, during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

Based on the author's daily dairy, Stormjammers: The Extraordinary Story of Electronic Warfare Operations in the Gulf War, published in 2006, allows the reader to experience the hours of boredom punctuated with moments of terror that are typical of combat flying. Although many of the stories are somewhat repetitive, this is what Compass Call life is like, and the book quickly becomes hard to put down. Even though the reader can anticipate what a mission will be like, the tedium gives over to an adrenalin rush of anticipation when things begin to happen. It is impossible not to share the relief and pride of the individual crew members when the attack missions they protect exit Iraq safely because the Iraqi air defense command and control nets were completely defeated by Compass Call's powerful, targeted jamming.

Stanek, whose Gulf experiences are given credit for launching his successful career as an international writer, bookends his story by relating a gut-wrenching experience many of us can relate to, telling one's wife that you are off to war. He shares arriving in Turkey to temporary quarters (old military classrooms) that "quickly began to smell like an old sweat sock," getting to the showers before the hot water runs out, as well as the joy of finding out that the commissary got a shipment of real steaks and trying to coordinate a mission to get there while they last.

Another side of the book lets the reader ride along when Stanek's EC-130H has two engines quit in the war zone, and just when bailing out seems a certainty milking the hobbled airplane back to base only to have to argue with the tower over who has the worse emergency, Grey Lady or the aircraft critically low on fuel just ahead of it. There are also the missions when AWACS, the key to Compass Calls' protection, had to bug out because of maintenance problems, and the entire crew gives a thumbs-up to stay on station and continue their protective mission even though the risk is much, much higher. -- The Journal of Electronic Defense, June 2007

From the Publisher

In 1991, the entire world watched as the first President Bush marshaled a global coalition to confront Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and gave him an ultimatum: leave Kuwait by Jan. 15, 1991, or we'll force you out. In this landmark book, Robert Stanek, veteran author of The Pieces of the Puzzle and many other bestselling books, provides an inspiring story of family, honor, and duty in the midst of the Persian Gulf War.

Extraordinary in its scope, beautifully written, Stormjammers combines a riveting first-person account of the secretive world of Electronic Warfare with the sensitivity and insights of an acclaimed writer steeped in history, tragedy, and inspiration, to deliver a masterful account of airpower's role in the Persian Gulf.

Never before has the secretive world of Electronic Warfare been made so bare, been so utterly rendered, and so utterly personal. Stormjammers is intensely fascinating and as detailed as a Clancy novel with vivid descriptions of the intense electronic warfare operations of the Persian Gulf war.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Reagent Press Echo (May 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575450836
• ISBN-13: 978-1575450834
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,976,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #93 in Books > History > Middle East > Kuwait

More About the Author

I'm Robert Stanek, and I've been writing stories for nearly 30 years. Though I've always been a writer at heart, I never set out to be a writer. What I wanted to be, I didn't know when I said goodbye to high school. What I wanted to do though, I knew that: I wanted to see the world--and so I did while serving my country in distant lands.

I wrote novels for more than ten years before I ever tried to get published. My big break came with a book about publishing--only a different sort of publishing than you may be thinking. The book was about web publishing and so my career in writing began. While I wrote those other books, I wrote many, many stories and books for my kids, and I collected them for a few decades, until at my children's urging I set out to get them published for others to enjoy.

I am the second youngest of five children, raised by a single mom. While stationed in Hawaii with the U.S. Air Force and working shift work, I went back to school and earned my bachelor's and master's degrees from Hawaii Pacific University. After an 11-year career in the military, I moved with my wife and children to Washington State. When I'm not writing, I can be found playing video games, reading books, or trekking the great outdoors in search of adventure with my wife and children.

It's been a fairly open secret I also write as William Stanek. You can learn more about me at http://www.robertstanek.com or at http://stanek.reagentpress.com. Find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RobertStanekAuthor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An up-close and personal view of life as a military flyer, June 14, 2006

By 

Dale Wagner (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stormjammers: The Extraordinary Story of Electronic Warfare Operations in the Gulf War (Paperback)

Stormjammers is a first-person story about a young military flyer who heads off to uncertainty in the war in Iraq. Robert Stanek, a combat flyer in the Air Force, has created a detailed chronicle of his journey as a military flyer from the summer of 1990 (during the build up in Iraq) to the end of the war and beyond. It is his story, well cataloged and genuine.

There is raw honesty throughout this book. It says much about the man, Robert Stanek. It tells about the Air Force. It describes the anguish, anxiety, thrill and sense of conquest that take place in any war as seen through the eyes of one who is fighting the fight.

This book is deeply personal, thoughtfully self-reflective. Stanek isn't embarrassed to reveal frequent self analyzing or periodic self doubt. It is clear from this story about one's personal journey through war that Stanek is not afraid to openly describe his anxieties, fears, and self questioning.

In some respects Stormjammers demythologizes electronic warfare, somewhat piercing the veil of secrecy. Yet, in doing so Stanek makes combat flyers more real, more human without detracting from the sense of majesty: planes taking flight, planes in the air, planes in action.

In other respects Stormjammers is about one man's journey through the agony of war. War has many faces and many types of struggles, this journey is shared with other men and women for whom Stanek has great admiration, care, and concern.

The details laid out on this journey are elaborate, often demanding the reader's fullest attention. Things often move fast, and one has to pay careful attention so as not to lose the gist of what is taking place or what has taken place. The frenzy at times makes one feel like they're right in the middle of the combat.

This book reveals courage, commitment, duty and honor in the worst of circumstances. I came away from this book wondering to myself if I could have done it. I'd like to think I could.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Duty and Honor, September 15, 2006

By 

D. Scott - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stormjammers: The Extraordinary Story of Electronic Warfare Operations in the Gulf War (Paperback)

I listened to this book in audio first, and I liked it so much I bought the printed book too. Stormjammers is a bitingly honest assessment of Stanek's experiences during first Gulf War. The prose is clear, candid, and vivid and provides a gut-wrenching, hands-sweating, feel for life as a military flyer and what it's like to engage in aerial combat. Stanek will take you through his first thoughts on the buildup in Iraq. You will ride along as the war unfolds, sharing his pain as he takes you into places few others have ever written about so well: modern aerial warfare. You will feel the rush of emotion when you ask yourself if you could make the decisions he made and you'll tear up when you finish the book and realize that young men like Stanek will never have a peaceful rest as long as their is terror and evil in the world.

What made the book particularly refreshing was its ability to give a true depiction of the glory, horror, and tragedy that the Iraq war, like all wars, has entailed. On the one hand, the Iraqi war provided someone like Stanek with a chance to test his own character under grim conditions and emerge tougher and more confident as a result. But the heart-wrenching human struggles he describes make the account so personal and so real. And his frank retelling of everything from the initial build up to the after effects of the war only deepen how it affects you. It would be easy for an individual unfamiliar with the military to forget how crucial air power was in the war and easy to remember only the ground battles but the Iraqi war was fought and won from the air long before there were any groundbattles. In summary, this book provides a view into modern warfare unlike any I have not encountered before. No one could read it and fail to come away with a clearer understanding of war and its impact on those who fight.

This book is a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliantly crafted, deeply touching and extraordinary read., August 6, 2006

By 

Scott Rue "Scott" (Blue Springs, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stormjammers: The Extraordinary Story of Electronic Warfare Operations in the Gulf War (Paperback)

Stormjammers is a beautifully written and deeply personal look at one man's transformation from a young flyer to a hardened combat veteran and ultimately to a warrior irrevocably changed by his experiences. It's also the highest tribute to the men and women he served with.

From the start of this book, all the way through to the end, I was full of feelings and emotions. Stanek's words were so intense, so powerful, at times I had to put the book down for a few moments to let the feelings and imagery he generated settle in my mind. Every page resonated with the essential truth that words like duty, honor, courage, service, and commitment are not just ideals for men like Stanek and for the men and women he served with, but are in fact words lived by.

This book accomplishes the nearly impossible by seamlessly imparting factual information, and giving a truly unique perspective on the first Gulf War. The books also gives great insight into the mind of a frightened but resilient young man trying to make sense of it all, and the reader is pulled through a chapter, only to find at the end of it he's learned something about modern warfare, gotten a step closer to understanding how such events affect those who fight in them, and unmistakeably gotten a very raw and real look into the life of this remarkable young man. It is the strength of the writing keeps you reading, but also the deeper, all encompassing look at air combat and electronic warfare.

There is a depth and beauty in the way Stanek shares with the reader the bonds of friendship and professional camaraderie which are forged under these extreme circumstances. These rare bonds forged between men and woman under such difficult conditions speak to the individuals strength and character and are so unique to the military and especially the combat experience -- making this a great tribute to all who served.

In it's own way, there is beauty in the way he reveals to the reader his visceral combat experiences: from alerts, to air raids, to fighter encounters, to anti-aircraft artillery strikes, to surface to air missile attacks, to terrorist attacks. There is self doubt, questioning, and honest assessment.

Stanek's writing is clean and the book flows smoothly and entertainingly from peacetime and his training experiences with the heart of the book being his experiences in Iraq and the combat missions flown into Baghdad. Stanek is a rare author who allows the reader to visualize both vibrant imagery and vivid emotions through his words. It is both gripping and enthralling and utterly honest. The gut-wrenching emotional pain he experienced shook me to the core and remained with me for days after reading.

I strongly believe this is a book for everyone, both men and women alike. Anyone interested in the military, our country, and modern warfare will find this book a brilliant addition to the growing selection of "war memoirs." Anyone looking for an intelligent, thoughtful, insightful, and deeply introspective read will also enjoy this book. Ultimately, this is the story of a man as he is irrevocably transformed by his experiences and utterly bares his heart and soul in the telling. His words have stayed with me long after closing the pages.