Chains of Command - Hardcover

Former U.S. Air Force captain Dale Brown is the author of several best-selling military-action-aviation-adventure novels: Flight of the Old Dog (1987), Silver Tower (1988), Day of the Cheetah (1989), Hammerheads (1990), Sky Masters (1991), Night of the Hawk (1992), Chains of Command (1993), Storming Heaven (1994) and Shadows of Steel (1996). Dale's novels are published in 11 languages and distributed to over 70 countries.

Dale was born in Buffalo, New York on November 2, 1956. He graduated from Penn State University and received an Air Force commission in 1978. He was a navigator-bombardier in the B-52G Stratofortress heavy bomber and the FB-111A supersonic medium bomber, and is the recipient of several military decorations and awards including the Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Combat Crew Award, and the Marksmanship ribbon. He flew over 2500 hours in various military tactical and training aircraft from 1978 to 1986 and was also a graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne School.

Dale is a volunteer pilot for AirLifeLine, a non-profit national charitable medical transportation organization who fly needy persons free of charge to receive treatment. He also supports a number of organizations to support and promote law enforcement and reading. He is a member of the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association, The Writers Guild, and a Life Member of the Air Force Association and U.S. Naval Institute. He is a multi-engine and instrument-rated private pilot and can often be found in the skies all across the United States, piloting his Piper Aerostar 602P. On the ground, Dale enjoys tennis, scuba diving, and hockey. He lives in Incline Village, Nevada.

Eastern Europe erupts in war as the Russians rush to the aid of their compatriots in Moldova, happily trampling Ukraine in the process. As usual, Air Force veteran Brown (Night of the Hawk, 1992, etc.) gives all the good parts to the pilots. They never get mentioned by name, but America's fast-food swilling, loose-talking, draft-dodging President and his control-freak, borderline-dominatrix, unelected-tsarina, anti-military, knee-jerk liberal wife are the real villains in this near-future military technothriller. Their rush to de-fund the troops--plus their reliance on bull sessions to solve the world's arguments--nearly undoes the nice new world order left by George Bush. They're just not prepared for the brutality of a retro-rigid Russia where old-line Stalinist Vitaly Velichko has usurped Boris Yeltsin's seat and loosed the dogs of war on the former Soviet republics of Moldova and Ukraine. The guy simply does not play fair--he uses nukes without having a meeting to get in touch with the world's feelings. It's up to America's new downsized Air Force to come to the aid of Ukraine, where the planes are all Soviet antiques but the pilots are all heart. American heroes include Robert Redford look-alike Darren Mace, who was supposed to but didn't drop a nuke on Saddam Hussein, and superpilotess- businesswoman Rebecca Furness, a victim of the First Lady's ruthless reductions in force. The Ukrainian hero is Pavlo Tychina, a first-rate flyer out for some serious revenge after his fianc‚e falls victim to the Russian neutron bomb. The action is, as you expect from Brown, great. But the surprisingly violent Clinton-bashing--while amusing--will probably not make a lot of new friends for the genre. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.