EXCALIBUR BRIEF (ARCHIVES)

ARTICLES PUBLISHED AT MILITARY.COM

This is the true memoir of one US Air Force navigator’s journey from the schoolhouses of Air Training Command to the nuclear alerts of the Cold War to combat in a 35-year-old anachronism called the B-52. It is a first-hand account of life during the last days of Strategic Air Command, the early days of Air Combat Command and the ensuing military drawdown of the 1990s. From peacetime training exercises across the globe to combat operations in Desert Storm, Jim Clonts takes the reader inside the cockpit where life and death are seconds apart. Often comical, sometimes heart-pounding, other times tragic, WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED takes you into the world of military aviation, a crucible where warriors learn the true nature of character, conscience and mortality.

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VIRULENT WINDS

The Middle East is uniting under Islamic Jihad and former enemies, Sandor and Kumar, are waging a war of terrorism against both Russia and America. Trying to convert their military might into hard cash, Russia secretly offers a dozen advanced MiG-41s to the United States along with a plan that is both daring and dangerous, but could forever alter the balance of power in the Middle East.

Hoping to destroy the unity between Kumar and Sandor, Russian Security Advisor Victor Komiskov and his American counterpart NSA Director Charles Michaels assembles a covert strike team of hotshot US and Russian pilots under the command of renegade General George “Maddog” Tanner.

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VIRULENT WINDS never lets up and never disappoints. The F-15 (the mainstay of American battlefield air superiority) is no longer the top dog, and to make matters worse, its replacement is a MiG-41. Most authors would have stopped right there, but Jim Clonts takes us much further.

Clonts made the MiG-41 real. Obviously, he knows about military aircraft, systems and the tactics employed. He vividly paints a picture of the cockpit and takes us into combat against F-14, MiG-29, MiG-31 and a variety of ground based missile systems.

The story centers on two Arab countries: Sandor and Kumar, which are remarkably similar to Iran and Iraq. They are bent on developing WMD systems to direct either against each other or the rest of us. To thwart their efforts, a very black operation teams Russian and American pilots flying MiG- 41s against targets in both countries. But things aren’t always what they look like and not everyone has the same objective.

This is a great, great read. I wish I could give it 10 stars.

--DOUGLAS DE BONO, Author Of: FireWall, Rogue State, Reap the Whirlwind, Blood Covenant, And Point of Honor