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OverviewWhen Major Michael Donnelly was instructing his U.S. Air Force student pilots, he used to tell them three things: Timing is everything; it's nice to be lucky; and there is no justice. Highly decorated fighter pilot, proud young patriot, loyal friend with a mischievous sense of humor, loving husband and father of two, he could not have imagined the tragic meaning those words would assume just a few years after his tour of duty in Desert Storm. In 1996 Major Donnelly was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease, at the unusually young age of 35; the onset of this illness marked the beginning of a kind of torture beyond the scope of even the most rigorous military survival training. Betrayed by his body, eventually paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, he experienced another betrayal perhaps even more difficult to comprehend—betrayal by his country. For despite the fact that over 110,000 Desert Storm veterans are sick, many dying of mysterious cancers and neurological diseases, including more than ten times the normal incidence of ALS—and despite all evidence pointing to U.S. troops having been dosed by low levels of Iraqi nerve agents and exposed to chemical weapons' fallout—the Pentagon adamantly denies any connection between their illnesses and their service in the Gulf War. Falcon's Cry: A Desert Storm Memoir, Michael Donnelly's unforgettable story, is his courageous attempt to unearth the truth and force an acknowledgment of that truth by the government he and his fellow veterans defended with their lives. Flying 44 fighter jet combat missions in a war fought on an all-or-nothing scale was thrilling for Michael Donnelly. When the war was won, he and his country rejoiced in the knowledge that, unlike in Vietnam, America had gotten it right in the Persian Gulf. Less than a decade later, the world is learning what veterans and their families have known since Desert Storm—we did not get it right at all. Saddam Hussein is still terrorizing a large portion of the globe. Moreover, we did not learn the lesson of Agent Orange which the Department of Defense denied for decades was the cause of early deaths and birth defects among Vietnam veterans and their families. Yet, thanks largely to the testimony of the author before the House of Representatives in 1997, a first step has been taken toward justice for the tens of thousands of Desert Storm veterans who are suffering virtually in isolation, many without any medical or disability benefits. Major Donnelly believes the truth about Gulf War Illnesses will be uncovered by studies funded in the recently passed Omnibus Appropriations bill, as well as through stories like his own, and he fervently hopes that America can, at last, get it right. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Michael Donnelly , Denise DonnellyPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Imprint: Praeger Publishers Inc Dimensions: Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 23.40cm Weight: 0.559kg ISBN: 9780275964627ISBN 10: 0275964620 Pages: 272 Publication Date: 27 August 1998 Recommended Age: From 7 to 17 years Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Manufactured on demand  We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier. Table of ContentsReviewsGulf War hero Major Michael Donnelly, USAF (Ret.), returned home with a deadly disease and to a nation indifferent to his illness. A courageous young American, his compelling story of government betrayal and denial, as told to Congress, is typical of over 100,000 Gulf War veterans who continue to suffer from a variety of unexplained illnesses. Major Donnelly and his fellow veterans are the delayed and forgotten casualties of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. They deserve more than the thanks of a grateful nation. -Christopher Shays (R-CT) U.S. Representative and Chairman, Human Resources Subcommittee Committee on Government Reform and Oversight A moving memoir of the author's experiences as an air force pilot throughout the 1980s and the Persian Gulf War, that also confronts his seeming postwar diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and his subsequent realization that he did not have ALS, but rather, Gulf War syndrome. While lacking the polish of an experienced writer, Donnelly makes up for this with an impressive degree of candor - discussing his reluctance, for example, to see a doctor although he fears that his flying skills have been impaired - and manages to convey his feelings of loyalty to the armed services, even in the wake of his discovery that those very same forces had experimented on him with medicines not yet approved by the FDA. The book begins with the disabled Donnelly's current flying - in a video game, then turns back to his training and early military career. He ably conveys the rigor of air force flight school and assesses the difficulties of maintaining a family in the military. More interesting, though, is his take on the attitudes of front-line pilots at the tail end of the Cold War and his own feeling of a loss of mission as bases began closing down in Europe. But all of that alters, and Donnelly's own sense of anticipation builds, as the situation escalates toward war in the Persian Gulf. The sections of Falcon's Cry dealing with the war are dramatic and unlikely to disappoint anyone who watched the CNN war on a TV set - although Donnelly admits that he can't fully divulge all that happened over Iraq and Kuwait. Donnelly's tale of his personal sacrifices of health, mobility, and career quite naturally overshadow the victory in the Gulf. An honest, deeply felt look at the human cost of war. (Kirkus Reviews) Author InformationMAJOR MICHAEL DONNELLY retired from the U.S. Air Force in October 1996 after 15 years of active duty. He serves on Connecticut's Persian Gulf Veterans' Information Commission, formed at the order of the legislature to assist Desert Storm veterans in receiving the benefits and support they earned. He lives with his wife Susan and their two young children in South Windsor, Connecticut. DENISE DONNELLY, a professional writer and the sister of Major Donnelly, has been a fiction editor at the Missouri Review and has taught English and creative writing at Tufts University and the University of Missouri. She lives in Rockport, Massachusetts. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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