Secrets and Scuds: An Untold Story of Desert Shield and Desert Storm - Softcover

I began writing this book under the name "Iraq and Back" in 1991 after I returned from Saudi Arabia. I spent the next year working on it and then Raytheon to get it published, with no success. I DID, however, get an offer to write a book for a series on the military profession and began work on On Air Defense.25 years on and with more writing experience I took another look at Iraq and Back... and saw issues with it. It was too long, it dwelled on minutia and it read like a recruiting brochure for ADA. I began editing it down and re-did every cartoon (the original illustrations were drawn under field conditions and several didn't  pass the test of time. I also asked for and received permission to  write about the Alpha system.The Alpha was a secret weapon system which operated on a totally different principle from Hawk, The missiles looked identical to the standard Hawk and instead of radar the system employed a sensor disguised as a generator. With the Pentagon's blessing to publish information on Alpha I felt I had a unique draw for this new book.Once the manuscript was complete in 2015 I tried to get it published with a traditional publisher, with little success. Apparently, there "isn't much call for Desert Storm books." One publisher thought about it for 18 months but wanted to know if I had more photos and could make it longer...Finally, I decided to publish Secrets and Scuds myself. I truly believe it's the best book I've done to date and the information in it about the Alpha appears NOWHERE ELSE. Plus, well, it's fun!

During Desert Shield and Desert Storm Bravo Battery, 2nd Battalion 1st Air Defense Artillery was equipped with Hawk surface-to-air missile system designed to shoot down enemy planes. But the unit was equipped with a second weapon system which was disguised to look like something else. For the first time, the story of this weapon system can be told, along with the trials and tribulations of ordinary soldiers in the sands of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.