11 Days of Christmas
... that Michel wanted to make a statement with facts in hand with out regard to his career. Obviously, he did not care about his own career and simply wanted to set the facts straight. What helped me understand this book more was Michel’s day-by-day analysis of the strategy and tactics of the U.S. bomber squadrons and their North Vietnamese opponents. I usually get lost very easy, but his account was very easy to follow along. I really like people that stand up for what they believe in and raise the flag when they know something is not right. I think that Michel’s critique of U.S. Air Force leadership was professional and honest, yet it got the point across. He wasn’t looking to be popular. Although it was thoroughly researched and documented, I didn’t feel that it was overwhelming in facts and data in the reading. There are other books, like Boyne’s that bore me with facts and more facts. Another thing I liked about it is it is a topic of high debate. I think this is a topic that can be used for military leadership discussions and training. For example, the flight path strategy used by the SAC Operations staff had many shortfalls. The plan was set up for failure from the start: The plan had many flaws, which the Vietnamese were well aware of. Also, communications were not coordinated effectively and the mission kept changing. Not to mention that the pilots knew that they could take no evasive actions. On another note, more damage could have been made if different bombs had been used on the SAM sites. I believe this mission could have been very successful if politics and communication between departments had been improved before the plann...