Navy History - The Life of an F-14 Pilot

The facets of navy history that are most fascinating are personal accounts. Navy history can cover the timeline of a battle or the timeline of a life. Navy history is many times the recollections of those that have lived their lives in that part of navy history. Mark Marchione flew F-14’s for ten years and was inspired to write the novel West of the Rock.

This book gives us a rare, illuminating look into the elite world of navy pilots and their place in navy history.  In a series of powerful and often harrowing narratives, the author presents their life trajectories, from looking up in awe at the power and glory of warplanes, facing the ordeals of even “routine” landings at night on a pitching carrier deck, interacting with the comparatively unremarkable world of civilians, and reaching the point they no longer have the edge needed to be fighter pilots.  

For all the camaraderie, mastery of technique, and daily contests with fear, fighter pilots must also contend with the strains on family life during long deployments, the erosion of the motivations they need to face danger, the mounting death toll of friends, and diminishing faith in the nation’s mission and its seemingly endless confrontations around the world. These accounts are not found in a formal navy history. Here is the strength of this book– vividly describing, as only a former fighter pilot could, the rise and fall of the beliefs upon which modern warriors rely.

Many times navy history can depict the event of that time but rarely does it look inside their souls. This book lets you climb into their cockpit and their minds, unlike a story that is purely just navy history. Navy history should be a story of the lives of men.

Want to learn more about navy history? Get your copy of West of the Rock today!

 

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