WARRIORS (Mass Market Paperback)

So why isn't this the epic air war novel that fans have been clamoring for? I'll start w/Tillman's questionable choice of characterizations for the players - the Israelis are calculating political manipulators who throw their weight around (the Arabs successfully buy F-20's only because the Israelis doubted the plane was sufficiently formidable to amount to a threat) while the Arabs are largely respectable, professional, only interested in defense and (most woefully of all) romanticized. Unlike the Saudis we know from the news - who employ religious police against their own people while penning foreign professionals into separate communities - these Saudis are both modern and appreciative to their foreign trainers, and never resort to using political manipulation to get what they want. While neither characterization is wrong, (the Israelis are not purely- noble, plucky and fearless, while the Arabs are not by definition xenophobic, illiterate religious zealots who think they can fund global terrorism and get anything they want with petro-dollars) Tillman unfairly uses different perspectives for the one and the other - cynical for one, romantic for the other. Tillman compounds the disparity by dropping his musings on real subjects like the pro-Israel lobby and the Liberty attack of 1967. While those subjects are ripe for discussion, it's woefully dishonest to lob them, uncritically, in a novel. (Because it's a novel, the writer can bend the facts because its fiction, but since these fictionalized facts are rooted in history, it's impossible to say where the fiction becomes historical argument; since Tillman has authored numerous works of non-fiction, it's lamentable that he chose to address these issues in a work of fiction). And lastly, the idea of Americans teaching Saudis to fly aircraft in defense seems incredibly ironic since 9-11, unlike the hoards of other horrible books that at least look less implausible now.

Technical realism and storytelling (normally at odds with each other) also take an unexpectedly big hit. Tillman's premise is built on a question - how would an experienced aviator build a world-class air force? Unfortunately, he treats the premise as a technical one that can and should be answered quickly, rather than one for a book which requires that characters be challenged, that plots don't fall according to the plans of those within them and that we've got what to read for about 250 pages. Dealing with a technical problem, Tillman takes the path of least resistance: his characters get the planes and pilots they want, develop overall proficiency in time for the big fight, and work for reasonable employers willing and able to fund anything. Lastly, when the war comes, the tactics used fit those taught to his pilots perfectly. In other words, it's a dream of air-war come true. Realistically however, the war you plan for is seldom if ever the one faced (a truism I picked up reading many a fighter-pilot memoir), and both the equipment and training can be counted on to be less than optimal - even for the war as contemplated. Wouldn't a better story have been one with aging aircraft, less-than-proficient fliers and an unfavorable political situation? That story would have had us guessing about the plot or sympathizing with its Arab characters (instead of idealizing them, why not put them at a disadvantage and have them surprise us with their pluck?). Instead of a book with characters, plot and action, "Warriors" reads like some dry dramatized study of a hypothetical war. Tillman's experience in aircraft is not reflected in this book which frequently sees things from a "big picture" well outside the cockpit - real pilots don't have spot view. Also, there are few stirring air combat moments like the one described by William Anderson in his memoir "To Fly and Flight". Tillman uses his technical details to reinforce the same truisms we've heard for years - you must fight air power with air power (didn't the Israelis learn the opposite in 1973?); a pilot must know the limits of his aircraft; that pilot proficiency is the deciding factor in air combat - rather than tell a story. The end is unintentionally anti-climactic, and is otherwise obvious from the first page. "Warriors" could have been a great story about fighter drivers being asked to confront a well equipped and trained enemy using inexperienced pilots with aging and unreliable aircraft - in other words, a story which rivals the challenges of air combat with a few of its own.

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I am certain that this book must have been interesting reading for the countries in the Middle East, and specially Saudi Arabia and Israel. I would even dare say that the basic insights it contains makes it a must-read for air-force academies all over the world.

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