Unmanned

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to several people from the 432nd Wing “Hunters” at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, who assisted me during my research for this book by allowing me to see firsthand the way such missions operate. Thank you to Public Affairs Staff Sergeant Alice Moore for arranging access and showing me around the base; to Captain Gary Ford for a fascinating interview, to Lieutenant Colonel Lance “Sky” King for an interesting lecture, and, most of all, to the pilot-sensor team of Captain Nicholas “Hammer” Helms and Airman T. J. Masters, whose candid accounts and descriptions helped me gain a deeper understanding of the special pressures and demands of Predator missions. They also offered a valuable window onto the lifestyle of those soldiers who, for lack of better terminology, now serve their country as “commuter warriors” from locations based far from the field of combat.

For offering valuable updated advice on certain scenarios in Afghanistan, I thank journalists Nir Rosen and Dexter Filkins. I’d also like to thank the incomparable aircraft designer Pierre Sprey for his insights on the workings of the Pentagon with regard to the development of aircraft and weapons systems.