This fascinating memoir chronicles the experiences of Colonel F. Izadseta, a senior Iranian Air Force commander who spent many years serving in the pre-revolutionary Imperial Iranian Air Force, witnessing its buildup during the 1960s and 1970s, and its near destruction after the 1979 revolution. He tells of navigating the rocky political climate during the 1980s' Iran-Iraq war, while helping his country stand up to the Iraqi invasion and turn what could have been a week-long defeat into a stalemate that ultimately took eight years-the longest conventional war of the 20th century.
His memoir is a very rare, open and candid tell-all from a high-ranking Iranian officer involved in the many fateful decisions made in an adverse environment where the government did not trust (and was actively sabotaging) its own military, despite the country being under attack. Colonel Izadseta takes the reader right into command headquarters where chaos was unfolding and commanders were facing incredible difficulties-international disapproval, domestic oppression, and even imprisonment by their own government.
Colonel Izadseta was among a handful of highly-trained and dedicated officers who found themselves in an impossible and isolated situation, but were able to rise above the politics and insanity of the day to find a way to defend and serve their country-surprising everyone, including themselves. The Iranian government has since gone through every effort to suppress their story and their voices. This is the first time a senior Iranian Air Force commander is heard on the record telling the whole story.
Readers interested in the modern history of the Middle East, plus those who have been involved in wars in the region and are curious about the context and background of how that situation came to be, as well as military aviation enthusiasts, and readers from Iran and neighboring countries who were deeply affected by these events but never heard the true story, are all sure to find this a must-read book.
