Return with Honor

Return with Honor is Scott O'Grady's account of evading capture after having his F-16 shot down in Bosnia while enforcing a no-fly zone.

I followed the account as it happened in 1995, and I had the same thought then as I had reading the book--not much happened. There was no hand-to-hand combat, no contact with the locals, no chase scene, which is why he lived to tell about it.

The account of his hiding out is bookended by the exciting account of his escaping capture on the first day and his rescue a week later. In between was the mundaneness of his survival. He would lie motionless during the day, and move by night a few hundred feet to another hiding place. He takes five paragraphs to describe how he stood up from his hiding place.

"I show more started by rolling back to my left side, then pushing my torso up slow-motion with my right hand. With my left hand anchored, I pivoted into a sitting position. Then I brought my legs in close; both hands were flat on the dirt behind me now, to help lift me into a squat.

"Each of these moves had a half dozen components, and I isolated each one . . ." In all, he only traveled about two miles during that week.

He did come into contact with two locals, whom he named Leroy and Alfred though they were females. This part of the story was humorous and could have been expanded upon.

He could have also explained more of the survival techniques such as when he finally gave in and started to eat insects. I would like to know what were the guidelines for eating insects.

To create suspense, O'Grady flashes back into his life to show the steps he took to become an Air Force. This technique was effective and informative. The reader sees that O'Grady is a professional who paid his dues.

He also cuts away in places to show how his family and colleagues are coping with his disappearance. These vignettes make for a well-rounded story.

This book is good for those who are interested in the story behind the headlines, and for young people who are interested military stories. Being in the military, or in this case, the Air Force, is not all bravado and heroics (according to 0'Grady, not at all). It is methodically carrying out one's training. This book is also proof that military books do not have to be filled with profanity to be authentic. show less

This is a very readable account of the shooting down of O'Grady's plane over Bosnia in 1994 and his subsequent 6 days evasion of Bosnian Serb soldiers who were intend on either killing him or capturing him.

We just don't have many fighter pilots getting shot down these days. So it was interested to read about someone in the modern Air Force having to deal with this situation. Reading about his experience in the AF prior to the incident was pleasant too. Not every base has fighter culture since not every base has fighters. And clearly, not every fighter base has the same culture either.

It wasn't the best written story and they jumped around a little bit in the book but it mostly works.

Wow. Solid story.