Plagued with doubts and wrestling with his ego and his belief in God, he discovered in himself a man he loathed. In vivid and poignant passages, he delivers the full impact of enemy ambushes, the violence of combat, and the heartbreaking aftermath.Īnd as the Iraq War unfolded, Franzak became embroiled in another battle: one within himself. He explains the role the Harrier played over the Afghanistan battlefields and chronicles the life of an attack pilot-from the challenges of nighttime, weather, and the austere mountain environment to the frustrations of working under higher command whose micromanagement often exacerbated difficulties. I prayed when I heard the muted cries of men who at last understood their fate.įranzak's personal narrative captures the day-by-day details of his deployment, from family good-byes on departure day to the squadron's return home. I was safe and comfortable in my sheltered cocoon 20,000 feet over the Hindu Kush. And in what appeared to be a forgotten war half a world away from home, Franzak and his colleagues struggled to stay motivated and do their job providing air cover to soldiers patrolling the inhospitable terrain.

But what should have been a standard six-month deployment soon turned to a yearlong ordeal as the Iraq conflict intensified.

The squadron was the first to base Harriers in Bagram in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Michael 'Zak' Franzak was an AV-8B Marine Corps Harrier pilot who served as executive officer of VMA-513, 'The Flying Nightmares,' while deployed in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003. The first Afghanistan memoir ever to be written by a Marine Harrier pilot, A Nightmare's Prayer portrays the realities of war in the twenty-first century, taking a unique and powerful perspective on combat in Afghanistan as told by a former enlisted man turned officer. A Nightmare's Prayer: A Marine Harrier Pilot's War in Afghanistan by Michael Franzak.

A Nightmare's Prayer by Michael Franzak