In Mike Five Eight, Lieutenant Rusty Naille returns to Vietnam to complete his interrupted combat tour as a Forward Air Controller. Once again, he "volunteers" to fly a highly dangerous and even more secret mission than before - this time, over Cambodia. His Cessna O-2 plane is unmarked, he carries no identification, his existence is disavowed by his own government, and his right-seater is an NVA defector.

Tracing the use of air power in World War II and the Korean War, Mark Clodfelter explains how U. S. Air Force doctrine evolved through the American experience in these conventional wars only to be thwarted in the context of a limited guerrilla struggle in Vietnam. Although a faith in bombing's sheer destructive power led air commanders to believe that extensive air assaults could win the war at any time, the Vietnam experience instead showed how even intense aerial attacks may not achieve military or political objectives in a limited war. Based on findings from previously classified documents in presidential libraries and air force archives as well as on interviews with civilian and military decision makers, The Limits of Air Power argues that reliance on air campaigns as a primary instrument of warfare could not have produced lasting victory in Vietnam. This Bison Books edition includes a new chapter that provides a framework for evaluating air power effectiveness in future conflicts.

Lieutenant Rusty Naille (callsign Baggy Zero Four) is a new U.S. Air Force pilot, assigned in Vietnam. Soon thrust into the dangers of war, he is soon faced with a dilemma that could end his career, or kill him.

President Richard Nixon could not keep American ground troops in Cambodia beyond June 1970 without authorization from Congress, which was not forthcoming. Not wanting to desert the anti-communist Lon Nol regime, he ordered top-secret, round-the-clock air support over Cambodia, and the Rustics were born. Author Richard Wood flew as one of the Rustics, a group of forward air controllers who played a major part in staving off both the North Vietnamese and Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge guerilla forces. This three-year air war was so secret—managed directly from the White House—that there are no official records of it. Wood bases his book on his own experiences and those of the other pilots and Cambodians who participated in the operation. He recounts the Rustic's daring missions and portrays the friendships that developed between the pilots and the Cambodian field troops, commanders, and radio operators, who fought with courage and dedication. The loss of American air support after August 15, 1973 eventually contributed to the fall of Cambodia and the horribly dark period of its history that will live in infamy as “the killing fields”.

The story of special air warfare and the Air Commandos who served for the ambassadors in Laos from 1964 to 1975 is captured through extensive research and veteran interviews. The author has meticulously put together a comprehensive overview of the involvement of USAF Air Commandos who served in Laos as trainers, advisors, and clandestine combat forces to prevent the communist takeover of the Royal Lao Government. This book includes pictures of those operations, unveils what had been a US government secret war, and adds a substantial contribution to understanding the wider war in Southeast Asia.