US Air Force Forward Air Controllers (FACs) bridge the gap between air and land power. They operate in the grey area of the battlefield, serving as an aircrew who flies above the battlefield, spots the enemy, and relays targeting information to control close air support attacks by other faster aircraft. When done well, Air Force FACs are the fulcrum for successful employment of air power in support of ground forces. Unfortunately, FACs in recent times have been shunned by both ground and air forces, their mission complicated by inherent difficulty and danger, as well as by the vicissitudes of defense budgets, technology, leadership, bureaucracy, and doctrine. Eagles Overhead is the first complete historical survey of the US Air Force FAC program from its origins in World War I to the modern battlefield. Matt Dietz examines their role, status, and performance in every US Air Force air campaign from the Marne in 1918, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and finally Mosul in 2017. With the remaking of the post-Vietnam US military, and the impact of those changes on FAC, the Air Force began a steady neglect of the FAC mission from Operation Desert Storm, through the force reductions after …

Interview with Horace N. Robinson, a resident of Durant, Oklahoma. Robinson discusses his upbringing, life in a small town, the appearance of polio, World War II, PTSD he had seen in veterans, Christianity, the development of pacifism, the Vietnam War, and reminders left behind.

Interview with Marilyn Gibson Calhoun, a UNT graduate from Dallas, Texas. Calhoun discusses her education, family, involvement with the civil rights movement, support and community groups that formed among African-American students that were experiencing discrimination at North Texas State, her teaching career, family, going through breast cancer, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Remembering Black Dallas group.

Interview with Noel Lisboa, a Filipino personal trainer from Plano, Texas. Lisboa discusses growing up in the Philippines, Catholic education there, Filipino cuisine, family traditions and holidays, experiences with a political uprising, immigrating to the United States, food, life, and holidays in the United States compared to the Philippines, gang activity in the U.S., the fitness industry, and his community.