Phil Ward

Necessary Force Phil Ward

Maj. John Randal is back in Book VI in the Raiding Forces Series. He travels to the RAF Base located at Habbaniya sixty miles south of Bagdad to see Lt. Pamala Plum-Martin be awarded her pilots wings from the flying school located there. RAF Habbaniya is a base that the war has passed by, senior officers at the end of their career are assigned as well as pilots who are not considered good enough for combat flying or pilots who have become combat fatigued from flying combat tours and need a rest. Maj. Randal, the MI-6 senior officer Jim 'Baldie' Taylor and Lt. Penelope Honeycutt-Parker fly into the RAF Base the same day the Iraqi rebels of the Golden Square lay the place to siege by occupying the heights just outside the perimeter wire. They find themselves in a situation that is described to Maj. Randal "in terms an American can understand...this is 1836 and you just checked in to the Hotel Alamo". What happens next is an action packed story of a battle that has been lost to history.