CW5 Alan C. Mack retired from the Army as a Master Aviator. He served over 35 years in the Army, first as an aircraft mechanic then as a pilot. He flew CH-47s in support of Operations Desert Shield and Storm. Additionally, he spent 17 years flying MH-47 Chinooks with the 160th SOAR. As a Night Stalker Flight Lead, he participated in Operations Desert Thunder, Desert Fox, Enduring, and Iraqi Freedom. His awards include the Legion of Merit, 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 10 Air medals – 1 with 'V,' and a Combat Action Badge. Alan finished his career as Commander of the West Point Flight Detachment. Now he and his wife Patti live happily in New York's Hudson Valley. His website is www.alancmack.com
""Al Mack did the impossible: delivering my ODA Special Forces team past numerous Taliban defenses to start our mission after 9/11. He did a phenomenal job then, and he's done a phenomenal job now, detailing a life filled with missions every bit as exciting and dangerous as ours. His book proves the old saying, ""Nobody tells an I-was-there-story like an Army aviator.""--Mark Nutsch, US Army Major, Commander ODA 595 HORSE SOLDIERS, and co-author of ""Swords of Lighting: Green Beret Horse Soldiers and America's Response to 9/11"" ""Al Mack reminds us that the blank check our service members sign to our country is drawn against their families as well. His candid memoir speaks of courage and tragedy, both on the battlefield and at home.""--Taya Kyle, author of The New York Times bestselling ""American Wife"" ""Alan Mack has lived and fought through more war than a dozen action heroes. He has rescued SEALs, helped overthrow the Taliban, and taken part in the hunt for bin Laden. He has flown through some of the worst Weather on the planet, been shot at, and crashed in worst places than Hell. But the truly unique perspective his book gives us is the personal toll war takes on the warrior and his family. His story isn't just a page-turner - it's a gripping emotional rollercoaster about love and loss and the painful cost to families back home. A truly heroic read."" --Jim DeFelice, author of ""American Sniper"" and fifteen other NYT bestsellers ""Alan Mack is the real deal, part of an elite band of ultimate aviators.""--Toby Harnden, author of ""First Casualty"" ""An enthralling combat memoir - searingly honest.""--Andy Milburn, author of ""When The Tempest Gathers"" ""Heart-pounding, intensely personal, emotionally draining, and the best book I have ever read about the Night Stalkers! Al Mack's stories of courage, sacrifice and heroism of the highest order will leave you awe-struck at the kind of men who fly these machines and the families who stand beside them."" --Admiral William H. McRaven, USN (Ret), New York Times #1 Bestseller ""Mack describes what it meant to serve the nation as a member of the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.""-- ""Yonkers Times"" ""Maybe the unspoken hardest part of fighting a war is coming home. Al Mack fearlessly explores the terror and camaraderie of flying in the world's most elite aviation unit; and the damage and costs that this inflicted upon his marriage and himself. His journey on the home front is harrowing as at the same time he puts us in the cockpit for a truly dramatic behind-the-scenes look at some of the US's most secretive operations. Al Mack survived the wars, and then he survived what the wars did to him, and I believe he set this tale down so that others might find a way back home.""--Doug Stanton, author of ""Horse Soldiers"" and ""In Harm's Way"" ""The largest part of the story is about his missions in northern Afghanistan, and Mack does an excellent job of maintaining the tension. He covers the high points as well as the lows thoroughly; and a reader has a sense of--if not being there--looking over Mack's shoulder.""-- ""The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation"" ""The US Army's Special Operations Aviation Regiment fields the best helicopter pilots in the world. Alan Mack was one of these intrepid ""Night Stalkers,"" proving his mettle through the rigors of training, endless deployments, and decades of war.""--Steven Hartov, co-author of The New York Times bestselling ""In The Company of Heroes and The Night Stalkers"" ""Razor 03 - is an incredible story hardly believable had I not witnessed it first hand.""--Command Master Chief (SEAL) Britt K. Slabinski, United States Navy (Ret.), Medal of Honor Recipient ""Razor 03 reads like a fast-paced action novel. Alan Mack gives us the deepest dive I've ever read about the fantastic life of a Night Stalker. It is as much a history lesson as it is a personal confession about the extremes of life in our nation's most esteemed aviation unit, TF 160. Razor 03 is the reminder we all need to know: our nation is safe because of the sacrifices and commitment of these brave men and women.""--Matt Eversmann, New York Times Bestselling Author of ""Walk in My Combat Boots"" ""A gritty, inside look at life as a Night Stalker - from intense combat missions overseas to the tragic costs that lifestyle can impose on a family.""--Sean Naylor, author of the New York Times bestseller ""Relentless Strike"" ""A truly extraordinary book by a phenomenal pilot and warrior. Alan Mack was in the thick of every sensitive, harrowing, high-stakes operation in the decade following 9/11. His account of combat from the cockpit of the world's most exceptional special ops aviation unit and of the toll it took on him and his family is forthright, riveting, raw, compelling, and inspirational. Readers will not be able to put Razor 3 down."" --General David H. Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, and former Director of the CIA