Cobra Gunship Pilot

American Heroes Radio features a conversation with former United States Marine Corps Major Dan Sheehan, the author of After Action: The True Story of a Cobra Pilot’s Journey.

Major Dan Sheehan, USMC, “served as a Marine Officer from 1996 to 2007.  He is an AH-1W pilot by trade and deployed aboard the 13th MEU (SOC) in 2000 and the 11th MEU (SOC) in 2002. During those deployments he participated in operations in East Timor, Yemen, and in various countries in the Middle East.  In 2003, he flew close air support missions during the invasion of Iraq & in 2004 served in Baghdad as a Forward Air Controller with USMC Special Operations Command.  When he left active duty as a Major in 2007, he had accrued more than 2000 flight hours and over 30 free-fall and static line parachute jumps.”  Major Sheehan is the author of After Action: The True Story of a Cobra Pilot's Journey.

According to the book description of After Action: The True Story of a Cobra Pilot's Journey, “as a 3rd generation military flyer, he was eager to test his skills as a Cobra gunship pilot in the theatre of combat & then he got his chance, first, in East Timor, then during 2 tours of duty in Iraq.

The scenes in this, Dan’s military memoir, crackle with angst and excitement as we follow his path into battle. Bullets pierce the unarmoured Cobras as Dan and his buddies struggle to separate enemy fighters from civilians. Through the smoke of battle and chaos of firefights at night, Dan puts us in right in the front seat of the Cobra - where we white-knuckle our way through barrages of enemy fire - and into his head as he makes split-second decisions that determine life or death."