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Fly Safe
Letters from the Gulf War and Reflections From Back Home
It is August 1990, and Iraq has just invaded Kuwait, setting off a chain reaction of events leading up to the first Gulf War. Vicki Cody’s husband, the commander of an elite Apache helicopter battalion, is deployed to Saudi Arabia—and for the next nine months they have to rely on written letters in order to stay connected.
From Vicki’s narrative and journal entries, the reader gets a very realistic glimpse of what it is like for the spouses and families back home during a war, in particular what it was like at a time when most people did not own a personal computer and there was no Internet—no iPhones, no texting, no tweeting, no Facetime. Her writing also illuminates the roller coaster of stress, loneliness, sleepless nights, humor, joys, and, eventually, resilience, that make up her life while her husband is away. Meanwhile, Dick’s letters to her give the reader a front row seat to the unfolding of history, the adrenaline rush of flying helicopters in combat, his commitment to his country, and his devotion to his family back home. Together, these three components weave a clear, insightful, and intimate story of love and its power to sustain us.
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In Vicki Cody’s Fly Safe, her moving follow-up to her first memoir, Army Wife, she delivers a tour de force full of emotion, determination, grit, and hope, something our country needs now more than ever. Destined to be a bestseller, Fly Safe beckons to a time when love and faith were communicated through letters and intermittent phone calls. Vicki’s engrossing writing style takes us inside her world of handling critical roles as army wife, mom, family readiness group leader, and friend to so many as her husband famously fired the first shots of the Gulf War. Take your time reading Fly Safe; you won’t want it to end.
Once again, Vicki Cody gives us a front seat ride on her journey as an Army wife, this time through journal entries and the personal letters from her husband as he flew the most dangerous missions of Operation Desert Storm more than 30 years ago. In her deeply personal storytelling style, Vicki weaves the correspondence into a gripping, historical narrative that chronicles the fears, tensions, high notes and loneliness of an Army family waiting at home while a loved one is at war on the other side of the world, all at a time when handwritten letters and sporadic phone calls were the only lifelines. You will laugh and cry with her as she reveals the details of those times. With Fly Safe, and her first book, Army Wife, Vicki elevates the art of telling the Army story, a truly American tale of sacrifice, love, and commitment that, as readers will find out, isn’t over yet. It’s an elegant and riveting work that will endure through time!
Cody has an uncanny way of giving us a vulnerable look behind the curtain of a Commander in theater, and the woman who loves him back on post. Her intimate details of ‘deployed love’ are honest and heartfelt . . . with a level of candor I’ve never before seen. Thank you for your bravery in giving us all a window to your soul, the soul of your marriage, and the soul of those who serve.
With unparalleled grace and humility, Vicki Cody pours her soul out on the page for all to experience. In bearing her soul, she captures our hearts. Fly Safe is a must read for all Americans.
Cody not only recounts her own experience on the homefront, but also Dick’s daring participation in a “history-making raid” to destroy Iraq’s most critical radar sites in advance of a full-scale invasion. The author’s informal prose forges an intimacy with the reader. This is an impressively candid recollection, poignant and thoughtful. A searchingly personal memoir that also provides a thrilling peek into the Gulf War.