Luke Ridenhour
Published: 2018-10-31
Total Pages: 412
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Over The Horizon is historical fiction focused on the U.S. Navy's unofficial 'foreign legion' and based on several significant, but minimally reported, Cold War events in the western Pacific during 1980-1982. Such encounters never made the evening news, including a deadly collision at sea, a cat-and-mouse encounter with a Soviet aircraft carrier just miles off the Russian coast, and aerial engagements across the Korean peninsula against a squadron led by a charismatic South Korean wing commander known as the Scotch General. In October, 1973, with little fanfare, the United States Navy established its foreign legion on the far side of the planet. Baptized in the deep, cold waters of the Pacific Ocean, it was christened with a harmless, government-issued name: Overseas Family Residency Program. The innocent title allowed sailors' families across fifty states to sleep peacefully as their loved ones served faithfully on the volatile tip of America's sword. Based around the USS Midway, a World War Two-era aircraft carrier, high risk adventures were commonplace with the U.S. Navy's unofficial foreign legion in the western Pacific in the early 80's. Fly the A-6 Intruder, an all-weather, low level attack jet so lethal it was never exported to any other country. Befriend Eli, a golf caddy whose lifelong dream was to see over the horizon, and a young Filipino child whose infectious grin was the basis for 'smiling girl village.' The Navy's légion étrangère was based in Yokosuka, Japan, twenty-eight miles south of Tokyo, and its flagship was USS Midway, a World War Two vintage aircraft carrier. Few Americans knew her name, but America's enemies certainly knew who she was, as did America's presidents. Upon initial notification of a crisis halfway around the world, the first question the White House asked was always, "Where's Midway?" From its beginning, the Navy's foreign legion began patrolling the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean on a nearly continuous basis, remaining ever vigilant far from her home of birth. The ship's operating schedule was grueling; so grueling, in fact, that her unofficial motto was Semper Separatus - Always Separated. Life in the Navy's foreign legion was never easy, and the price tag was often perilously high, but Midway Magic was always along for the journey...somewhere over the horizon.
