Book Review: ‘DOOM 34’ by Colonel Trey Morris

In DOOM 34, Colonel Trey Morris offers a firsthand account of a largely unpublicized airstrike that preceded the official outbreak of Operation Desert Storm. Centered on a B-52 mission flown under extraordinary operational and personal strain, the book is less a technical history than a human one. Morris places the reader inside the cockpit—and inside the minds—of a crew asked to perform with absolute precision over an extended period, long before the world knew a war had begun.

Clearly, I was unaware that this airstrike occurred prior to the formal start of Desert Storm, so I’d say this book did what a good memoir should do: teach and provide context to a specific period in history. I was equally unaware of the grueling schedule these men maintained while flying B-52s. The book includes minor but engaging details about the gremlins and idiosyncrasies of these aging aircraft. I found myself impressed by the engineers who designed these flying fortresses decades ago, and by how their fundamental design—largely unchanged, with only limited modern modification—continues to prove effective in contemporary warfare.

Other details were enlightening as well, including the use of “trusted agents” in foreign, though allied, air control environments. In-flight refueling has always struck me as an almost unbelievable feat, and the book contains multiple accounts of its successful execution, each underscoring the coordination and trust required to make it routine.

Overall, fascinating for those of us not who have not been involved in the military. I did not serve in the military and obviously cannot fully assess the technical accuracy of every detail. I’ll leave that to more competent people; however, the account consistently feels authentic and grounded in lived experience.
For the most part, the book is engaging and, at times, quite compelling. The first third moves briskly and does an effective job of establishing the character of the men involved.

The narrative occasionally becomes repetitive or bogs down in unnecessary detail, but Colonel Morris proves savvy enough to pull out of those dives and bring the reader back into the heart of the mission. While this was not a book I felt compelled to finish in a single sitting, it was one I consistently wanted to return to—and one whose outcome, particularly the crew’s return home, mattered to me.

There are a few trite phrases in use, but to be fair, the metaphors are generally appropriate to the subject matter. Acronyms appear frequently, as one would expect in a military memoir, but they are adequately explained and never feel like jargon for its own sake. They do not distract from the narrative or impede understanding.

At its core, this is a memoir about a group of young men pushed to their limits—and about their success in meeting and exceeding those limits. Readers can take away lessons in resilience, patience, and dedication, qualities that remain indispensable in any era. Colonel Morris writes movingly about the bonds forged under such conditions, bonds that extend far beyond any single mission and can add lasting richness and stability to a person’s life.

Without intending offense or alienation, the book may also prompt readers to reflect on warfare itself. It showcases remarkable engineering, planning, fortitude, and commitment—positive traits by any measure—and invites an important question: what extraordinary things might be accomplished if these same qualities were applied in arenas not centered on destruction? Those are questions worth asking, and I applaud this memoir for encouraging them. Pro- and anti-military readers alike can find value here. Bring to your own reflections the same tenacity the crew of DOOM 34 brought to their mission.