"Linebacker II: A View From the Rock [Revived]"
Brig. General James R. McCarthy
Lt. Colonel George B. Allison
Colonel Robert B. Rayfield - General Editor

Preface by Tommy Towery

This is a narrative drawn from the era of the Southeast Asian conflict, detailing a unique event in that lengthy struggle. The event was called LINEBACKER II, a nickname like thousands of others, used to identify an operation, project, or mission associated with military affairs. It so differed from the many others, however, in its execution and outcome that it stands alone. For the first time in contemporary warfare, heavy jet bombers were employed in their designed role to conduct extended strategic operations against the war making capacity of a hostile nation.

We all owe it to the heroic participants in any endeavor to recount, as best we can, the details of that portion of history which was, for them, real and immediate. So it should be for those who served with honor in Southeast Asia, regardless of confused issues, purpose, and outcome there. They were not party to that confusion, nor were they responsible for a significant lack of popular support for the conflict. Their dedicated, competent service to country was no less glorious or exhausting than that of their forebears, who have won the accolades of history.

Linebacker II: A View from the Rock was first published in 1976 by the Airpower Research Institute of the Air War College, located at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. The credits list Brig. General James R. McCarthy and Lt. Colonel George B. Allison, and the General Editor, Colonel Robert B. Rayfield. It was assigned ISBN 0-912799-31-5.

In 1979 it was reformatted and reprinted by the Office of Air Force History as USAF Southeast Asia Monograph Series, Volume VI, Monograph 8. Booksellers now list the printed version of the book as “Out of Print--Limited Availability”. Even the reprint is no longer available for sale by the Supt. of Docs., Government Printing Office, according to the G.P.O’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

The Air Force Historical Studies Office’s website contains a 1985 PDF image version of the book. Their copyright policy states “The AFHSO Web site is provided as a public service by the Air Force History and Museums program. Information presented on this Web site is public information and may be redistributed or copied.”