User Guide

James “Hawk” Stern is something of a
legend around Turkey. There are more
successful squadrons on the market
than the Wildcats, but surely none of
them fly so radically against the grain.
Every year, prevailing wisdom holds
that this man’s moral scruples (some
call them pretensions) will drive the
Wildcats to bankruptcy, and every year
Stern somehow manages to prove the
conventional wisdom wrong.
After all this time, the question
remains: What makes James Stern
tick? No one can
say for sure except
Stern himself, but
perhaps something
can be gleaned from
an examination of
the public records
regarding this extra-
ordinary man.
James Stern, a
native of Muncie,
Indiana, was born
into an upper-middle
class family. In keep-
ing with his middle-
America background, Stern was from
his earliest school days a patriot.
Bolstered by exceptional grades,
consistent leadership in extracur-
ricular activities and the recommen-
dation of local base commanders,
Stern was accepted into Annapolis
Naval Academy. It was there that he
first met Jean-Paul Prideaux, a man
who would be a source of both
friendship and grief in later life.
Prideaux was another individual
possessed of leadership potential and
intelligence. They quickly became fast
friends and bitter rivals. Each
relationship fed on the other, until the
struggle came to an end after four
years — Stern graduated at the top of
their class; Prideaux was second.
The two men received separate
assignments. Stern served aboard the
carrier Enterprise as a naval aviator;
Prideaux was posted to a naval base in
Hawaii, and although the two men
would not encounter each other again
for many years, they apparently kept
in touch.
Stern gained distinction in such
diverse theatres of operation as the
Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mexico
during the Texas Secession. Eventually
Stern rose to the rank of colonel, and
took command of the
fighter group aboard
the nuclear carrier
USS Shiloh.
The odd circum-
stances surrounding
the loss of the Shiloh
with all hands is
still classified, but a
few facts are never-
theless known. Stern
was ordered by the
Commander-in-Chief
into battle against
Alaskan forces and
Alaskan allies during the PetroWar of
2001. Alaska had lined up support
from Canada, the Commonwealth of
Independent States and OPEC, and all
three blocs had a military presence in
the area at the time. Realizing this, it
becomes clear that any assault against
Alaska from the sea was doomed from
the start. The questions concerning
culpability for this disaster remain
unanswered: how much did the
Pentagon know regarding the dis-
position of forces in the region? Was
Stern aware of this? And if so, was it
his choice to take the Shiloh in,
regardless of the danger?
It is unfortunate that the loss of
Stern’s command occurred during
what would prove to be the decisive
34
July 2011 • SUDDEN DEATH
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
“James Stern: The Untold Story”
Commander James R. Stern