History Creator / DaleBrown

* AnAesop: Creator/DaleBrown's books, particular ''Starfire'', don't shy from his viewpoint that the appeasement is dangerous, especially Chamberlainian actions that give ground to aggressors. Made explicit in [[http://dalebrown.info/essay108.htm this response of Brown's to a reader's letter.]]

* StealthSequel: ''Chains of Command'' is by all appearances a standalone novel, one more grounded in reality than any previous novels. None of Brown's usual cast of characters are present; likewise, neither HAWC nor any of its high tech gadgetry play a part in the story. The prologue is set in the real life conflict of Desert Storm[[note]]aside from the Cold War, no previous novel had included a real life conflict[[/note]] and where previous novels featured an entirely fictional US President, here the President and First Lady, while unnamed, are clearly modeled on the Clintons. By any measure, this novel appears to be in a separate continuity from the [=McLanahan=] series... until the epilogue, in which the Lithuanian general from ''Night of the Hawk'' appears, and a brief nod is given to the events of that book. Rebecca Furness and Darren Mace would later appear in the main [=McLanahan=] series.

** Midway through the book, Colonel Darren Mace and Major Rebecca Furness watch helplessly as a Russian jet overflies their base and drops something that, between its appearance and the fact that the Russians have already used nuclear weapons elsewhere, they are convinced is a parachute-retarded nuclear bomb. Cut to the next chapter, where an incredulous US President is told that the aircraft actually dropped leaflets.

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Ken Phoenix is told in ''A Time for Patriots'' that he should stop beating himself up over the violence and deaths caused by {{Right Wing Militia Fanatic}}s.

* HarsherInHindsight: InUniverse. In ''Shadows of Steel'' [[spoiler:Hal Briggs]] is chastened for taking a risk that gets him hurt by a ZSU-23 antiaircraft gun. Guess how he dies, several books later?

[[NamesTheSame Not to be confused with]] the ''other'' author named [[Creator/DanBrown D. Brown]]. Also not to be confused with Dale Brown, former basketball coach at Louisiana State University.

* KillEmAll: Happens in ''[[spoiler:Day Of The Cheetah]]'', originally expected to be Brown's last book. Resulted in a number of later retcons of character deaths when Brown's contract was renewed.

** Went a little overboard in ''Day of the Cheetah,'' which was the end of his original book contract and veered into KillEmAll territory. Later retconned.

* TheNeidermeyer: One inexperienced Captain in ''Sky Masters''. Also General Gary Houser, who upon having a demoted Patrick reassigned to his command in ''Plan of Attack'' proceeds to be a {{Jerkass}} and disregard Patrick's warnings as him crying wolf [[spoiler:[[KarmicDeath until he dies in the same nuclear attack Patrick was warning him about]].]] Then there's Terrill Sampson, who apparently only regarded Dreamland as "a stepping stone" to his next general's star, allowing the high-tech projects to stagnate under his command. [[spoiler:He's on the same plane as Houser.]]

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Subverted in ''Warrior Class'', where Pat goes back for [[spoiler:Annie and Dev]] after they get shot down in Russian territory... and gets into serious trouble with the higher-ups for it.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp

* FourStarBadass: Pat [=McLanahan=], amongst others, although the rank means that he isn't in combat as much as before.

* WriterOnBoard: The books, particularly ''Starfire'', don't shy from demonstrating the dangers of appeasement and Chamberlainian giving ground to aggressors. Made explicit in [[http://dalebrown.info/essay108.htm this response of Brown's to a reader's letter.]] Whether this is {{Anvilicious}} or SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped is left as an exercise to the reader.

** In ''Battle Born'', among the weapons used are "plasma bombs" that are explicitly described as transferring the objects their blast converts into the titular form of matter ''into an alternate universe''. And which [[ForgottenPhlebotinum are never so much as mentioned again]] in several later books...only to be brought back to boost the output of one of the Dragon ABM aircraft ([[SuperPowerMeltdown it gets messy]] if they try BeamSpam) and playing a larger role in ''Plan of Attack''.
** Nuclear weapons figure prominently in ''Chains of Command''. The first section of the novel deals with an aborted nuclear attack during Desert Storm, with tremendous consequences for the character involved.[[labelnote:*]]In a twist, ''not'' launching a nulear weapon gets the character in trouble, as he is judged to have done so without proper orders.[[/labelnote]] Later chapters depicted aircrew on nuclear alert and the novel culminates in a secondary protagonist launching a nuclear missile at the bunker in which the BigBad has taken shelter. Zig-zagged with the neutron bombs used by the Russians, which cause minimal property damage but the same horrific casualties as any other nuke.

* WeaponOfMassDestruction: In ''Battle Born'', among the weapons used are "plasma bombs" that are explicitly described as transferring the objects their blast converts into the titular form of matter ''into an alternate universe''. And which [[ForgottenPhlebotinum are never so much as mentioned again]] in several later books...only to be brought back to boost the output of one of the Dragon ABM aircraft ([[SuperPowerMeltdown it gets messy]] if they try BeamSpam) and playing a larger role in ''Plan of Attack''.

* CounterAttack: One new piece of Sky Masters tech in ''Rogue Forces'' allows a plane to defeat incoming missiles with [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]], then attempt to fry the attacker as well.

* CounterAttack: One new piece of Sky Masters tech in ''Rogue Forces'' allows a plane to defeat incoming missiles with FrickinLaserBeams, then attempt to fry the attacker as well.

* FrickinLaserBeams: Anti-ballistic missile and later anti-satellite lasers get used by various factions.

* LastBreathBullet: In ''Starfire'' a fatally-wounded [[spoiler:Chris Wohl]] gets up one last time to hit [[spoiler:an assassin going after Bradley]] on the back of the head.

* ClaspYourHandsIfYouDeceive: Tang Shou Dian in ''Sky Masters''.

* BoringInvincibleHero: Subverted. The team almost never wins overwhelmingly despite their definite advantages.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Dreamland has a lot of secret ops that, well, [[CaptainObvious they can't let others know about.]] Not even allies. Predictably, fighting ensues. In ''Sky Masters'' a misunderstood radio call results in a nuclear release.