Morons of War

by Sloan Green

"The CATCH-22 of America's drone wars." Brian Castner, author of The Long Walk

Killing people from thousands of miles away has never been funnier!

The year is 2014 and no weapon has proven more valuable in America’s Global War on Terrorism than the MQ-9 Reaper. But who is piloting these deadly attack drones? An elite group of special operators? A shadowy government agency? Highly advanced artificial intelligence? Nope. Turns out, it’s a bunch of morons.

Step inside the TOP SECRET world of the Sixty-Seventh Reconnaissance Squadron and meet the bored, lazy, hungover morons with their fingers on the triggers of one of America’s most lethal weapons.

Part war novel, part office comedy, and based on the author’s own experiences flying MQ-9 Reapers, Morons of Wartakes readers on an absurd, darkly humorous, and outrageously funny behind-the-scenes look at what it’s really like to fly attack drones for the United States Air Force.

Genres: War

324 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 18, 2026

About the author

Sloan Green is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. With more than 5,000 hours of flight time, he has piloted multiple aircraft, including the C-17 Globemaster and the MQ-9 Reaper. He is also a humor writer who has studied with the Second City and whose work has appeared in various publications, including McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. He lives with his family in his hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. Morons of War is his first novel.

Reviews

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5

This novel was described as Catch-22 for the modern age. It most definitely did not live up to that lofty imagining. It was also called "funny". I think I may have sniggered once.

Morons of War is set on an army base in the US where the pilots sit at stations and do all the killing via drones. There, thats the basic plot.

Of course we have an attempt to give the pilots funny names such as we had in Catch 22 but none of them quite come off. The similarity between the characters in Catch 22 is obvious but Green's characters are dull and lifeless in comparison.

I have read Catch 22 a couple of times. If you really want to imagine the pointlessness and horror of war then you should read that. Morons of War is a pale imitation.

I gave it 1.5 stars because I did finish it and it only gave me a slight headache. I'm afraid I did not look forward to reading it at all. Others seem to have got more out of it but it was not for me.

Thankyou to Netgalley for the digital review copy.

[Sohana Nasrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was much funnier than I expected a book about drone warfare to be, which I suppose is exactly the point.

Morons of War takes something incredibly serious and looks at it through the absurd day-to-day reality of the people operating inside a military bureaucracy. I liked the contrast between the enormous consequences of what these characters are doing and the completely ordinary office politics, incompetence, boredom, and ridiculous leadership happening around them.

The humor is very over-the-top at times, and some of the characters are intentionally exhausting, but underneath all of that there is a genuinely uncomfortable point being made about technology, distance, and modern warfare.

Strange, dark, and often very funny.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for providing me with an advance copy.

[Reba Trani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious! Do yourself a favor & grab a copy! Super fun, and excellent writing - the descriptions were laugh-out-loud funny!

[ariadne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morons of War is one of those novels that I just know I’ll be recommending for years to come! The closest literary comparison to this book is Catch-22, but reading it really feels like a comedy movie or workplace sitcom. It’s theatrical in its nature, but also an interesting perspective on modern military strategy and technology. I found myself completely engrossed in the story, which likely has much to do with the fact that the author was an Air Force drone pilot. There is truly something unique that happens when a book is based on the author’s real experiences, and I was very entertained by this novel! It made me laugh, made me think, and kept me guessing until the very end. It also made me crave Cherry Pop Tarts :)

Huge thanks to Sloan Green and NetGalley for the eARC!

[Robert Poor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to author Sloan Green and NetGalley for the ARC of "Morons of War."

"Catch 22" is one of the classics of 20th century literature, and its themes and plotlines involving the absurdity of warfare are timeless. However, the tools and tactics and the military itself have changed in countless ways since World War II; heck, when we fought the war that Heller wrote about our country did not even have a US Air Force. Today with our senseless war against Iran and the fraying edges of the Global War on Terrorism continuing to continue, this is an opportune time for Sloan Green's hilarious, silly, all-too-truthful "Morons of War," which can best be considered "Catch 22 v2.0." In "Morons of War," we meet the members of the Sixty-Seventh Reconnaissance Squadron at Cathcart Air Force Base in Nevada in 2014.

Author Green pays indirect (and direct) homage to Joseph Heller in several ways here, including (re)using the term (is it a noun, an adjective or an adverb?) 'Feather in the Cap.' Other, more modern Helleresque absurdities fit seamlessly into Green's descriptions of the modern day USAF:

The Squadron Commander LT COL Clutterbuck terrorizes his subordinates with terrible Vectoring! advice and the USAF-is-Great! life lessons; he shows the USAF that he is a brilliant leader by traversing beyond the "Open Door" policy of most military leaders to a "No Door" policy, in which all of the office and closet and cockpit and bathroom-stall and heavy, vault-like security doors are removed across the squadron. Clutterbuck spends much of his time here in silent monologue writing his (future) best-selling biography, "The Clutterbuck Vector!: Outrageous Optimism, Extreme Excellence and (a Word that Starts with L) Leadership: The Distinguished Legacy of an Air Force Officer and Pilot: Part One."

There is an undercover AFOSI agent named MAJ Ace Mancuso - in reality a young Sgt who is disguised as an astronaut - and who is instantly recognized by the actual squadron pilots as an undercover AFOSI agent who then spends most of his time hiding in the men's room hoping to overhear a drug transaction. Because of Ace's incompetence and lack of arrests, later there is an undercover AFOSIII agent named only as "The New Lieutenant Who Says Howdy Instead of Hi" who arrives to investigate the AFOSI agent.

There is fat Capt Larry Harding who is determined to become the Deadliest Mq-9 Reaper Pilot in the History of the United States Air Force, and Capt Bender the Pacifist, and one-eyed Capt William Augustus Barrington IV who is never around because he is too busy writing himself achievement awards including a Possibly Posthumous Medal of Honor, and there is the ever-present Telemachus Corporation technical team responsible for the excellent IT gear and computer software used in the Ground Control Stations for the drones and causes a lot of fires in computer racks at a bargain cost of $38M per day. There is normal-ish Capt Charlie Young, who acts as sort of a stand-in for the reader and is largely indifferent to the squadron mission but generally likes the people he works and drinks with. And there is Capt Theodore Exley, who arrives at work each evening unshaven and rheumy-eyed, wearing sheepskin slippers, button-up flannel pajamas, and a blue, cooling-gel sleep mask.

Author Sloan Green is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, so - like Joseph Heller - intimately understands the culture, traditions, and absurdities about which he writes. As a graduate of the United States Naval Academy myself - forty-one years ago ... sheesh! - I say "This novel is a Feather in Your Cap, Brother!"

[Doug Ayers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny, very clever. It took a while to see where he was going with the story, but all the elements of this farce came together in a very humorous and seemingly inevitable climax. This reminded me of the classic "Confederacy of Dunces" and the some of the screwball comedy films, like "What's Up Doc" and "Foul Play".

[John MacLean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and Unique

I am having trouble reading this book because I keep losing my place when I laugh out loud. If you have spent time with military officers in professional circumstances you will find this book reminiscent. In other words the book seems to accurately represent the most hilarious occurrences in military officer behavior. I don’t recall reading a more sublime satirization of military behavior. The writing is excellent. The characters seem real and likable. I cannot praise this book adequately.

[Patrick Hiltz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It wound up being a delight to read "Morons of War" by Sloan Green. The book is satirical to its core. Set at an air force base in the US where it is responsible for drone warfare hunting terrorists all the way across the world. But that is mere background. The story is about the idiosyncrasies of the pilots and their leadership. It is a military office comedy with an absurdist style of prose that is very reminiscent of Catch-22. I found it be be highly entertaining with a couple subtle reveals at the end that were worth the payoff. There is almost a Waiting for Godot-esque sense that nothing ever changes in the book, even as things gradually change. At the risk of repeating myself, I enjoyed this book a lot and recommend it to others!

I encountered this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Carmen Gandarillas · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don’t laugh at loud at this book, there is something wrong with you.

I started reading Catch-22 a couple of weeks ago, but put it down to read this book so take my review with a grain of salt, but Morons of War is as if M*A*S*H and Catch-22 met and had a drink, got wasted and went on adventures together. This is a probably mostly factual story about an MQ-9 Reaper pilot and his experience in the 67th Reconnaissance Squadron. It is ridiculously funny and it made me literally laugh out loud. I have no experience with drones or their pilots and I still loved every page of this book. It really makes you wonder; are the steely-eyed professionals of the United States military actually a bunch of morons? You’ll never know and we will laugh at you, holding our gin and tonics, while wearing our cozy slippers. For civilians, this mostly probably factual story will be an eye-opening experience about the morons of war. For military members, you can’t help but groan and root for the absolutely imbecilic pilots of the 67th and their efforts continuing to continue to win the war.

[Chloe Canterbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was HILARIOUS! There were times where I caught myself just smiling while I was reading it. Very Monty Python, Airplane, Get Smart type humor. Also gave very similar vibes to The Office & Parks and Rec. So many laugh out loud moments! There is one part where one of the Captains is fighting with the vending machine for it to take his money. Something with that scene unlocked core memories for me which I loved! I am not a vet but I did recommend it to my veteran friends because I think they would absolutely love this book.

[Mike C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely hilarious. As a veteran myself, the absolute absurdity of everything going on is not lost on me.

This reminds me of Office Space and Super Troopers but in the Air Force. Everybody is just a step above being able to tie their shoes. Leadership is batcrap crazy about the “most important thing you can do for your country”, especially if it’s absolutely stupid but somehow makes them look good. Every unit must have that embellishing super soldier. This book was a riot.

[Brett Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a fantastic read! Anyone who has been in the military in the last 25 years will recognize the trivial nonsense and surreal chaos that surrounds the character of Morons Of War. This is the Catch-22 for the GWOT generation, and but probably my favorite book on the subject of morons in the military. This book is tremendously funny and a hugely gigantic feather in this author’s cap and I’m already looking forward to whatever he writes next!

[Readiculoso · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me preface this by saying I wanted to like this book. I really did. The title promised a romp through military absurdity with the kind of biting satire that makes you snort coffee through your nose. What I got instead was something closer to being trapped at a dinner party with that one uncle who thinks he’s the funniest person alive and has never once been told otherwise by anyone who loves him enough to be honest.

Sloan Green clearly has ambitions. You can feel them on every page, straining against the prose like a toddler trying to escape a high chair. The problem is that ambition without execution is just enthusiasm, and enthusiasm alone does not make a joke land. Reading this book felt like watching someone repeatedly throw a ball at a hoop from three feet away and miss every single time, except the ball is a punchline and the hoop is basic human amusement.

The humor here operates on the assumption that if you say something absurd with enough confidence and italics, it becomes funny by sheer force of will. It does not. Comedy requires timing, subversion, a setup that earns its payoff. What Green delivers instead is a barrage of wacky names, exaggerated stereotypes, and situational chaos that reads like a first draft someone forgot to revise, or perhaps revised specifically to remove anything resembling wit. Every chapter seems to be shouting “ISN’T THIS HILARIOUS” at you, which is generally a sign that it is not.

I made it through what I’d estimate was about forty percent of this book before I had to tap out, and that forty percent felt like running a marathon through mud while someone narrated increasingly unfunny observations into a megaphone strapped to my ear. The jokes don’t build on each other. They don’t reference earlier bits in clever ways. They just exist, one after another, like a buffet where every dish is slightly undercooked but served with enormous theatrical flourish.

There’s a particular kind of fatigue that sets in when a book tries too hard to be funny without succeeding, and it’s different from the fatigue of a boring book. A boring book lulls you to sleep. A book like this actively exhausts you, because you’re constantly being told to laugh, constantly being nudged in the ribs, constantly having absurdity thrust in your face with the subtlety of a marching band performing in your living room at three in the morning. I found myself gritting my teeth rather than smiling, which is not the reaction I assume Green was going for, unless this is some kind of avant garde endurance test disguised as satire.

The war setting, which could have provided rich material for genuinely sharp commentary on bureaucracy, absurdity, and human folly in extreme circumstances, gets squandered entirely. Instead of insight wrapped in comedy, we get comedy that forgot to bring any insight to the party. The military backdrop becomes wallpaper, a vague excuse for characters to wander around being quirky at each other while explosions happen somewhere in the background for reasons that are never quite clear and certainly never clever.

I won’t pretend I finished this book, because I didn’t, and I think that fact alone tells you most of what you need to know. Life is short, my patience is shorter, and there are only so many forced zingers a person can absorb before the brain simply refuses to continue processing the text in front of it. If you enjoy humor that announces itself loudly and then fails to deliver on that announcement repeatedly for hundreds of pages, this might be your book. For everyone else, I’d recommend literally rereading a cereal box, which will provide a similar amount of narrative satisfaction with considerably less effort required

[Hannah Doetsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt so much like a RENO 911 or Brookline Nine-Nine type show. It gives you that same fun, irreverent satirical humor for something that isn't really a "funny" profession.

Where this misses the plot is when it veers a bit too into the absurd. Like, to have a few insane tv episodes that are just weird is excusable, but it doesn't translate as well into a novel. it just broke the story and made the entire thing then a bit more unbelievable (not like Fiction vs. Nonfiction, but the plot itself opens itself up to more criticism when these moments come through that are just really too far in terms of wanting to be funny.) This novel thrives at being funny so these moments are doubly frustrating because they just don't need to be there. It feels very forced.

That being said, as a whole, I enjoyed this novel. It found the prose really easy to read and I enjoyed the nods to Catch-22 while disagreeing that this is this generations version of the iconic novel. I think whenever a new novel is compared to one of the best regarded works of fiction in history, it sets the novel up for failure. This novel stands on its own. It's worthy of being read but Catch-22 was something that shaped literature and while this is lovely homage, I can't see it having as wide reaching implications. I could be wrong, but let this book be what it is and I think that it would shine more.

I think if you enjoy satire, you would enjoy this book. It is a war novel without being overly dramatic and heavy, which I appreciated. This was definitely something that broke me out of my comfort zone as far as what I normally read (fantasy, romantasy, a ton of horror and thrillers) so I might not be the BEST critic but I would still recommend it. In fact, I've recommended it to several people in my life because I thought they would be even larger fans than me.


Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Sloan Green for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I am, admittedly, a modern classics slacker; so I have not read Catch-22. However, I HAVE watched Super Troopers, Space Force, Veep, and Spaceballs and this carries the same vibe as all of those but in the US Air Force. Everyone is at least semi-incompetent and mostly deeply unlikeable but in a way that makes it entertaining.

[DW · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morons of War is a fast-paced and funny story in the vein of Dr. Strangelove; I frequently laughed out loud. So it's an enjoyable read, but as the insanity ramps up to implausible heights, the human beings get lost in the mix, and a number of plotlines alluded to earlier in the story are dropped without resolution.

3.5 stars.

[Margit]

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review.

DNF

Not my cup of tea.

[Katarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

** I received this book for free from a Goodreads Giveaway. My review is my own.

My dislike of reading blurbs has burned me. This is not a memoir, and I (in my infinite wisdom) got several chapters in before I started to question my assumptions. This is not on the author or publisher; this is on me for not reading, when I was on the hunt for something to read.

While this book is decidedly not a memoir, the author does draw on his own experiences, showing the stark contrast between the deadly consequences of the character's actions and the mundane, kind-of-ridiculous daily grind of the job.

This is a very good war book; this opinion is from someone who isn't all that likely to pick up a war book usually. It follows less of a typical war book setup; the plot is not linear or following one specific battle, it's more of an episodic daily office/culture piece about modern drone operations.

Overall, this is a great book, even though I went into it expecting something else.