Not On My Watch (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798869214300)

It's the year 2000 and two suicide pilots in a bomb-laden boat just attacked the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole in the port of Yemen, killing 17 U.S. sailors and injuring 39 others. Gowan's fictional account based on real events picks up right after the Al Qaeda bombing.

The U.S. Navy scrambles to protect its warships in the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Navy Reservists from a little-known community called the Naval Coastal Warfare and Coast Guard Reservists get the urgent call to serve in Dubai, the biggest and busiest port in the Middle East and only 1,500 miles away from the USS Cole attack.

"My goal is to humanize the enlisted Sailors and Coast Guardsmen who mobilized and deployed for a singular-focused mission with huge consequences," said Gowan, who served on active duty in the U.S. Navy for 6 years with three deployments to the Middle East and later joined the Naval Reserves. "They fought and won the battle against an evil, ever-present but invisible enemy planning to attack U.S. shipping with the big prize being an aircraft carrier. This is their story."

"MC's story perfectly captures the steely resolve of these brave Reservists to defend the sailors and ships in their battlespace during the turbulent days after the USS Cole attack," said Chris Schafer, CEO at Tactical 16 Publishing. "This book is a must read to understand how terrorism started and the evil forces that continue to wreak havoc worldwide."