Author Description

Most of you have heard about "Black Operations" where our servicemen engage in covert missions around the globe such as the Seal Team 6 takedown of Osama Bin Laden. And, probably most of you that have also read books, watched movies and TV shows about that and other similar operations. One of the things common to that operation and what you may have read, seen, or heard is that they all had extensive support and backup. But try to imagine if they didn't? What if they had nothing? What if Seal Team Six had to parachute from high altitude above Osama Bin Laden's compound in the dark, so they would hopefully not be detected, using the old type parachutes and when they landed, if lucky, near each other, they had no intercoms, night vision goggles, satellite or drone support, and could not use their radios? What if all they had were orders to somehow get to Osama's compound and do whatever it took to kill Osama and then afterward hike out many miles to somewhere across the border where it would be safe to be extracted by helicopter? And less, I forget, under no circumstances allow themselves or their teammates to be taken alive. That is what it was like for me back in those early years of Operation Phoenix, and what this book is all about. Was it scary? Yes, for the first few missions, it was. But then it got worse; I started to enjoy it! For over fifty years, the Marine Corps Recon involvement in "Operation Phoenix" in North Vietnam back in 1958-59 has been kept a complete secret. After reading my novel, you will understand why. "Operation Phoenix" was the inane creation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). When first implemented, it was their solution to stopping the spread of communism in Vietnam. Based on their distorted logic, they concluded the best method to use was to parachute Marines into the larger towns and villages in North Vietnam and have them kill all the people there that were teaching the communist doctrine. "