Robert David Akers

Operation Sting Robert David Akers

My novel, titled 'Operation Sting,' is based on a CIA sanctioned mission involving a military and civilian comprised A-Team in Southeast Asia in 1963, prior to the official start of the Vietnam War. The story evolves from a flashback dream of one of the A-Team members (David Roberts) and he ends up telling his wife the story of what happened 24 years earlier. Up to that point his wife had no idea that he had ever been in Vietnam. The story is told, as seen through the eyes of a 20 year old young man who is above average in intelligence, but very much a naive person who puts blind trust in 'the system' that truth always wins in the long run. Prior to becoming involved with this mission David was constantly in search of some daring type of assignment, such as volunteering for an inter-service transfer to become an Army helicopter pilot. Much of this desire for adventure stemmed from the fact that his father always belittled him and insinuated that he would never amount to much. Consequently, David was searching for something he could accomplish which would make his father proud of him. David was assigned to a squadron of personnel who traveled extensively around the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Panama installing and modifying heavy ground early warning radar manned by the Air Force. Due to the fact that he did travel extensively, he had a great cover story without having to create one, because his wife was used to him taking off on the spur of the moment and being gone for extended periods of time. His initial contact with the CIA resulted from a conversation with a FBI agent whom he met while on travel to a radar site in Minnesota. David was flown to Washington DC for a physical, including a psychological evaluation, and given a brief description of the mission. David decided he would like to pursue the opportunity and from that point on he was hooked. All of the team members were provided with false identities and told not to discuss their true identities with anyo