"Voices Under Berlincontains many literate qualities that make it a work of special consideration, worthy of an audience much broader than that of espionage enthusiasts or those interested in Cold War history. In fact, one indication of the book’s quality is that it was among the award winners at the July 2008 Hollywood Book Festival, a very rare honor for a spy novel." Dr. Wesley Britton writing on www.SpyWise.net.
How do you know if
is for you?
- If you ever wondered what the people who fought the secret Cold War did to make the world safe for Democracy,
- If you are a Monterey Mary,
- If you are a cunning linguist,
- If you are a lightning fast chicken plucker,
- If you know what an elephant cageEven though Voices Under Berlin is set in Berlin, veterans of Field Station Augsburg should also feel themselves right at home. Many of the things in the novel are part of the "Glossary of MI Terms" on the Field Station Augsburg website. is,
- If you know what an ST-1 is,
- If you know what a TNH-21 is,
- If you know what an R-390 is,
- If you ever worked La Fox (pick a color),
- If you ever worked at Teufelsberg,
- If you ever wore headsets like these,
- If you ever saw the fish swimming in the early morning fog in Monterey,
- If you ever got fished into taking the EMHO report,
- If you ever got off the trick bus after a swing (or a mid) for a curry wurst and beer,
- If you ever had to sweep up the RF dust,
- If you ever worshiped God ZULU,
- If you ever pulled burn detail,
- If you ever did a chad count,
- If you remember six-ply,
- If you ever had your ears blackened,
- If you ever wrote in the Passion Book,
then this novel is for you.
See what a SIGINTer currently on active duty has to say about Voices Under Berlin:
• From a thread on the Military.com Discussion Boards:
I've recently read two novels about the ASA experience. The first was James Crumley's One to Count Cadence about the early exploits of the ASA in Nam. The second was Voices Under Berlin by THE Hill (an obvious pseudonym). … I thought it was hilarious how some of the SIGINT/linguist jokes and eccentricities have virtually remained unchanged in sixty years, be it linguist vs analyst clashes, cluelss LTs, oversensetive OPSEC folks who throw out the "need to know" card at every single turn, reclassed soldiers deriding "overeducated" DLIers for not being "real soldiers," etc. I can assure you the same situations are being played out in Iraq and Afghanistan as I type this. :-)
I encourage anyone currently in SIGINT to read up on this stuff. It will make you smile a bit knowing that people have been going through the same crap you did as a SIGINTer for the past 60 years!
Posted by: 98GCM, Thu 05 February 2009 05:29 PM
To learn more about Voices Under Berlin, follow the links below.
