HOLDING HANDS WITH HEROES
THE STORY
As a teenager growing up in rural Kentucky, Jack Kassinger worked long hours as a field hand on a neighboring farm. After graduating from high school, he took a job at a Peabody Coal Mining Company strip-mine in southern Illinois. He worked with Peabody unti he received his draft notification in December 1967, and subsequently joined the U.S. Marine Corps at a Kentucky Induction Center the following month.
Holding Hands with Heroes chronicles a common man's service to his country -- from Operation PIPESTONE CANYON in Vietnam as a young, enlisted Marine, to the halls of the Central Intelligence Agency where service and dedication to a cause became a way of life. This is the story of one man's journey through the throes of war and his selfless dedication while employed at the country's most prestigious, clandestine, intelligence-gathering organization.
ENDORSEMENTS
"Holding Hands with Heroes is a compelling story of one man's dedicated and selfless service to the Marine Corps and to his country. As a U.S. Marine recruit, Jack Kassinger learned self-discipline, self-confidence, and pride, personal traits that, if not allowed to atrophy, will ensure success in life no matter the field you decide to plow and hoe. From Corps to CIA to the present, his rows are straight and clear. You will enjoy this book. -LtGen Ron Christmas USMC (Retired), Navy Cross Recipient, President & CEO of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation
"This is a story told in straight forward fashion by a high school educated Maine Corps veteran whose 'can-do' attitude and approach brought him more than one battle-field promotion, eventually into the ranks of the senior intelligence service of the CIA. Mr. Kassinger epitomized the values of the old Agency -- loyalty to the mission above all, and a willingness to do whatever it took to support his clandestine service superiors and colleagues." - Fred Hitz, former CIA Inspector General and author of the Great Game and Why Spy?
"Jack Kassinger has given us a behind-the-scenes tour of what really makes CIA operations tick. He was the guy who made sure everything was delivered on time and worked when it got there. Support officers like Jack are an indispensable part of the CIA team and have never gotten the recognition they deserve. Jack tells an inspiring story of his CIA family, the spellbinding operations he supported, and the many true heroes he worked with along the way. No book like this has ever been written."
-James Olson, former Chief of CIA Counterintelligence and author of Fair Play: The Moral Dilemma of Spying
PURCHASE
Books and ebooks can be purchased on:
Genre: Non-fiction, Autobiography
ISBN: 978-1-4349-0782-0
eISBN: 978-1-4349-5273-8
EXCERPT
"When I moved into the Africa Division Support Chief's office, it was as if I had never left the division. In reality, it had been five year since our PCS departure from East Africa. Professionally, I had come a long way from those early days as a clerk in the Agency file room. There were those who argued against the assignment, but DO division chiefs, or barons, as they are commonly referred to in the hallways of CIA, carry a lot of clout, and Mosebey had made up his mind. He wanted me in the job, and Gatton was inclined to support the move. I had developed a good reputation as a result of my performance at our stations in Europe, Africa, Florida, and Central America. Mosebey knew this and knew me well; he would argue hard to get me released from the ACIS job and assigned as his support chief. Gatton was inclined to let me go; he was a strong supporter as well. The career board finally succumbed to the pressure of a DO division chief whose unit was about to become one of the most active and tumultuous divisions within the Directorate of Operations.
"While debate was being waged on the Hill regarding the CIA adminsitered Covert Action Program for Angola, I was settling into my new role as Africa Division Administrator. I was familiarizing myself with the operational components of the division, getting to know branch managers and other division personalities. I routinely attended the weekly Angola Task Force meeting, the weekly division chief meeting, and was a voting member of the division personnel managment committee (PMC) that was chaired by the XO.
"I was now responsible for managing and administering the affairs of the division. It was my job to set the example for those below me, to develop our mission statement, and to provide the vision and resources necessary for my staff to carry out their duties in a professional and competent manner. However, when required to put my people in harm's way, I would not do so without first putting my boots on the ground to assess the situation firsthand."
KIRKUS REVIEW
HOLDING HANDS WITH HEROES
by Jack Kassinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 22, 2010
Kassinger’s depiction of intelligence gathering at ground level is engrossing and rings with real-McCoy authenticity.
Kassinger presents an unvarnished memoir of his days in the field as a CIA support officer.
Kassinger thought he was headed for a career in the Marines until he was dazzled by a CIA recruiter and embarked on a decades-long tenure with the agency. In this thoughtfully laid out, perceptive and richly detailed chronicle, he captures the many events he played a part in orchestrating. When Kassinger entered the CIA, he did not have a college degree, so advancement looked grim. But he hired on as a contract employee and slowly, steadily gained in pay grade, from file clerk to a roving, troubleshooting support officer in the Directorate of Operations. Kassinger emerges as a humble, capable character, a quick study, someone who brought both pride and a sense of ethics to a slippery job (he even had a brush with Oliver North). There is still plenty that Kassinger has to keep under wraps—like names and the location of his first assignment, referred to simply as the “Site”—which lends the proceedings a note of mystery. He is both appreciative of the opportunity to range about the world—“The smell and sounds of Africa would take control of our senses, as we sat in our Isuzu Trooper eating quiche, drinking our Bloody Marys, and listening to the roar of lions after an early morning kill”—and excited by the challenges of his work, though his low-key demeanor keeps the excitement from becoming breathless. His travels are far and wide, one minute in Central Asia, then in Central Europe, down in Central America, putting out brush fires and jerry-rigging equipment to meet the logistical needs of the field stations, but clearly his favorite assignments are in Africa, and the strongest, most evocative chapters in the book take place during the delamination of Somalia. He also provides an intelligent analysis of the CIA’s own delamination, and its effects on the employees, during the mid-’90s.
Kassinger’s depiction of intelligence gathering at ground level is engrossing and rings with real-McCoy authenticity.
Pub Date: July 22, 2010
ISBN: 978-1434907820
Page Count: 256
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
