Stinger Operation Cyclone: 2 (A Cold War Adventure with Rick Fontain)

Rick Fontain is back. The adventure begins with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1979. This was the same year that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Early in 1982 POTUS called for a plan of action to arm and finance the Afghan Freedom Fighters known as the Mujahideen. Operation Cyclone was the code name assigned to this project.CIA Officer Mike Vickers not a participant in this story was solicited by Avrakotos to help design and roll out the blueprint to equip the Mujahideen. Included in this Covert Action program was the Stinger guided missile. This weapon system would be credited as the major factor in the Russian withdrawal in 1989.General Gerald Bushman returns as the Director Defense Intelligence Agency. Rick Fontain who is now a Member Technical Staff of AT&Ts Bell Labs is brought in for his expertise with the Stinger technology. His familiarity with the Russian gunship the Mil Mi-24 is just icing on the cake.Rick is re-united with his Redeye instructor Andy Davis and together they lay out a plan to kill buku Russian aircraft. However the operation stalls in 1982 and does not move forward until Rick thwarts an assassination attempt on one Maalouf Torki bin Taisei. Mr. Taisei is a Malaysian government official. He is also the largest arms dealer on the Pacific Rim.The KGB gets wind that the Pakistan ISI has agreed to support Operation Cyclone. Their attacks are fierce. However the result is not what they expect. President Reagan issues a change to the original operation requirements. The gloves come off. Rick Fontain is told to do whatever it takes to get Stinger into the hands of the Afghan Freedom Fighters.In 1985 Pakistans President Zia finally OKs the American plan to provide the Stinger technology to the Mujahideen. American Special Forces the Green Beret and DELTA are assigned to the training center at the ISIs Ojhri Camp. The CIAs LTC Jim Pezlola and CWO Gary Larson solicit the Mujahideen Command to provide students for the very first class of Stinger shooters.Rick takes the graduating class into Afghanistan to the Russian airbase at Bagram. The rest as they say is history. Operation Cyclone may not have ended the Cold War but it certainly weakened the Soviet Unions resolve. So much so that in 1993 it financially collapsed.