Customer Reviews

Codename Mule: Fighting the Secret War in Laos for the CIA (Naval Institute Special Warfare)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It is good to see a "down to earth" book like this, coming from a "been there, done that" author. As far as I am concerned, this book should be mandatory reading for all high school history teachers. It would be nice to see the future generations "completly" educated. A 68-69 Udorn RTAFB, Thailand veteran.

I truely enjoyed reading this book. I especially liked the character developments of each person and their envolvement during the Vietnam War. i believe that Mr. Parker has a great understanding of the incidents as relating to the CIAs' involement in the Vietnam War.

Close family members spent 4 years in Laos/Thialand during the war there. Mr. Parker's description reminded me so vividly of the slides and movies they brought home, as well as the life style they lived. If you want "shoot-em up", "blood and guts", "in the trenches" stories, this isn't it. But this IS a sincere and warm insight to the cultural and social norms of clandestine operatives and how their responsibilities affect their family and relationships. I connected with this book in a BIG way. I would love to read more of Parker's Laotian adventures! It reminded me of 'family.'

"Codename Mule" is former CIA paramilitary officer James Parker's personal memoir of the secret war waged by the US to protect Laos from North Vietnamese invasion at the end of the Vietnam War.

Parker, already a veteran of infantry combat in Vietnam, was recruited by the CIA in 1970 to join other Americans who provided leadership, weapons, training, and air support to Hmong guerrillas defending their tribal homelands in central Laos from North Vietnamese Army regulars. In conversational, matter-of-fact prose, he describes his training, the journey with his wife into the Far East, and his introduction to the strange war in Laos. His narrative is populated by Hmong tribesmen, Thai mercenaries, CIA professionals, bold Air America pilots, and the unique paramilitary officers themselves. Parker provides a ground-level view of the war, capturing the tedium of the day to day routine, the momemts of terror in combat, and the inevitable humor of bizarre situations that develop in war zones. A short book is fleshed out with anecdotes of the author's family life in Thailand and Laos, a time capsule of a long-gone era.

Readers looking for blood-and-guts, James Bond-type daring-do are liable to be disappointed. "Codename Mule" is a thoughtful, unpretentious, and very personal narrative of a forgotten conflict, with insights into how the CIA did business in that time and place. Saavy readers will notice the parallels to more recent conflicts.

A personal account and perspective of the war in up-country Laos. Definitely worth reading if you are interested in the country's history, though it is certainly presenting mainly one side of the conflict. The author was there, so he knows what he's talking about, which makes a change from many other books based on second-person reminiscence.

The title of this book is misleading. For over 200 pages I got to read all about his family, his holidays, his pets, inside jokes, and other uneventful detail. Once in a while for a couple of pages he would slip in something about how he armed pre-teen children to fight in the jungles. If his book was his personal reflections, the title shouldn't say it's about CIA operations in Laos.

When a person buys a book about the C.I.A., secret wars fought in faraway lands, and exotic hilltribesmen who are possibly the greatest guerrilla fighters ever known, you'd think you had just found an exciting book. Forget it. The only secret about this book was why it published - twice no less (as Covert Warrior in paperback). The first 40% of the book talks about the author's training (snooze), the other 60% talks about dragging his wife off to Cambodia where they adopt orphans, set up house, hire servants, take a vacation in Australia, cure their dog of heartworm, have their first Christmas together, and somewhere amid all of this drudgery are bits and pieces relating to the war in Laos. Forget this book and find a copy of "The Ravens", a superb book with 10 times the information on the secret war in Laos than Codename Mule. Best of all, in that book the wives stay at home.