The Attaches

By Charles Francis Scanlon

"The Attaches is an international adventure. The time of the book is the mid-1980s when the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies were inextricably bound in the deadly struggle between... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0966013700
• ISBN13: 9780966013702
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Im Pr Inc
• Length: 391 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.5" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Interesting and Well Depicted

I constantly see books that depict intelligence and diplomacy as James Bondish in nature. It's refreshing to see someone who can shead some literary light onto the DAS and express the excitement and intrigue without fancy gadgets and fantasy characters.

A Terrific Read

This book is one of the finest I have read dealing with Military Intelligence in general and Defense Attache Service in particular. It is a honest read on the activities of the DAS and should be required reading for those aspiring to be DAS officers, warrants and NCO's. As a current Military Intelligence NCO I can attest that this book is as realistic as they come. Better and more thourogh than Tom Clancy, and more exciting than WEB Griffin, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in MI/DAS.

A true to life account of the Defense Attache Service.

This is the story of the Defense Attache Service (DAS) as told through the eyes of one of its commanders from the mid to late 1980's. As one who was a member of DAS I can attest that Chuck Scanlon's eye for veracity and detail is sharp and comprehensive. At the same time however, and perhaps not intentionally on Scanlon's part, it tells the story of one of the scores of higher level officals of our government, the careerists who are there to hold the hands of the politicians as they tackle the crises du jour. It's a story of a life seemingly devoid of joie de vivre, human faults and frailties. This guy was a general at the age of forty-two, a veritable superman in uniform. But is there anything in his life that isn't starched and pressed, prebriefed and preprogrammed; is there nothing left to caprice and whim? Even his romance with a senior State Department official, whose romantic utterances can't seem to transcend a highly unoriginal "you scoundrel", seems to be executed with as much verve and dispatch as one of his frequent games of cutthroat racquetball - a quick and intense respite, followed by a quick shower...all in a day's work, where's the next crisis? Despite such annoying shortcomings, it's an informative read on one of the little-known aspects of our nation's national security apparatus.

The Defense Attache Service elaborately described!!

A most informative and interesting book about the Defense Attache Service(DAS). The story is told through the eyes and thoughts of a new DAS Commander who took command in the mid 1980's. This arm of the U.S. Military is made up of talent from all the services as the Attaches collect useful data for our government from assignments in over 100 countries. Although a fictional story, it is apparent that the described events were inspired by similar actual happenings including terrorism, espionage, and the very serious problems caused by a mole in one of the intelligence services. A dividend is the well written description of the cities around the world that the Commander visits in meeting and evaluating Personnel.

Very intriguing considering the author's background

As a potential future attache, I found the book very compelling for the details concerning the training and roles of the attache service. General Scanlon does a fine job of explaining many aspects of an attache's duties and responsibilities. Knowing the reader's background and close association with the attache community, one wonders how much of this novel is based on actual events. The novel could have been better had the author left the reader in suspense as to the identity of the main character's nemesis, Heat Seeker. Still, for someone interested in the attache service, or the intelligence community in general, the book is a good read.