♫Liars, and Traitors and Spies...Oh My♫

The setting:  A small close knit Military post in a pretty much unknown German town.
The time:      Definitely cold war era.
The players:  Read the book.
The book:   Traitors Among Us: Inside the Spy Catcher's World.  By: Col. Stuart A. Herrington (Ret)

Being in a small DoD high school in a foreign country, everyone knew each other. We may not have been close to everyone, but you knew them.  However, imagine what you thought you knew wasn't the whole story...not even the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Now, imagine in a small picturesque village your country's Military secrets are being sold...to the enemy by the sponsor's of the BRATS you knew, they were in your classes, lived across the street from you and one had been a very close friend.  (Actually, that BRAT had contacted me after finding me on a pay-website years later and told me the whole story...his story and then sent me the book.)

You can just kinda tell when something is just not right when Sponsor's are the same rank, approximate pay grade, same number of BRATS in their respective families and yet one family seems to have the best of everything while others are struggling to make ends meet.  Rumors spread very quickly, I listened and some actually sounded plausible.

While one of the Spy's family lived high on the hog, the other was rather low key and nothing seemed very out of place at all.  Nothing flashy, no fancy clothes, accessories or fancy cars.   My friend, who was more like an older brother was what seemed like a normal, average BRAT. Nothing truly out of the ordinary with the exception that he was and still is my friend, that automatically makes him very special!

Flash forward to being found by my friend, and being told the story...I sat in stunned silence pretty much during the whole first conversation.  Part of me shaking my head in disbelief that it happened, and no one even had a clue or at least not that particular scenario for the extra money being tossed around by the one family.  Being involved in a Spy Ring wasn't even one of the rumors that had been floating around.  After hearing the details, I found myself  mentally put together the time lines and details, it was all making sense now.

My friend sent me the book, and even autographed it for me because he is just that awesome and thoughtful, and I devoured it!  During our next conversation and the many that followed, I asked questions, tons of questions and being the honest and open person that he is, he answered what he could about his dad, the other people involved.  How his father ended up being put into the position to sell his countries secrets to an enemy government.  His father was a naturalized citizen who emigrated from an Eastern European bloc country as a teenager with his parents and the intention of serving his new country honorably and did for many years whereas the other soldier involved was born a US citizen and had no ties to any other country.  Nothing that could be used against him, no family in foreign places that could suffer from his actions or more specifically, failure to act.  There are many motivating factors for people to do the things they do.

I had encouraged (and still am) my friend to write his own book, to tell his story from a first hand, insiders eye.  Col. Herrington's book, while gripping and suspense filled and brilliantly written, tells the Spy's stories.  I wish my friend would tell his story from the BRAT side, what it was like for him growing up with an infamous father, what was his reaction once he found out...all of the questions that are raised from reading Col. Herrington's book, questions that my friend can answer.   I know the answers because I asked the questions, but that story isn't mine to tell...it is his.  Maybe one day he will, I hope so.

Once I had all of the details that I needed or wanted I called my parents and thanked them.  I thanked my mother for all of the sacrifices she had made to ensure that her BRATS had what we needed, when we needed it. Then I thanked my father for being the kind of father who knew what love, loyalty and honor were. We didn't always have the best of everything but I know that my father served his country faithfully and honorably.  No matter what the Military threw at my dad, he served without reservation or regret and my mother was always supportive of his career and his choice to serve.