CHAPTER 20
FROM WAR VIRGIN TO WAR WEARY
S
ome of my most memorable adventures with the CIA involved oper-
ating solo in challenging environments overseas that I had never
really expected to experience, and for which I had received no specialized
training. The comprehensive CIA operational and paramilitary training I
undertook could not cover all contingencies. This is to be expected, and it
is why the CIA carefully selects applicants who demonstrate an aptitude for
thinking on their feet while facing an unpredictable and ever-changing set
of circumstances. The combination of training, experience, and flexibility
yields a solid foundation for a CIA officer who is required to deal with new
and sometimes intimidating situations, like being sent to spy in a foreign
war zone, as a war virgin.
In October 1991, after operating for two years in a denied area, I was
dispatched up the Sava River to Zagreb to cover the first armed conflict
in the heart of Europe since World War II. My family had returned to the
United States. The CIA tapped me for the job because of my previous two
years of experience running covert ops in the Balkans and because I knew
the country and the language as well as anyone at the time. Equally impor-
tant, I was already in-theater. Sometimes just being a warm body in the
right place at the right time counts for as much as anything else.
Although I was headed alone to a violent war zone, I went as a spy,
not a soldier. Since 9/11, the lines between spy and soldier have oftentimes
become blurred, but during the Cold War and for several years thereafter,
they were still two distinct professions. Either way, I had never set foot in
a war zone and did not know exactly what fate awaited me in Croatia.
There were no US troops in Croatia (or in Bosnia) when I was dispatched
to report on those wars. I was nervous but excited at the same time.
Since I had volunteered for this potentially hazardous solo assignment,185