Sam R OYKEN

@ark_press author of The Pickle Factory: A Tall Tale of the CIA

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

And now for the backstory. @ark_press @tonydaniel777 @dafsharirad @JMichaelWaller @Heminator @NewshamGrant @L0m3z @christopherrufo @elonmusk https://t.co/5AbjZzjNEk

[J Michael Waller @JMichaelWaller]

Rearguard action from the eunuchs: Anonymous apparatchiki hide on Amazon to trash Sam R. OYKEN's hilarious novel, The Pickle Factory, about the cult of self-service at CIA headquarters.

The spooky reviews aren't even visible, but the bad scores are. @PaperbackRighta @ark_press https://t.co/R5SCV8ZSWw

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

@billbrown @JMichaelWaller @ark_press Spoiler alert: That’s my epilogue for the sequel.

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

@Herefordaratio Blue and White Striped Leftover Salmon Filet and you know that.

[Grant Newsham @NewshamGrant]

Agreed. US Navy Captain James Fanell's 'Decade of Concern' -- 2020-2030 remains the most accurate description of what China has in mind for Taiwan. Capt Fanell sounded the alarm in the early 2010's and was cashiered by Navy's perfumed princes. None of them have apologized. https://t.co/A4617kNZxh @ReutersChina

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

@TheJadeWarwick Those numbers are off by a factor of at least three. Meaning they skew low. France is in big trouble.

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

@CassLaneSmith1 @ark_press @tonydaniel777 @dafsharirad Thank you, I really appreciate that.

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

There’s always time for another cookie at the Pickle Factory. @ark_press @tonydaniel777 @dafsharirad

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

@SogeLoquy @L0m3z Seems to me there’s only one way to find out. Bonne lecture.

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

@BeatlemaniaUK Not Abbey Road.

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

@MKXBLACKOPS Don’t look at me.

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

This one goes out all my conspiracy theorists out there. Carry on. @ark_press @tonydaniel777 @dafsharirad @toxictiramisu

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

@ark_press They did do.

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

Free sample — if you’re thrifty and patient enough, you just might end up with the whole book this way.
Hat tip @toxictiramisu.

[Ark Press @ark_press]

The 𝘞𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘵 on 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺: "In addition to skewering a number of former senior agency officials who oversaw the NOC cadre . . . the book recounts the agency’s post-9/11 push to procure, and perhaps surreptitiously redirect for other purposes, billions of dollars in funding earmarked by Congress for a vastly expanded NOC program."

@PaperbackRighta

https://t.co/B79vwhJyFm

[Ark Press @ark_press]

Upstream Reviews on 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦:

“If you’ve ever wanted to “open the kimono” and see just how ridiculous the workings of the intelligence community can be, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 is for you. It’s funny, it’s absurd, the ending is just optimistic enough—and maybe even realistic enough—to give you hope that the institution can be salvaged.”
—Graham Bradley, Upstream Reviews

@PaperbackRighta @upstreamreviews @TempusMalleo

[Ark Press @ark_press]

The 𝘞𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘵 on 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺: "Then-CIA Executive Director Meroe Park reversed the blanket ban in 2017, but the agency then ‘tried to redact more than half of the book, which I fought, redaction by redaction, until they folded,’ OYKEN said."

@PaperbackRighta

https://t.co/B79vwhJ0PO

[Sam R OYKEN @PaperbackRighta]

@mccloskeybooks Congratulations, David!

[Josh Brooks @F530Josh]

The SR-71 Speed Check Story from Major Brian Shul's book Sled Driver will forever be one of the hardest tales in aviation.

Here it is.

There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment.

It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly.

My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet.

I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it.

I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury.

Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: "November Charlie 175, I'm showing you at ninety knots on the ground."

Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios.

Just moments after the Cessna's inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. "I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed." Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. "Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check". Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: "Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground."

And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere seconds we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn.

Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: "Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?" There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. "Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground."

I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: "Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money."

For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, "Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one." It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there.

[Ark Press @ark_press]

The 𝘞𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘵 on 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺: "‘The Pickle Factory’ . . . is the culmination of what the author characterized as a multiyear battle against agency censors . . ."

@PaperbackRighta

https://t.co/9xTzd5Hfrs

[Ark Press @ark_press]

“By all rights, this mash-up should not work—but the result is both a provocative commentary on America’s out-of-control intelligence services and a laugh riot that makes Mick Herron’s Slow Horses look like the very model of competence.”
—Mark Hemingway

The Pickle Factory by Sam R. Oyken. Your next intelligence failure could at least be entertaining.

Get The Pickle Factory!
https://t.co/Vt39caAKjp