At Sheperd.com authors are asked to share their favorite books around topics and themes they are passionate about and why they recommend each book… Why Me? I must be something of a specialist on the impact of conventional and guerrilla warfare on the civilian population. Truth is, leaving school, I never intended to have anything …
The best books that provide a unique insight into military history Read More »
Chris Ryan invited me on his ‘Life or Death’ podcast. It was most enjoyable. We discussed how I joined special forces, my time in the SBS, civvy street, and how I made a living scriptwriting in Hollywood. It gets a bit more detailed than that. The link below takes you to the podcast. Life or …
I’m working on the next volume of my autobiography… FIA Again I’m going to begin from the day I left the SBS and the phone call that changed my life. I spent over 25 years in the most challenging places on the planet, a lot of hostile places. Many of them conflict zones. I had …
Letter to The Daily Telegraph Duncan Falconer | 29 October 2020 SIR – Mark Almond (Comment October 27) is right in his assessment of the potential for shipjacking. Years spent in the Special Boat Service (SBS) planning how to board ships, with the purpose of retaking them from terrorists, showed me how easy it is. …
‘I learnt in the special forces just how vulnerable our ships are to terrorist hijack’ Read More »
When I was with 14 Int in Northern Ireland back in the day (re First Into Action) I was flying over a lake in a small helicopter coming back from a task when I saw what appeared to be an aircraft in the lake. I asked the pilot to take a closer look and indeed …
The Grumman F4F Wildcat with the UAS needed something I had… Read More »
Navigating Conflict I was invited to do a podcast with Eoin Walker under his ‘Navigating Conflict’ banner. It was an interesting discussion that brought up some topics I’ve not covered in previous podcasts. Amongst other subjects I talked about driving into a checkpoint in the Liberian jungle during the war that was manned by children …
SBS live chat with Chris Thrall It was a great pleasure to be invited back on Chris’ podcast for a second time. We covered new topics and the Q&A session with the viewers also addressed a few unanswered questions.
A chat with Chris Thrall It was a great pleasure to have such a long chat with a former bootneck, and one with such an interesting life of his own. Also an honour to share in a long line of podcasts with some very interesting people. We covered a lot of ground, Chris. Looking forward …
I have taught the subject of managing imprisonment for many years. My students were mostly people who might find themselves the victims of kidnap situations, where they might be incarcerated on their own or in small groups for months and possibly years. Isolation for the corona virus is clearly not the same as being imprisoned …
Paris – next stop Hollywood Susan soon warmed to the idea of writing a book about her life, in particular revealing her secret love affair with her French Foreign Legion boss, General Koenig. The first task was to find a writer. I didn’t want to attempt it myself because, frankly, I wasn’t remotely good enough …
Chatting with A Springbok Legend A chat with AJ Venter I’m honoured to be able to call AJ a friend for over a decade now. I had the immense pleasure of knowing this superb rugby player when he was a Springbok and also when he played for the Natal Sharks. I lived near Durban in …
When I started posting my newsletters in 2005 it was necessary to disguise or omit specific details. Now, however, I can fill in the blanks in some of my older letters – although there are some which will still have to wait. Who’s killing who? First reported : February 7 Iraq 2005 The elections in …
From Washington DC to Paris Susan Travers : 1944 I decide the first step in my search for Susan Travers, to find out if she was indeed still alive, was to write to the French Embassy in Washington DC. It was three months before I received a reply but it was great news. Susan was …
Forget Beau Geste . . . Let’s Find Susan Instead I was living in Malibu at the time. A small house overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I’ve attached a pic. Yeah, be jealous – it was a cool house, perfect for a writer. Completely secluded. I spent more time in LA in those days than I …
Susan Travers, the only woman ever to have served in the French Foreign Legion. The story of how she played the most pivotal role in saving the lives of 3,000 Legionnaires and various other British and Australian troops during the evacuation of Bir Hakiem under attack from General Irwin Rommel in the desert war of …
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