The best books that provide a unique insight into military history

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 …

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The SAS and SBS Chat

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 …

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More Action – FIA 2

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 …

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‘I learnt in the special forces just how vulnerable our ships are to terrorist hijack’

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. …

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Live Podcast Q&A

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.

Covid-19 Isolation Advice

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 …

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Finding Susan Part 3

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 …

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Blast from the past

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 …

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Finding Susan Part 2

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 …

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Finding Susan Part 1

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 …

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Tomorrow to be brave

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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