Peter Ratcliffe (1)
Autore di Eye of the Storm: 25 Years in Action with the SAS
Per altri autori con il nome Peter Ratcliffe, vedi la pagina di disambiguazione.
Sull'Autore
Peter Ratcliffe was born into a working-class family in Salford, and left home for good when he was fifteen. Disenchanted with life as an apprentice joiner, he joined the 1st Battalion, the Parachute Regiment in 1970, having passed out top of his intake, and served with 1 Para in Northern Ireland. mostra altro In 1972 he applied for SAS Selection, which he passed at the first attempt. He served with the Regiment on operations in Oman, Northern Ireland, the Falklands, and the Middle East, as well as mainland Britain; he was Mentioned in Despatches for his command of an undercover patrol in the Falklands in 1982, and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his leadership during the Gulf War. Commissioned in 1992, he left the army in 1997 as a major A celebrated war correspondent during the 1960s, Noel Botham has had a long and distinguished career as an investigative reporter, European editor of the National Enquirer, and author Formerly a foreign correspondent, Brian Hitchen's career as a journalist covered every major theatre of conflict from Cyprus to Vietnam. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Express for a number of years, retiring in 1996; he was appointed CBE in 1990 for services to journalism mostra meno
Opere di Peter Ratcliffe
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Nazionalità
- Groot-Brittannië
- Attività lavorative
- beroepsmilitair
- Premi e riconoscimenti
- Mention in Despatches (1982)
Distinguished Conduct Medal
Utenti
Recensioni
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 1
- Utenti
- 97
- Popolarità
- #194,532
- Voto
- 3.8
- Recensioni
- 2
- ISBN
- 31
- Lingue
- 2
Eye of the Storm: 25 Years in Action with the SAS by Peter Ratcliffe is a memoir of the author’s time in England’s elite special forces unit. Mr. Ratchliffe was a Regimental Sergeant-Major in the SAS and saw action in Northern Ireland, the Falklands War, and the Gulf War, among others.
This is a straight forward story which is more notable for what it is not saying, than what it does. That is, however, expected from such memoirs which deals with issues that might be classified, or sensitive to this day. Not to mention brothers in arms who do not want their names in public, either due to privacy concerns or safety.
This is not one of those boastful memoirs that I previously read, actually the author goes to great length to make sure it isn’t. The author even takes the time to call BS on others who simply made stuff up to sell books, logic be damned, bringing the narrative down to Earth. I was intrigued more by the account of how decisions were made, planning, and out comes than the straight out action descriptions. The narration by Peter Kenny was spot on, engaging, and understandable.
The history of the England’s Special Air Service (SAS) is recounted, as well as the path the author took to make it to this elite unit. He is obviously very proud of his service, and his contribution. I enjoyed the personal stories the author shared, as well as the stories about the internal unit culture. Mr. Ratcliffe, good naturally of course, also tells of a few of the highlights of meeting famous people during his service, including H. Norman Schwarzkopf, The Queen Mother, and Margaret Thatcher.
Taking the cake is a phone call Mr. Ratcliffe received from legendary Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, to schedule a team tour at SAS facilities. As a lifelong fan, I cracked up when the author said he wanted to “stand at attention” when receiving the phone call.
Eye of the Storm: 25 Years in Action with the SAS by Peter Ratcliffe is a book for people interested in military history in general, and the SAS specifically. It certainly is not a memoir intended to attract the eye of moviemakers, and stays away from clichés, bravado, and cinematic heroics.… (altro)