The Amazing SAS: The Inside Story of Australia's Special Forces

by Ian Mcpherdran

Who Dares Wins...

For the soldiers and officers of Australia's Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment, this is not just their professional motto, but a creed that shapes their lives. the SAS is among the world's most respected special forces units, a crack team of men from the Australian Defence Force who can be relied upon to handle the most difficult, strategically sensitive and dangerous of military tasks.

Now The Amazing SAS provides a thrilling insight into the way this country's SAS soldiers are selected and trained, and reveals fascinating details about recent SAS deployments: East Timor, the 2000 Olympic games, the Tampa, the Afghanistan campaign and the regiment's action-packed mission in Iraq. The Amazing SAS draws on interviews with General Peter Cosgrove, Prime Minister John Howard, Chief of Army Lieutenant General Peter Leahy, former SAS commanding officers Gus Gilmore and tim McOwan, and many SAS soldiers and officers. 

Genres: Nonfiction, Military Fiction, War, Australia, History, Audiobook

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now here's the surprise, ignore the lame cover and the rather officious book title and think for a minute on the kind of books you might look for if you were going to learn about Aussies and our culture.
Would you picture In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson? Would you picture similar type tourist style books? Travel books? Well you are going down the wrong track. THIS is the book my International friends should be reading to understand what Aussies are really like.
A strange place for you to find enlightenment, sure, you would think so, but it simply is that good. The best book on Australians to date if you are a history buff. (As I don't think anyone but a history buff is going to pick up this military non fiction to begin with).

As I say, the name and cover are off putting and don't give much of a feel of what this book is going to be like. It is true that it is about our SAS soldiers. Only within this books is a story that is as good as any British or American authored war/military non-fiction covering the Afghanistan and/or Iraq Wars. This book can match it with the best.

The British don't really get too much of a mention in the Middle East theatre, but the Americans do and I think by reading this book Americans can get a good sense of how their special forces arms and Airforce look to Australians, through the eyes of our own SAS. The SAS worked hand in glove with the Americans in the middle east and it was mutually beneficial for both sides. We got some of the American weapons to play with and some of the Yanks got Vegemite and some 'swearing' training like no other country can provide.
Through this book Americans and Australians can get to see how well our teams actually work together. There are cultural differences, but as allies on a battlefield, it is a pretty good marriage it would seem.

I learned bucketloads from this book.
I learned a lot about our involvement in East Timor, and our SAS's involvement in providing care during the Tampa boat people tragedy.
I learned most, however, from the authors outstanding pages devoted to our SAS in Afghanistan and Iraq. I learned that not only was it Australians who were the first ones into Iraq when the war started, but that we were the first to make physical contact with the enemy and our SAS boys were the first to call in an air strike in Iraq (due to an American communications system breakdown). Our SAS certainly were in the thick of it.

If I could afford to buy a copy of this book and send it to all my American friends here on Goodreads I would do it in a heartbeat. I think you all would get buckloads out of this book too.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book many years ago and only just got around to reading it. There were some very interesting sections, and some rather dull chapters. What remained throughout is the reinforcement of the strength and courage needed to become an SAS soldier. It must be incredibly difficult to do what they do.

[Suhel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't finish. Wasn't what I expected. Too much details about their ops and not enough about what makes them great.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories about the sas

[Jack Oughton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you'd want in a book about the Aussie SAS. Couldn't put it down.

[Rowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a read for some pithy anecdotes from blokes who are and were the real deal and interesting to hear perspectives from higher up the chain of command. Not in anyway ground breaking, but worthy of a good skim for some interesting material.

[Kiragu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the book, probably because I like the military. It's a balanced account that brings out to the world, Australians Special Forces in a way that has not been done before. A flowing, revealing story of the 'unseen, unheard' tough men of the military and their exploits from East Timor to Afghanistan and Iraq. A good read for the factually interested.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fascinating subject, made hard to read by poor quality of writing.

[MsEleanorMae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent.