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Undaunted
'Diving was a boys-own adventure, a jump into the unknown full of devil-may-care attitudes. It welcomed you with one hand and cast you asunder with the other. It was a hideous bitch goddess and it drank the blood of the unprepared.'Since his low-key upbringing, Hugh 'Obi' O'Brien's life has been a wild ride. What led this country boy, one of four sporty sons, from Sydney boarding school to directionless youth to navy clearance diver - slipping undetected through deep waters to defuse mines and dismantle bombs? Then, upping the adrenaline, Obi joined the mysterious Special Forces counterterrorism unit TAG (East) - no walk in the park. In his memoir Undaunted - full of eye-popping anecdotes and sparing the reader nothing of his persistent self-doubt - he recounts this incredible journey. He also describes the difficult transition from military life - to his days risking 'spaghettification' on underwater construction projects then private security work pirate-hunting in the Red Sea and tearing along the world's most dangerous roads in the Middle East.If you've ever wondered what it would be like to follow a high-action alternative route through life, Obi makes a unique guide. Undaunted is an engaging and unexpected account by an operator at once tough, whimsical and funny and always brutally honest.
309 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 30, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 29, 2020
Interesting and entertaining, covering the training courses and derring-do of Aussie CD and CT special forces.
O'Brian is frank and honest I think, and it would be good if when he retires that he document some of his assignments in the Middle East, post their being classified.
On a side note, Bren Foster for the movie biopic...
O'Brian is frank and honest I think, and it would be good if when he retires that he document some of his assignments in the Middle East, post their being classified.
On a side note, Bren Foster for the movie biopic...
November 12, 2023
Great book on the life of a navy clearance diver and TAG East counterterrorist team member then mercenary.
October 5, 2014
This is an autobiography of Hugh O’Brien, a boy from the Australian bush who becomes a naval clearance diver and later a mercenary, written (as you would expect) in full-on action style.
The book is packed with O’Brien’s experiences passing through the gruelling process for selection as a clearance diver and later, the Special Forces Counterterrorism Unit. As he tells it, the training is harrowing, not for the faint hearted and certainly not for the unfit. There are underwater bomb explosions, a few near misses, weaponry aplenty but there’s also time for larrikin humour, pranks and mateship. Undaunted is uniquely Australian.
However, by page two hundred-plus, the endless rigour of the harsh training starts to become a bit monotonous, becoming too much like a training manual rather than an Andy SAS McNab jump-into-action- novel.
Training-packed Undaunted is; action-saturated it is not. Or at least not until the last part of the book, when he finally goes to work as a mercenary for private security companies in the world’s hot spots—Afghanistan, the Red Sea and Iraq. I found his personal observations on the local political environments particularly compelling: riddled with corrupt power elites, tribalism and a fatalistic approach towards the future and survival. O’Brien still manages to maintain his larrikin style, even when he is in imminent danger, but would you expect anything else from an Aussie commando and mercenary?
Undaunted certainly fits stylistically into the ‘commando’ genre but, due to the heavy emphasis on the training process, it falls short.
The book is packed with O’Brien’s experiences passing through the gruelling process for selection as a clearance diver and later, the Special Forces Counterterrorism Unit. As he tells it, the training is harrowing, not for the faint hearted and certainly not for the unfit. There are underwater bomb explosions, a few near misses, weaponry aplenty but there’s also time for larrikin humour, pranks and mateship. Undaunted is uniquely Australian.
However, by page two hundred-plus, the endless rigour of the harsh training starts to become a bit monotonous, becoming too much like a training manual rather than an Andy SAS McNab jump-into-action- novel.
Training-packed Undaunted is; action-saturated it is not. Or at least not until the last part of the book, when he finally goes to work as a mercenary for private security companies in the world’s hot spots—Afghanistan, the Red Sea and Iraq. I found his personal observations on the local political environments particularly compelling: riddled with corrupt power elites, tribalism and a fatalistic approach towards the future and survival. O’Brien still manages to maintain his larrikin style, even when he is in imminent danger, but would you expect anything else from an Aussie commando and mercenary?
Undaunted certainly fits stylistically into the ‘commando’ genre but, due to the heavy emphasis on the training process, it falls short.
September 21, 2014
A fascinating insight into the world of an Obi O'Brien, an Australian Navy clearance diver who later joins the Special Forces. O'Brien describes the hellish training and testing required by the defence forces with humour and honesty. He lives his life fast and furious, thriving on adrenalin and a determination to overcome and hurdles thrown in his way.
March 29, 2016
Not my usual genre but an interesting Australian story told with an interesting voice - good read.
August 19, 2014
Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews