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Find Fix Finish
The new book from the bestselling author of The Commando and Mosul.
It was Australia's longest war, and also our most secretive.
In the craggy mountains, green belts and digital battlefields of Afghanistan, concepts of heroism and decency started to warp and Australian special forces operators moved apart on the question of how the war should be conducted - with tragic consequences.
For more than a decade, Australia's special forces (SASR) were pushed to the limit as brutal engagements killed 20 Australians and an estimated 11,000 Afghans. Also pushed were the limits of Australian and international law, as Australia's operators fought against - and with - brutal tribal warlords and narco-barons.
Increasingly enmeshed in a US-led targeting program that attempted to kill its way out of the war, the Australian SASR became one of the most feared and lethal force elements in the country. But with a corrupt Afghan government, ancient enmity washing into each Afghan valley, and Canberra and Washington uninterested or bereft of strategy, kill/capture missions became their own end, not a means.
In the aftermath of the war, rifts, rumours and media reporting triggered an independent Inquiry into alleged war crimes, the subsequent Brereton Report and a sensational defamation trial - challenging the hard-won reputation of our elite forces, including Australia's most visible and decorated soldier.
Find Fix Finish is a timely investigation into Australia's special forces war in Afghanistan, featuring interviews from civilian strategic decision-makers, as well as Afghan, US and Dutch foreign nationals and former ADF commanders, troopers and privates.
Praise for Find Fix Finish:
'They knew Afghanistan to be an unwinnable war, but with customary obeisance to the Pentagon successive Australian governments hazarded the lives of their soldiers. This important book tells the sorry story of how Australian special forces came to specialise in targeted assassination. Never again should Australians be ordered into battle in a war without a just cause.' Geoffrey Robertson KC
It was Australia's longest war, and also our most secretive.
In the craggy mountains, green belts and digital battlefields of Afghanistan, concepts of heroism and decency started to warp and Australian special forces operators moved apart on the question of how the war should be conducted - with tragic consequences.
For more than a decade, Australia's special forces (SASR) were pushed to the limit as brutal engagements killed 20 Australians and an estimated 11,000 Afghans. Also pushed were the limits of Australian and international law, as Australia's operators fought against - and with - brutal tribal warlords and narco-barons.
Increasingly enmeshed in a US-led targeting program that attempted to kill its way out of the war, the Australian SASR became one of the most feared and lethal force elements in the country. But with a corrupt Afghan government, ancient enmity washing into each Afghan valley, and Canberra and Washington uninterested or bereft of strategy, kill/capture missions became their own end, not a means.
In the aftermath of the war, rifts, rumours and media reporting triggered an independent Inquiry into alleged war crimes, the subsequent Brereton Report and a sensational defamation trial - challenging the hard-won reputation of our elite forces, including Australia's most visible and decorated soldier.
Find Fix Finish is a timely investigation into Australia's special forces war in Afghanistan, featuring interviews from civilian strategic decision-makers, as well as Afghan, US and Dutch foreign nationals and former ADF commanders, troopers and privates.
Praise for Find Fix Finish:
'They knew Afghanistan to be an unwinnable war, but with customary obeisance to the Pentagon successive Australian governments hazarded the lives of their soldiers. This important book tells the sorry story of how Australian special forces came to specialise in targeted assassination. Never again should Australians be ordered into battle in a war without a just cause.' Geoffrey Robertson KC
- GenresMilitary Fiction
400 pages, Paperback
Published October 5, 2022
17 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Ben Mckelvey
14 books19 followersA Sydney-based writer and producer, Ben Mckelvey has written two bestsellers, and has been shortlisted for various major literary awards including the Australian Book Industry Awards, and the Victorian and Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 6, 2022
This was particularly enthralling because I grew up with the war in Afghanistan in the background of my youth. Now, with reflection and revelation, I can understand that period much better, and this book does a great job as a history of Australia's involvement, with the added in-depth dive into the SASR specifically. Ben covers topics like PTSD and the legality of war but there are also some riveting details about many of the battles fought over the years by Aussie troops. This book has it all!
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December 27, 2022The title of this book, Find Fix Finish and the blurb would have you believe it’s all about the plan of attack by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan, which was to track down specific individuals and eliminate them. To some extent, that is the case. If the author had concentrated on that, I might have found the book worthwhile.
Unfortunately, discussing the prosecution of the fighting is no more than rather transparent padding around the real purpose of the book which is a Find Fix Finish attack on Ben Roberts-Smith. This is done using the words of disgruntled alpha male soldiers and Afghan locals with a marked aversion for the truth. We jump from one brief account to another of every incident where an accusation of illegal behaviour was reported. The burden of truth, of course, is totally absent from a work such as this.
I feel for each Afghanistan “shooter”, understanding (to some extent) the pressure they operated under in trying conditions where the source of imminent danger was often not clear. A guerrilla war is not pretty, it’s brutal, Afghanistan far more so than Vietnam for instance. Our troops rotated again and again into the country – it’s no wonder so many are now suffering mentally from that service. Too much was asked of them by our government and Defence Force.
It irks me to see “armchair” critics revisiting the battlefield and pontificating about what should have been done or not done in that split second. Ben McKelvey errs quite often in this book doing exactly that.
Unfortunately, discussing the prosecution of the fighting is no more than rather transparent padding around the real purpose of the book which is a Find Fix Finish attack on Ben Roberts-Smith. This is done using the words of disgruntled alpha male soldiers and Afghan locals with a marked aversion for the truth. We jump from one brief account to another of every incident where an accusation of illegal behaviour was reported. The burden of truth, of course, is totally absent from a work such as this.
I feel for each Afghanistan “shooter”, understanding (to some extent) the pressure they operated under in trying conditions where the source of imminent danger was often not clear. A guerrilla war is not pretty, it’s brutal, Afghanistan far more so than Vietnam for instance. Our troops rotated again and again into the country – it’s no wonder so many are now suffering mentally from that service. Too much was asked of them by our government and Defence Force.
It irks me to see “armchair” critics revisiting the battlefield and pontificating about what should have been done or not done in that split second. Ben McKelvey errs quite often in this book doing exactly that.
November 26, 2022
I did not expect to like this as much as I did. McKelvey provides an engaging account of Australia's involvement in the Afghan War post 911. Don't be scared off by the three page list of acronyms or the first chapter, the content is fairly easy to follow - I only had to refer back to the index of acronyms a few times.
Find Fix Finish covers a lot of ground but it's necessary. McKelvey provides background events and information leading up to 911 from multiple viewpoints, as well as interrogating Australia's motivations and aims for this conflict.
I didn't detect any overt bias which I was pleasantly surprised by. He uses a wide range of sources including local (Afghan) and international to provide a well rounded pictured. The book mostly focuses on Australian troops but does also provide context by including US, Dutch, and NGO's activities and interviews.
He handles the contentious issue of the Roberts-Smith Defamation case including Roberts-Smith's alleged actions by including all known viewpoints from the trial and research. At times, the book is a little uncomfortable as the reader learns about the less than savory aspects of our time in Afghanistan and the support provided to our troops (mental & physical) but it's necessary. Only by acknowledging the flaws in our military and society can we begin to address and improve them.
Trigger Warnings: Discussion of PTSD, Discussion of Accused War Crimes, Discussions of Violence.
Find Fix Finish covers a lot of ground but it's necessary. McKelvey provides background events and information leading up to 911 from multiple viewpoints, as well as interrogating Australia's motivations and aims for this conflict.
I didn't detect any overt bias which I was pleasantly surprised by. He uses a wide range of sources including local (Afghan) and international to provide a well rounded pictured. The book mostly focuses on Australian troops but does also provide context by including US, Dutch, and NGO's activities and interviews.
He handles the contentious issue of the Roberts-Smith Defamation case including Roberts-Smith's alleged actions by including all known viewpoints from the trial and research. At times, the book is a little uncomfortable as the reader learns about the less than savory aspects of our time in Afghanistan and the support provided to our troops (mental & physical) but it's necessary. Only by acknowledging the flaws in our military and society can we begin to address and improve them.
Trigger Warnings: Discussion of PTSD, Discussion of Accused War Crimes, Discussions of Violence.
May 21, 2023
A hard book to read in places and I was left thinking someone should have “done something”, but its never that simple. Well researched and well written.
June 3, 2024
Really interesting look at the way things were done by Australian special operations personnel in Afghanistan and how it went wrong.
October 9, 2023
You could be very mistaken looking at the title of this work and thinking that it is focused solely on Australian special forces engagement in the US targeted kill/ capture program in Afghanistan. Personally, I find that unfortunate, as a better title may have resulted in more readers picking up what is actually a much broader assessment of both the Afghan conflict, Australia’s motivations to engage and our commitment to that incursion and conflict.
So without spoilers, this is actually a broad work that covers many components of the Western miscalculation, the outcomes of an ongoing decade long fundamental lack of understanding of fractured tribalism, environment and history, the consistent and recurring incompetency in how many of the Western nations sought to structure and execute their version of the conflict and a reflection of why, how and where Australia became engaged in Afghanistan and the resulting impacts and effects on both a myriad of Afghans and the Western coalition.
Most importantly for this reader was the forthright view presented by the author on the immediate and lasting impacts upon our own service personnel who were deployed into the conflict.
In parts the focus can be detailed, from the ongoing inadequacy, yet continued use, of the M4, to some of the details that resulted in the lasting impacts of our ongoing use and over stretching of our special forces again and again over what became common ground in a shifting Afghan society, our interaction and engagement with “local partners” who were at best self focused in their actions and at worst totally abhorrent and horrendous human beings who we empowered and enabled.
Hence, if you interested in how Australia were motivated to become members of the Western coalition of forces, executed our involvement and how we as a nation and individuals are still dealing with many and varied aspects of the outcomes of our engagement in Afghanistan, my thought is that you in part ignore the title and read this excellently positioned, researched and delivered work.
War is abhorrent, but I believe that unless you see the whole picture, you cannot begin to even truly comprehend it’s impacts. I found this authors work added to that picture, to my understanding of the motivations, pain, treasure and lives impacted, crippled and lost both in Afghanistan and since our forces were withdrawn. Lest we Forget.
So without spoilers, this is actually a broad work that covers many components of the Western miscalculation, the outcomes of an ongoing decade long fundamental lack of understanding of fractured tribalism, environment and history, the consistent and recurring incompetency in how many of the Western nations sought to structure and execute their version of the conflict and a reflection of why, how and where Australia became engaged in Afghanistan and the resulting impacts and effects on both a myriad of Afghans and the Western coalition.
Most importantly for this reader was the forthright view presented by the author on the immediate and lasting impacts upon our own service personnel who were deployed into the conflict.
In parts the focus can be detailed, from the ongoing inadequacy, yet continued use, of the M4, to some of the details that resulted in the lasting impacts of our ongoing use and over stretching of our special forces again and again over what became common ground in a shifting Afghan society, our interaction and engagement with “local partners” who were at best self focused in their actions and at worst totally abhorrent and horrendous human beings who we empowered and enabled.
Hence, if you interested in how Australia were motivated to become members of the Western coalition of forces, executed our involvement and how we as a nation and individuals are still dealing with many and varied aspects of the outcomes of our engagement in Afghanistan, my thought is that you in part ignore the title and read this excellently positioned, researched and delivered work.
War is abhorrent, but I believe that unless you see the whole picture, you cannot begin to even truly comprehend it’s impacts. I found this authors work added to that picture, to my understanding of the motivations, pain, treasure and lives impacted, crippled and lost both in Afghanistan and since our forces were withdrawn. Lest we Forget.
June 19, 2023
Brilliant piece of journalism wrapped up in an easy to read but harrowing account of alleged SASR war crimes in Afghanistan since Australia deployed troops under Howard.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews