Andy McNab News

Squaddie ‘chops off Taliban fingers’ – Scot probed over digits stash

The Sun
By Nick Sharpe, Chief Reporter, and Lynn Davidson
Published: 08 Aug 2011

A Scots squaddie has been accused of slicing off the fingers of dead Taliban fighters.
The soldier, from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, is under investigation over claims he kept the digits from mutilated corpses in Afghanistan.

A source revealed: “The allegations have rocked the battalion.”

Go here to read the full article in The Sun

‘We need Our Boys aggressive to do job’
myView
By ANDY McNAB

“What we have to remember is that this is not a knitting circle — these lads are trained killers and we need them to be aggressive.

You want the lads to get sparked up, to get excited, because that’s what allows them to do things they would never do in normal life.

In turn, though, the officers who are in charge of them have a huge role to play when situations like this one arise.

They are told in training that they have to ‘grip’ the soldiers — they have to curb their worst excesses as soon as they arise.

This guy should have been quickly sat down and told that what he was doing was out of order.

Whether the officers didn’t know about it or were too weak to stop it doesn’t matter — there has clearly been a failure of the command structure here.

I’ve seen people take ears and fingers from dead enemy.

Generally it was because they wanted a souvenir.

But a few days later they are going to look at it and think ‘What the hell did I do that for?’.

Most likely that is why this guy was doing what he did.

Sometimes it’s the trigger finger of the dead enemy that gets chopped, to send a message to those of them who are left behind.”

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The Sun
By Viginia Wheeler, Defence Editor
02 Jul 2011

The injured soldier cried in pain and collapsed in the compound of the British Army’s Middle East HQ in Cairo.
Second Lieutenant Archibald David Stirling had perilously scaled an internal fence using his crutches as a ladder.
But sentries had been alerted and were hunting him down with rifles raised.
With seconds to spare he forced his way into the office of General Ritchie and delivered a daring proposal.

Stirling, the son of a Scottish laird, had hatched a plan with pal Jock Lewes to form a revolutionary new force of raiders who would operate deep behind enemy lines to destroy aircraft, gain intelligence and attack supply lines.
Instead of sending Stirling to prison for breaking in to the HQ, Army bosses liked the idea.

He and Lewes created their gang of “misfits, rogues and rule-breakers” exactly 70 years ago this week. They took as their motto “Who Dares Wins” and became known as the Special Air Service, or SAS.

The regiment has never been busier than it is today in Afghanistan.
New figures gathered by The Sun show the recent heroics played out against the Taliban behind enemy lines in Helmand.

However, the regiment’s most secretive mission is yet to come.

The family of Lieut Jock Lewes – dubbed “The Godfather Of The SAS” – has revealed a cloak-and-dagger operation to recover the hero’s remains from the Libyan desert where the regiment first worked.

Go here to read the full article in The Sun

myView
By ANDY McNAB

“Who Dares Wins” is a way of life for the regiment. It is living and breathing this motto that makes the SAS the best at what they do.

It is not only the harsh training of SAS troopers that results in the best. It is also how these troopers operate in battle that sets them apart from other special forces.

The SAS know that the most effective weapon in war isn’t weapons – but information on what the enemy is planning.

In Afghanistan today, one of the most important jobs the SAS do is risk life and limb gathering intelligence because it is this which will defeat the Taliban and find the factories making IEDs that kill our troops.

Once the SAS have intelligence, they can destroy the enemy where it hurts most, faster and more efficiently than anyone else. That’s where “Who Dares Wins” really matters.

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Andy McNab at the National Army Museum
21 September 2011, 7.00pm

One of Britain’s most famous and controversial soldiers returns to the National Army Museum to voice his views on the current conflict in Afghanistan.

McNab draws on his own experiences and those of serving soldiers to provide powerful insights on the courage and hardships of British service personnel in the current conflict and the way forward.

Ticket Prices
Standard: £10.00Concession: £7.50

Tickets can be purchased in the following ways:
•Telephone: 020 7881 6600
•Online: Use the booking form on this page or visit the Museum Shop
•At the Museum
A concessionary rate is available to SOFNAM members, students, seniors and service personnel.

Go here for more information

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The Sun
Harry ‘hunted and tortured’ in drill
Warrior Prince’s practice for being shot down

Published: 17 Jun 2011

PRINCE Harry will head back to war against the Taliban after SAS training that will see him hunted down – and TORTURED.
The Apache helicopter pilot, 26 – who The Sun revealed yesterday is returning to Afghanistan – faces three days of hell learning to cope with being shot down behind enemy lines.

Go here to read the full article in The Sun

myView
By Andy McNab
Sun Security Expert

If things go pear-shaped and Harry loses his aircraft he needs to become a soldier who is equally effective on the ground.

The “escape and evasion” training is rehearsed as realistically as possible.

When I did mine it was the hardest in my whole military career. But it prepares you for what’s coming – and make no mistake, Harry will be roughing it like the rest.

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Amid battle scenes that have been described by one commander as the most
intense “since the Korean War,” the BBC’s Alastair Leithead, award-winning
cameraman Fred Scott and field producer Peter Emmerson spent nine days with
U.K. forces in a remote area of southern Afghanistan. There they found
themselves under the constant risk of ambush and attack.

This past fall, as the BBC team was embedded with the troops, the struggle
intensified between British troops and the forces of the Taliban. Around 5,800
U.K. troops are stationed in Afghanistan, following the U.S.-led invasion in
October 2001, and to date more than 40 have been killed. The majority of the
deployment is in Helmand, an area of major Taliban activity and opium
production.

The filmmakers gained unique, prolonged access to the soldiers of the Royal
Marines 3 Commando Brigade as they fought a shifting and elusive Taliban
threat. Every day, the fighting continues to destroy buildings and lives-
forcing people from their homes. Battlefield Afghanistan is a daring film that
takes viewers directly to the frontlines and questions whether the NATO forces
are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

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