Andy McNab News

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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‘Afghanada’ is an award-winning Canadian radio drama series, airing on CBC Radio One and Sirius Satellite Radio. CBC is currently broadcasting the show’s fifth season.
I’ve become kind of ‘addicted’ to it, it’s really really good! Like the audio stories Andy McNab produced, it’s with all the sounds and although you don’t see images, it’s like you’re there. It also got a very human approach and once you get to know the characters you feel you live through the events with them. Highly recommended and the shows are available on iTunes!

About The Show:
Created by Greg Nelson, Adam Pettle, Andrew Moodie and Jason Sherman.

“Afghanada gives us a grunts-eye perspective of the war in Afghanistan.  3 -1 Bravo is a Canadian Forces light infantry section fighting with NATO forces deep in the heart of the conflict.  Every day, Sgt. Pat Kinsella (Jenny Young), Private Dean Donaldson (Paul Fauteux) and Private Lucas Manson (Billy Maclellan), confront the chaos and violence of life ‘outside the wire’.

Based on actual events on the ground in Kandahar, each week’s episode takes the listener on an intense and compelling auditory journey, an unadorned reflection of the very real life and death situations Canadian soldiers face every day in Afghanistan.”

For more information on the show go to the Afghanada website

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We at Grey Man’s Land support our soldiers and we certainly support the fight against PTSD. Organisations such as Help for Heroes and Talking 2 Minds rightfully do everything they can to help serving and ex-soldiers battle Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and a more worthy undertaking is hard to imagine.
In our haste to honour and help soldiers, however, we often forget the innocent victims of war, the civilians who are killed, maimed, and made to suffer in ways far worse than what most battle-hardened soldiers ever have to endure.
Good soldiers, both British and American, inadvertently kill or cripple civilians on a regular basis — it’s war, and collateral damage is a part of it. I’m not blaming the soldiers, but at the same time I have enough human decency to consider the lives of the civilians equally worthy and the PTSD of the survivors just as real.
So, this Christmas season, I implore our readers to look beyond the military charities we regularly mention here and give a little to help the truly innocent victims.
The International Red Cross does so much to alleviate the suffering of civilians in war zones, and as McNab can attest, they help soldiers, too. Please continue supporting our troops and the organisations that help them out, but let’s give a hand to the often-forgotten civilians as well.
Cheers.

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90-day blitz takes out 3,200 Taliban
The Sun
By David Willetts, Defence Correspondent

Published: 01 Dec 2010

Secret strike operations led by British and American Special Forces have taken out 3,200 Taliban insurgents in just 90 DAYS.

The huge haul was achieved in an “autumn showdown” – launched to crush the Taliban before they skulk off for winter.

British SAS and SBS fighters, US Delta Force units, Afghan Special Forces Tiger Teams and elite outfits from other coalition troops hit the enemy relentlessly for three months.

Of the 3,200 killed or captured in covert strikes, 387 were top-level commanders. The figures were handed to SAS hero and Sun Security Adviser Andy McNab at a top level briefing in the Afghan capital Kabul. Andy visited the frontline this month to drum up support for the Sun’s Jobs for Heroes campaign – backed by expert recruitment firm ForceSelect.

He said: “We are nailing the Taliban. We are killing and capturing them on an industrial scale.

“This wasn’t a blanket approach to killing. These are tactical missions. Troopers are now specifically targeting the Taliban leadership, and those who fight FOR the Taliban.

“Our guys weren’t targeting those who simply fought WITH the Taliban. There is a clear distinction. Some are fighting because they need the money or too frightened not to. They are not fighting for hate or the ideology.

“Of course, some commanders worry that younger, more radical Taliban fighters will take the place of dead leaders.

“But, talking to the guys who conduct these covert operations, they weren’t unduly worried about it.

“If a new generation of radical Taliban step into these dead men’s shoes, they too will be killed or captured.”

The operations are part of the push towards a Nato handover of control in Afghanistan to Afghan National Forces and police by 2014.

Source: The Sun

Andy McNab in The Sun - meeting the troops

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