Author(s): Michael Asher

Military

The true story of one young man's ordeals in joining 2 Para and the SAS.

Michael Asher's investigation into the famous SAS operation, The Real Bravo Two Zero was one of the Sunday Times top ten best-selling titles in 2002. In Shoot To Kill he reveals his own military background: how he joined the elite 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment and later, the SAS. Told he would fail the arduous training regime, he proved them all wrong and earned his 'wings' and red beret.

Michael Asher served in Northern Ireland with the Paras at the height of the IRA campaigns of the 1970s. He witnessed the result of using highly-motivated assault troops in 'peacekeeping operations'. His depiction of the strengths and weaknesses of the British Army's elite airborne forces comes from his personal experience of what it was like for ordinary soldiers. From the Paras to the SAS and then service with the Special Patrol Group in Northern Ireland, Michael Asher's military odyssey eventually led him to leave the forces and depart for a new life in the Sudanese desert. Now Britain's greatest living desert explorer, this is a unique military memoir: a precocious and perceptive young man who joined the toughest army regiment in the world.