An Unorthodox Soldier: Peace and War and the Sandline Affair (Hardback)

In this fast-moving account of his life, Tim Spicer describes all the events surrounding the catastrophe in Papua New Guinea, when he was captured at gunpoint and held in captivity - and came away with his life, his men, and 36 million dollars. Here too is a discussion of the notorious "Arms for Africa" affair - the Sandline Affair of 1996, which tied Robin Cook, the Foreign Office and Customs and Excise in a knot over whether Sandline had broken a UN embargo on supplying arms to the legitimate government-in-exile of Sierra Leone. Training troops in Africa or Asia, rescue missions to the Congo and developing a new concept for military operations are all part of Spicer's story. These are the highlights to an account of modern soldiering in peace and war, on the creation of private military companies - the modern, legitimate version of the old mercenary ideal. The book concludes with Tim Spicer's troubled forecast about the dangerous world that lies ahead in the new millennium.