The SAS is not something that the average Australian knows a lot about. With its stringent qualifying tests  and regimes,  followed by a career of fast paced adrenalin pumping incidences, this small elite group assume a form of mythical status. Their role has become even more pertinent in the post 9/11 world, with a need for security and intelligence of the highest calibre.

Upon the completion of his first book The Amazing SAS, Ian McPhedran realised that a lot of his interviewees were due up for retirement.  After having lived completely unconventional lives, many of the men interviewed for the book were finding it hard to come to terms with the prospect of retirement and a certain quiet which awaited them. Intrigued by life after the SAS and the global brotherhood, McPhedran’s second book Soldiers Without Borders was born. The book is a composition of over 40 interviews with ex- SAS men and follows them through their accounts of high flying military contract jobs in Dubai, to scouring mounds of corpses for survivors in Rwanda. Trained to expect the unexpected, former SAS men find it difficult to suddenly find themselves sedentary when retirement approaches. It is hardly any wonder that many ex-SAS men find themselves tied up in the private security sector in Iraq and Afghanistan well after retirement. McPhedran notes that "these guys are very well trained psychologically, are intelligent and find it a challenge to hold onto that sense of excitement which they need".  As McPhedran says Cultural awareness, patience, diplomacy and the ability to win hearts and minds are all skills that are drummed into the Australian SAS soldiers." 

Recently back from a trip to Afghanistan, he acknowledges that the country’s situation is little better than it was several years ago, with it still remaining very much a war torn country, with "dust in the summer, and ice in the winter". Yet the members of Australia’s armed forces are still there, soldiering on in the name of their country, despite many of them being separated from their families for long periods of time. What is certain is that many of these soldiers have an emotional "off switch" with regards to dealing with the horrors they encounter on a daily basis. Yet when quizzed further about the emotional impact that war has on these highly trained men, McPhedran is reluctant to expand. As a defence writer for most of his career at News Limited, he notes that being able to return to Australia after his many international sojourns  is a blessing that these men do not always have. Although the book does deal with ex-SAS men who have lost good mates in the line of their work, it is somewhat lacking in emotional appeal . Although McPhedran became well acquainted  with several of his interview subjects this does not always translate to the reader. Perhaps once a man of war always a man of war.

Image courtesy of Harper Collins Australia.