A fast-paced, dramatic, funny and occasionally disturbing account of Peter Ratcliffe's 25-year career in the SAS. It is laced with first-hand descriptions of ferocious and bloody fighting, sudden death and incredible heroism, and peopled with a cast of extraordinary individuals, hard-fighting soldiers of every rank and background.

This book makes a forthright case for a shift in policy focus from 'community cohesion' to the broader notion of social cohesion, and is distinctive and innovative in its focus on evaluation. It constitutes an extremely valuable source both for practitioners involved in social cohesion interventions and for researchers and students studying theory-based evaluation and the policy areas highlighted (housing, intergenerational issues, the recession, education, communications, community develo...

This text offers an international and comparative analysis of social division rooted in race, ethnicity and national identity. It provides an overview of the key issues underlying ethnic conflict which has now risen to the top of the international political agenda.; This book is intended for academics, postgraduates and senior undergraduates within sociology, race and ethnicity, social anthropology, as well as those involved in other areas such as politics, geography, development studies a...

Colonial Immigrants in a British City (1979) analyses the relationship between West Indian and Asian immigrants and the class structure of a British city. Based on a four-year research project in the Handsworth area of Birmingham, the book is a study of race and community relations – political, social, economic and personal – in a major centre of immigrant settlement. It considers the relationship between housing class and class formations and consciousness in other sectors of all...

Peter Ratcliffe served in the SAS for twenty-five years. Blooded in Oman in the 1970s, he also saw action in Northern Ireland, in the Falklands War, and in the Gulf campaign. From his early days in the Paras to his time as Regimental Sergeant-Major in the Gulf, he has lived and fought by the motto 'Who Dares Wins'. Eye of the Storm is his insider's account of that exceptional career. Fastpaced, earthy, dramatic, funny, occasionally disturbing, it is laced with firsthand descriptio...

Flying at 120 knots with the unique roar from its aerodynamic rotors and twin turbines the AH64 Apache is the world's most fearsome attack helicopter its pilots refer to it as 'Riding the Dragon'. The Taliban would more often than not flee rather than suffer its 30mm cannon, 2.75 rockets or Hellfire missiles. Some of the Apache systems are truly amazing such as being able to read a car number plate at 4.2Km away with its 127 times-magnification day TV camera. A thermal camera so powerful i...

Afghan Heat is a fast paced story of an SAS operative based on real operations in Afghanistan. From SAS selection through to a tour on the battlefields of Afghanistan. The book follows individual operations where special forces, aircraft, and the latest surveillance technology are fused together - in order to capture key figures or simply take out an enemy stronghold.The books account is both gritty and graphical as it follows the SAS, battling at times against overwhelming odds in...

Frontline offers an insight into the life of just one soldier out of the many thousands in the British Infantry deployed to Afghanistan. These modern day heroes risk their lives on a daily basis to help bring peace to a troubled country.Some of these soldiers are fresh out of school, or college, and within a few months find themselves in a war zone fighting for their lives.The book gives a candid account of life on the front line. The highs and the lows of fighting a war tho...

It was 1968 and Robert Hartley was on his first combat mission in Vietnam as copilot of a helicopter gunship. As he and his platoon leader flew over the A Shau Valley, a Chinook helicopter engulfed in flames suddenly came into view. Hartley noticed tiny black smoking objects exiting the tail ramp of the aircraft. Seconds later, he realized those objects were men escaping the flames and plunging to their deaths. It was in that moment that he silently wondered, How the hell did I get here?

For three decades one of the most secretive units in the British military has been a mystery force known as X Platoon.Officially there was no X Platoon. The forty men in its elite number were specially selected from across the Armed Forces, at which point they simply ceased to exist. X Platoon had no budget, no weaponry, no vehicles and no kit - apart from what its men could beg, borrow or steal from other military units.For the first time a highly decorated veteran of this...

The explosive sequel to the bestselling PATHFINDER.For the first time ever an elite British operator tells the gruelling story of his selection into the Pathfinders - Britain's secret soldiers. Pathfinder selection is a brutal physical and psychological trial lasting many weeks. It rivals that of the SAS and takes place over the same spine-crushing terrain, in the rain-and-snow-lashed wastes of the Welsh Mountains. For two decades no one has been able to relate the...

From retired Air Force pilot Marshall Harrison comes a remarkable memoir of aerial warfare in Vietnam. In his third combat tour, Harrison found himself converted from the high performance world of jets to the awkward-looking OV-10 Bronco and assigned as a FAC forward air controller. A captivating tale of valor, brotherhood, and patriotism unravels in the pages of A Lonely Kind of War, Forward Air Controller, Vietnam, a posthumous release by this published author through Xlibris. Harrison i...