An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 35 SHADOW WARRIORS Author: Paul O'Brien & Sgt Wayne Fitzgerald Publisher: Mercier Press ISBN: 9781781177624 Pages: 160 Price: €12.99 This is a very well written book on Ireland's Special Forces, the Army Ranger Wing. It is a detailed chronology of the formation and life of the ARW since its inception and the various different theatres in which they have served. In the midst of growing national and international terrorist threats, the authors describe the reasons for the need of such a unit to be formed. The book states the various different roles that the ARW perform and lists in detail the equipment they use and how and why they use that particular kind. The authors, right from the outset, inform us that this is not going to be the gun-toting, helicopter flying, flash-banging type of book that society has come to expect from Special Forces literature. Instead, it is more poised, secretive tale, while telling the reader about the ARW, it doesn't give too much away. In doing this, the authors have maintained the secrecy of the Unit. The last section of the book should be particularly appealing to people who aspire to join Ireland's elite military unit. It gives a comprehensive account of the physical training that one should go through before attempting to apply for the ARW Special Operations Force Qualification Course (SOFQ). It also breaks down what is expected of each candidate and what they will go through when on the course (minus the physical and mental fatigue). In short, in an age of growing interest in Irish military affairs, this book gives the reader a peek into the world of Ireland's Special Forces unit, the Army Ranger Wing, their training, roles, equipment and service history but all the while keep us guessing and wanting more. As such, we don't get an abundance of testosterone-filled, edge of your seat type stories from their missions around the world, but in doing so the book lives up to its title Shadow Warriors. You know they're there but you can't make out too much more. By The Irish at War. A Podcast on Irish Military History DRESDEN Author: Sinclair McKay Publisher: Viking ISBN: 9780241389683 Pages: 400 Price: €25.99 The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller 'Powerful . . . there is rage in his ink. McKay's book grips by its passion and originality. Some 25,000 people perished in the firestorm that raged through the city. I have never seen it better described' Max Hastings, Sunday Times Published for the 75th anniversary In February 1945 the Allies obliterated Dresden, the 'Florence of the Elbe'. Bombs weighing over 1,000 lbs fell every seven and a half seconds and an estimated 25,000 people were killed. Was Dresden a legitimate military target or was the bombing a last act of atavistic mass murder in a war already won? From the history of the city to the attack itself, conveyed in a minute- by-minute account from the first of the flares to the flames reaching almost a mile high - the wind so searingly hot that the lungs of those in its path were instantly scorched - through the eerie period of reconstruction, bestselling author Sinclair McKay creates a vast canvas and brings it alive with touching human detail. Along the way we encounter, among many others across the city, an elderly air-raid warden and his wife vainly striving to keep order amid devouring flames, a doctor who carried on operating while his home was in ruins, novelist Kurt Vonnegut who never thought that his own side might want to unleash the roaring fire, and fifteen-year-old Winfried Bielss, who, having spent the evening ushering refugees, wanted to get home to his stamp collection. Impeccably researched and deeply moving, McKay uses never-before-seen sources to relate the untold stories of civilians and vividly conveys the texture of contemporary life. Dresden is invoked as a byword for the illimitable cruelties of war, but with the distance of time, it is now possible to approach this subject with a much clearer gaze, and with a keener interest in the sorts of lives that ordinary people lived and lost, or tried to rebuild. Writing with warmth and colour about morality in war, the instinct for survival, the gravity of mass destruction and the importance of memory, this is a master historian at work. 'Churchill said that if bombing cities was justified, it was always repugnant. Sinclair McKay has written a shrewd, humane and balanced account of this most controversial target of the Anglo-American strategic bombing campaign, the ferocious consequence of the scourge of Nazism' Allan Mallinson, author of Fight to the Finish 'Beautifully-crafted, elegiac, compelling - Dresden delivers with a dark intensity and incisive compassion rarely equaled. Authentic and authoritative, a masterpiece of its genre' Damien Lewis, author of Zero Six Bravo 'Compelling . . . Sinclair McKay brings a dark subject vividly to life' Keith Lowe, author of Savage Continent 'This is a brilliantly clear, and fair, account of one of the most notorious and destructive raids in the history aerial warfare. From planning to execution, the story is told by crucial participants - and the victims who suffered so cruelly on the ground from the attack itself and its aftermath' Robert Fox, author of We Were There. Taken from www.easons.com KEENIE MEENIE Author: Phil Miller Publisher: Pluto Press ISBN: 9780745340791 Pages: 352 Price: €18.19 Keenie Meenie Services - the most powerful mercenary company you've never heard of - was involved in war crimes around the world from Sri Lanka to Nicaragua for which its shadowy directors have never been held accountable. Like its mysterious name, Keenie Meenie Services escaped definition and to this day has evaded sanctions. Now explosive new evidence - only recently declassified - exposes the extent of these war crimes, and the British government's tacit support for the company's operations. Including testimonies from SAS veterans, spy chiefs and diplomats, we hear from key figures battle- hardened by the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the Iranian Embassy siege. Investigative journalist Phil Miller asks, who were these mercenaries: heroes, terrorists, freedom fighters or war criminals? This book presents the first ever comprehensive case against Keenie Meenie Services, providing long overdue evidence on the crimes of the people who make a killing from killing. Taken from www.easons.com

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