They were young, they were tough and they were everywhere. They were both the backyard builders and the frontline troops in Australia's war against the Taliban.
This is the powerful story of the sappers, the Army engineers in Afghanistan whose raw courage and skills were inspired by the original Australian Tunnel Rats of the war in Vietnam. These Tunnel Rats of Afghanistan have rooted out the enemy from deep inside their caves and mountain hideouts, have defused thousands of improvised explosive devices (the booby traps and landmines of this most recent of wars), built bridges and schools to win a war of hearts and minds, and fought side by side with special forces commandos and SAS troops. They, too, lost a disproportionate number of their comrades and many returned home with the devastating baggage of war, post-traumatic stress disorder.
Inspiring and action packed, this is the story of a special breed of soldier operating in a modern war against an enemy with medieval morals . . . and bombs triggered by mobile phones. It is a story that connects the unsung heroes of Vietnam with the modern heroes of Afghanistan.
By:
Jimmy Thomson,
Sandy MacGregor
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions:
Height: 198mm,
Width: 128mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 330g
ISBN: 9781760294168
ISBN 10: 1760294160
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 24 August 2016
Recommended Age: From
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Maps of Afghanistan and Uruzgan province List of abbreviations and acronyms Foreword by Major General John Cantwell AO, DSC (Ret'd) Prologue: The Tunnel Rat legacy Introduction: Sappers in Afghanistan 1: Operation Salaam 2: The rise of the Taliban 3: Hunting bin Laden 4: Follow the sapper 5: Live . . . move . . . fight 6: Backyard Blitz 7: Moving on 8: Special ops and local cops 9: On patrol with special forces 10: Under fire 11: Holding ground 12: Taking on a tech killer 13: The horror of war 14: Clear, hold, build 15: All change 16: Front-line females 17: Heavy duties 18: The dogs of war 19: The 'good' war 20: Hard yards and Hescos 21: Life and death with special forces 22: Moving targets 23: Into Helmand 24: Building relationships 25: The Day of the Well 26: 21st-century Tunnel Rats 27: Fatal attraction 28: Trainers and turncoats 29: Wounded warriors 30: Was it worth it? Afterword: Beating the retreat Glossary Acknowledgements Further reading
JIMMY THOMSON is a journalist, author and screenwriter. He is the author of Snitch, Watto and Wendell Sailor: Crossing the line, and co-wrote Tunnel Rats and A Sappers' War with Sandy MacGregor. As a young captain SANDY MACGREGOR, a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, commanded the original Tunnel Rats of 3 Field Troop in Vietnam and was awarded the Military Cross. He served in the Army for 30 years, finishing as a colonel in the Reserves...
