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

The book describes Lt-Col. Spicer's military career which included service in Northern Ireland, the Falklands and Bosnia - years marked both by frustration and considerable success - as a prelude to his central role in the creation of Sandline International, a major PMC. His explanation of the history of PMCs is helpful, as is his description of the way in which SI operates.

The high point, however, is Lt-Co. Spicer's treatment of SI's well-publicised but much-misunderstood adventures in Papua New Guinea and Sierra Leone. These accounts are fascinating, both as real-life adventure stories and as a deeply shocking expose of self-serving hypocrisy and mendacity on the part of the Foreign Office. In discussing this latter episode, Lt-Col. Spicer does not pull any punches, and it is difficult to avoid the impression that SI and its employees were treated very badly indeed. For someone who had spent most of his adult life defending the UK - he was awarded the OBE for his achievements - such treatment must have been particularly disillusioning.

It was also wholly unneccessary. It is no longer tenable for organisations like the FCO to condemn PMCs as unspeakably shady 'mercenaries' while at the same time failing to rise to global challenges such as that offered by Sierra Leone or Rwanda. (At the moment PMCs seem to offer considerably more transparency regarding their operating principles than does the FCO itself!) A more intelligent approach by governments, the UN and other multilaterals towards PMCs might go some way towards ensuring that legitimate elected regimes are protected and encouraged - rather than imposing rickety 'peace settlements' which reward anti-democratic thugs, as ultimately happened in Sierra Leone. PMCs may not be perfect, but at very least they offer a possible means of resolving conflicts which everyone condemns but which no one else is willing to touch. And why stop there? PMCs might also help to support first-world armies which are now stretched to the absolute limits of their capabilities, for instance by taking an ever-greater role in training, or indeed leasing equipment, skilled operators, or logistical support as required. At any rate, the time has come to think positively about what PMCs can offer, rather than automatically (and ignorantly) condemning them. Books such as this one can only help in that process.

There are a few relatively minor editorial quibbles. Several of the chapters (notably those dealing with PMCs per se rather than autobiographical material) really ought to have included footnote references, or a list of 'further reading', or at very least a more prominent link with SI's informative website - after all, there is a growing body of literature supporting many of the points made by Lt-Col. Spicer. A few maps (the Falklands, PNG, perhaps West Africa too) would have made some of the narrative easier to follow.

These are, however, very minor points. I would whole-heartedly recommend this book, not only as a 'hard to put down' adventure story, but also as an important and serious contribution to the debate about the potential value of PMCs and their role in decades to come.

The book is effectively an account of the life and career of Col. Tim Spicer and his understanding and vision of the new world order. The first section of the book covers Col. Spicer's genuinely outstanding military career during his time in the British army with the Scots Guards including recounting his contribution in conflicts ranging from Northern Ireland to the Falklands and the Gulf to Bosnia.

Then the book takes you behind the doors of the unknown world of the private military consultant and the valuable resource that companies like Sandline are able to offer to democratically elected governments of non-first world countries. Almost inevitably this activity has taken Col. Spicer to the edge on more than one occasion both in far-flung corners of the globe and here at home in the UK. To the lay person it provides a rare and tantalising glimpse into another world.

The final section of the book combines all his knowledge and understanding of world affairs which he distills into a fascinating/frightening vision of world stability and instability in the 21st century.

A must read which has none of the dryness or self-congratulation which is so often present in auto-biographies.

Sandline is no more. But Colonel Tim Spicer is now at the head of Aegis, the most prominent PMC operating in Iraq, where many of the services alluded to in his book, are being effectively deployed in the manner he envisaged.