An Unorthodox Soldier: Peace and War and the Sandline Affair

In this fast-moving account of his life, Tim Spicer describes the events in Papua New Guinea when he was captured at gun-point and held in captivity—and came away with his life, his men, and the company's honor intact. Here too is the full truth about the notorious "Arms for Africa" affair which tied the Foreign Office in a knot over whether Sandline had broken a UN embargo on supplying arms to the legitimate government-in-exile of Sierra Leone. Spicer's entertaining account of modern soldiering in peace and war looks at the creation of private military companies—the modern, legitimate version of the old mercenaries—and concludes with his troubling forecast for the dangerous world that lies ahead in the new millennium, making this an essential guide to life as it is lived in some of the world's trouble spots, as well as a glimpse of the intrigue that lies behind the British political scene.