62 episodes
The Unconventional Soldier theunconventionalsoldier
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- Society & Culture
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5.0 • 24 Ratings
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”Letting the guest tell the story”. A military podcast by former soldiers from the British Army’s long range Surveillance and Reconnaissance Patrols unit. Our first series covers the inception of the unit with its founder Major General Anthony Stone CB, the selection of the soldiers, the unique ”stay behind” role during the Cold War, the multiple operational tours they deployed on over the last 40 years finishing on an interview with the current serving officer commanding the unit.In subsequent series we have set ourselves a wider remit and cover first hand accounts of past conflicts from World War 2 to the War on Terror and everything in between . All our podcasts finish off with book & film reviews and recommendations. We normally upload a monthly episode (sometimes more). Available wherever you get you podcasts from. Also on YouTube.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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S4 #061 7 Minutes To Midnight - NATO Cold War "Stay Behind" Operations
CONTENT
The guest today for our conversation on NATO Cold War "stay behind" operations is Tamir Sinai a political scientist and exercise professional. Tamir teaches Security Policy and develops Simulation Exercises for International Organisations, Governments, Private Industry and Universities with a focus on Security and Crisis Management. His customers have included US DoD, German MoD, Swedish MoD, Frontex, NATO, EU and the OSCE.
Tamir's paper "Eyes On Target: 'Stay Behind' Forces During the Cold War" can be found here here - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0968344520914345
"BUY ME A COFFEE"
If you want to support the podcast you can buy me a coffee here.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Instagram @the_unconventional_soldier_pod.
Facebook @lateo82.
Twitter @TheUCS473.
Download these and other platforms via Link Tree.
Email us: unconventionalsoldier@gmail.com.
This episode brought to you in association with ISARR a veteran owned company.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
S4 #060 Infiltrating The Provisional IRA
CONTENT
The guest today is author Henry Hemming and on this podcast we will be discussing his book “4 Shots In The Night" a true story of espionage, murder and justice during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It centres round the brutal killing on 26th May, 1986 of British agent Frank Hegarty who infiltrated PIRA and also involves Martin McGuinness, terrorist turned politician and the notorious IRA member and British agent Freddie Scappaticci who, over a decade after the murder, decided to talk to the media about what happened that night. This started a search for truth which revealed how a handful of British agents were able to infiltrate the Provisional IRA, at great personal cost. It is a period described by Henry as “... by a country mile, the least understood conflict in recent British history, as well as the bloodiest and longest.”
Henry's book choice on Desert Islands Dits is "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote. My choice is Henry's book "Four Shots In The Night".
WHERE TO GET OUR DESERT ISLAND DITS BOOK CHOICES
Most of our book recommendations can be bought via the Unconventional Soldier Bookshop. 10% of each purchase supports the pod and helps independent book stores on line sales.
"BUY ME A COFFEE"
If you want to support the podcast you can buy me a coffee here.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Check out our blog site on Wordpress Unconventional Soldier
Instagram @the_unconventional_soldier_pod.
Facebook @lateo82.
Twitter @TheUCS473.
Download these and other platforms via Link Tree.
Email us: unconventionalsoldier@gmail.com.
This episode brought to you in association with ISARR a veteran owned company.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
S4 #059 Who Dares Wins
CONTENT
The guest today is former Commando Gunner and member of 22 Special Air Service Mick Hawkes. On this podcast we discuss his army career including the Falklands war, volunteering for SAS selection, life and training in the Regiment, his deployment to Bosnia where he was captured by Serb forces alongside his mate Billy Billingham, the pace of operations for UKSF in Iraq and Afghanistan, sustaining SF manpower in a smaller army and finally his post military professional life in private security. As usual we finish off with Desert Island Dits which is the guests choice of book, film and luxury item if they were marooned on a desert island.
You can find Mick's website at www.hawkesandco.uk
WHERE TO GET OUR DESERT ISLAND DITS BOOK CHOICES
Most of our book recommendations can be bought via the Unconventional Soldier Bookshop. 10% of each purchase supports the pod and helps independent book stores on line sales.
"BUY ME A COFFEE"
If you want to support the podcast you can buy me a coffee here.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Check out our blog site on Wordpress Unconventional Soldier
Instagram @the_unconventional_soldier_pod.
Facebook @lateo82.
Twitter @TheUCS473.
Download these and other platforms via Link Tree.
Email us: unconventionalsoldier@gmail.com.
This episode brought to you in association with ISARR a veteran owned company.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
S4 #058 7 Minutes To Midnight - Berlin Airlift, Berlin Wall & Cuban Missile Crisis
CONTENT
This week on our Cold War series the guest is Ian Sanders who presents the award winning Cold War Conversations podcast. On this episode we discuss how Germany and Berlin were divided up between the victorious allied armies at the end of World War 2, the Berlin airlift when the Soviet Union attempted to starve the population of Berlin into submission and the reasons why the Russians built the Berlin wall virtually over night and the impact it had on the city's occupants. We finish off with a discussion on the Cuban missile which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
"BUY ME A COFFEE"
If you want to support the podcast you can buy me a coffee here.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Check out our blog site on Wordpress Unconventional Soldier
Follow us on social media and don't forget to like, share and leave a review.
Instagram @the_unconventional_soldier_pod.
Facebook @lateo82.
Twitter @TheUCS473.
Download these and other platforms via Link Tree.
Email us: unconventionalsoldier@gmail.com.
This episode brought to you in association with ISARR a veteran owned company.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
S4 #057 Artillery Gun Raids On Op GRANBY (Gulf War 1991)
CONTENT
The guest today is former soldier Kev Brain who joined the Royal Artillery in 1975 completing 22 years service with the colours. He deployed on multiple operational tours to Northern Ireland and also on Operation GRANBY better known as the first Gulf War in 1991 as a Sergeant Gun number 1 in charge of a M110 203mm howitzer specifically built for general support and counter battery fire. He describes his career in the lead up to the deployment and what it was like to take part on the gun raids so effective at depleting the Iraqi artillery assets. In these raids, a battery would move forward to preselected positions near the enemy, fire a predetermined amount of rounds at selected targets, and move quickly back to avoid counterfire. These raids not only kept pressure on the enemy, but also afforded great live fire training, particularly gunnery and movement, which would be needed later to support the ground attack and the rapid advance into Iraq and Kuwait.
WHERE TO GET OUR DESERT ISLAND DITS BOOK CHOICES
Most of our book recommendations can be bought via the Unconventional Soldier Bookshop. 10% of each purchase supports the pod and helps independent book stores on line sales.
"BUY ME A COFFEE"
If you want to support the podcast you can buy me a coffee here.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Check out our blog site on Wordpress Unconventional Soldier
Instagram @the_unconventional_soldier_pod.
Facebook @lateo82.
Twitter @TheUCS473.
Download these and other platforms via Link Tree.
Email us: unconventionalsoldier@gmail.com.
This episode brought to you in association with ISARR a veteran owned company.
NOTE: I would like to acknowledge the following sources for quotes and information used in my opening narrative "The Army Historical Foundation - The Gulf War & European Artillery" & RA Museum "Gunners In The Gulf War 1991".
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
S4 #056 7 Minutes To Midnight - Series Intro
CONTENT
This is a mini series covering parts of the Cold War we find interesting and will run in tandem with the Unconventional Soldier podcast. So why the title Seven Minutes to Midnight? The Doomsday Clock was a symbolic measurement that represented the likelihood of a human made global catastrophe in the form of a nuclear exchange between the global superpowers. In 1947 at the start of the Cold War it was deemed to be at 7 minutes to midnight, this naturally changed as the world lurched from one potential disaster to another. In 1953 it went to 2 minutes to midnight when tests were carried out on hydrogen bombs and 3 minutes to midnight in 1984 as the US and Soviet relations reached its lowest point. The Cold War eventually led to the collapse of the USSR but events of and from that time still dominate the global stage today.
WHERE TO GET OUR DESERT ISLAND DITS BOOK CHOICES
Most of our book recommendations can be bought via the Unconventional Soldier Bookshop. 10% of each purchase supports the pod and helps independent book stores on line sales.
"BUY ME A COFFEE"
If you want to support the podcast you can buy me a coffee here.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Check out our blog site on Wordpress Unconventional Soldier
Follow us on social media and don't forget to like, share and leave a review.
Instagram @the_unconventional_soldier_pod.
Facebook @lateo82.
Twitter @TheUCS473.
Download these and other platforms via Link Tree.
Email us: unconventionalsoldier@gmail.com.
This episode brought to you in association with ISARR a veteran owned company.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Customer Reviews
Outstanding
Love the military stories. Especially enjoy the fact that you don’t interrupt or talk over the guests. Keep up the good work.
Highly Reccomended
I don’t have a military background, haven’t lived in the UK for over 30 years, and lean way to the left politically, so I’m probably not the target demographic 😂😂
This is one of my current favorite podcasts, it really gets into the weeds about a military unit that I’ve never heard about, but using that as a jumping off point it goes into all the major conflicts of the last 30-40 years from Northern Island, the Falklands, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m still getting through the older episodes so there’s a lot of other good material. As a climber myself I really enjoyed the Andy Kirkpatrick interview.
Colin and Kevin know their stuff are widely read and are great hosts. The interviews are congenial, interesting and frequently moving.
If you don’t have a military background there is a lot to learn here about how someone can contribute as an individual in a large organization, when the organization may not want to deal with people on their own terms.
Trip Down Memory Lane
I was in P Bty in the 80’s and saw these guys running around the barracks doing their stuff! A few of my Muckers joined up but I knew I was mad enough to give it a go 😃. It certainly takes a special breed. But loving listening to your stories, hearing the old names, taking me back to those crazy times.
I just saw your podcast review in Soldier mag, so I’ve got about 30 episodes to catch up on! Might go for a run this afternoon to listen to one - but I’ll leave the bergen behind, thank you very much!
Thanks for your service, guys 👍