First Into Action: A Dramatic Personal Account of Life in the SBS [Paperback]

Duncan Falconer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2001

The Special Boat Service draws its manpower solely from the Marine Commando Units. It was first into battle—a month before the SAS—in the Falklands War, and again in the Gulf War, yet hitherto it is the SAS that has had by far the higher profile. This memoir is written from inside the SBS. The author tells how he trained with the Royal Marines in Deal before being recruited into the SBS at Poole. The regimen of ruthless training is described in detail, and the book also contains accounts of SBS operations in Ulster, Bosnia, and the Gulf War, and of the intense rivalry between the SAS's individualist mentality and the more team-based, marine ethos of the SBS.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A must for military buffs.' MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS

About the Author

Duncan Falconer grew up in Battersea in London, spending the first ten years of his life in an orphanage. He became a Special Forces operative at the age of nineteen (it is unlikely there will ever be one as young again). He is now a successful screenwriter in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751531650
• ISBN-13: 978-0751531657
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Suicidal Boat Service?, September 11, 2005

By 

Rennie Petersen (Copenhagen, Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Into Action: A Dramatic Personal Account of Life in the SBS (Paperback)

The SBS (Special Boat Service) is Britain's Special Forces unit that corresponds to the U.S. Navy SEALs. It is not as well known as Britain's SAS (Special Air Service), and I must admit that I had never heard of it until I ran across one of Duncan Falconer's novels half a year ago.

Duncan Falconer was a member of the SBS for a dozen years from around 1975, getting in at age 19, the youngest ever for a new member. "First Into Action" is his personal account of his life in the SBS plus a bit about his childhood and his entering the British Royal Marines.

If you're really keen on books about Special Forces units and the men who serve in them then I can recommend "First Into Action". Duncan Falconer does tell it like it is, and the story is very interesting.

Readers who are not so fascinated with the reality of Special Forces will find this book less appealing.

The most powerful impression I got from reading this book is that the men of the SBS are a bunch of suicidal maniacs! (I exaggerate - please bear with me.)

Duncan Falconer spends most of this book describing three aspects of the SBS: how dangerous it is, how self-motivated and intrepid the members are, and how often things go totally wrong.

The selection procedure is described, and it becomes obvious that in order to become a member of the SBS you have to be willing to push yourself to the point of physical injury. And the instructors come across as sadists.

After you become a member of the SBS you spend a lot of time doing exercises (or "rehearsals", as they call them) to keep your skills up to snuff. High-altitude parachuting, submarine exits, climbing oil rigs during a violent storm, testing new weapons and explosives, diving in freezing water, descending from a helicopter onto a bucking ship, etc., etc. You name it, the SBS can do it, or die trying. And a lot of them do die trying.

In addition to the many deaths there are a large number of injuries, some that heal and some that result in being incapacitated, perhaps even ending up in a wheelchair for the rest of your life.

There are also an incredible number of screw-ups in the missions that the SBS is involved in that can be considered humorous. In fact, large portions of the book are written in a tongue-in-cheek tone that is intended to be a contrast to the serious and heroic books by former members of the SAS and other Special Forces units.

Speaking of the SAS, another theme of "First Into Action" is the rivalry between the SBS and the SAS. The title of the book refers to the claim that the SBS is always (or almost always) the first British military unit sent into any conflict, before the SAS or anyone else.

Duncan Falconer writes with scorn about several SAS missions that went awry, including the famous Bravo Two Zero during the first Iraq war, and the accidental killing of an SBS operative during the Falklands War.

On the back cover of the paperback edition I read it said that Mr. Falconer had a "leading role" in SBS operations in the Falklands. This isn't true. In the text of the book Duncan Falconer writes that he was not involved in the Falklands at all, although he recounts several stories about the SBS teams that were there.

Much of the book describes Mr. Falconer's personal experiences during his time in Northern Ireland combating the IRA. This is fairly interesting, but not the kind of work that most Special Forces fans prefer to read about.

A few final points: The book is too long in my opinion, and it suffers from there being no dates whatsoever for the various events that take place. It's nice that there is a glossary of the military terms and acronyms used - I referred to it fairly often.

In conclusion, this book will appeal to Special Forces fans because it's a very honest look at the SBS, one of the world's best Special Forces units. My three-star rating of "First Into Action" is largely due to it being outside my normal reading preferences. For me it was an OK read, but Mr. Falconer's novels ("The Hostage" and "The Hijack") are more to my taste - I give them both four stars.

Rennie Petersen

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Special Forces Book, May 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: First Into Action: A Dramatic Personal Account of Life in the SBS (Paperback)

Great book, much better than I expected. Some reviewers say they are annoyed with the author's coldness, brevity and lack of detail of certain events but I think that's due in part to the need for confidentiality of those events. I was not bothered by it and did not feel like it detracted from the book. I thought it had a plethora of information and events were explained very thoroughly. If it was too DETAILED or too GENERAL then I would question it's authenticity. I like the anonymity of the SBS, as the author says, it makes their job easier. This is the book to read if you want to read about the SBS or even the SAS. I'm burned-out on all the SAS/SEAL hoopla and wanted something a little different. The SBS are not as well known as the SAS in Britain and even less so here in the US, I only found this book when I was unknowingly transferred to Amazon.uk. Great book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the best, January 31, 2009

By 

Robert Courtney "Bobert300" (MN, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Into Action: A Dramatic Personal Account of Life in the SBS (Paperback)

This is one of my favourite books. The book is a great insight into probably the United Kingdoms most elite special forces unit, surpassing the much more well known SAS. Many activities attributed to the SAS are in fact conducted by the much less well known SBS. The SBS founded by Roger Courtney came into existence before the SAS and it was an SBS element that helped form part of the original SAS. The author describes some of the super human feats that these ordinary men achieve, such as leaving submarines through torpedo tubes, scaling and assaulting two hundred foot oil platforms after swimming there first and being transported on the outside of submarines whilst running the risk of being succked through the rear propellars!