Customer Reviews

SAS: Phantoms of War: A History of the Australian Special Air Service

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The boook I have is called SAS Phantoms of the Jungle, which I purchased in New Zealand. Phantoms of the Jungle refers to the 1989 published version of this book. Phantoms of War is an updated book that includes the 1990s until almost present day.

The Australian involvement in Vietnam is a little known fact to many Americans now a days. Which is unfortunate because they played a vital and heroic role in that war. The SAS played a vital part in that war and like American special forces it was one of the events that would define the unit and what it would become. Phantoms of the Jungle is a history of the Australian SASR from their founding in 25th July 1957 until the mid 80. Its a book full of facts, and reads as a history, not a best selling war novel. With that in mind it is a great look into a unit that until the war in Afghanistan was little known to the majority of Americans.

I found this book very pleasing, as it provides an excellent history of Australia's highly elite Special Air Service. This book is comprehensive with detail, which includes information regarding the formation of the SAS, and activities that I was not aware of until reading this book. Learning about engagements in Borneo in the early 1960's and the depth of services of the SAS, which includes counter-terrorism made for good reading. It came as a suprise that more SAS personnel have lost their lives in training activities than from enemy fire. It is therefore important to appreciate the highly specialised training that they undertake to protect Australia. The Vietnam aspect of the book interested me most, and it is not often that an enemy in war offers such a complimentary nickname, such as the Vietnamese referring to the SAS as "phantoms of the jungle." This book inspired me to have a character in one of my own novels to have an SAS background.

Nicholas R.W. Henning - Australian Author
Author of: Boomerang Baseball and The American Dream: From Perth to Sacramento