"If fate is against me and I'm killed, so be it, but make it quick and painless. If I'm wounded, don't let me be crippled. But above all don't let me fuck up the task." - The bomb technician's prayer, said before every bomb he defuses.
Chris Hunter is the real deal...A balls-to-the-wall explosive ordinance disposal operator (EOD) for the British Army.
Joining in 1989 at the age of sixteen Hunter was Commissioned (became an officer) at the age of twenty one and was later to qualify as a counter-terrorist bomb disposal operator. (An intriguing and fascinating part of the book.
During his career he deployed to the Balkans, Northern Island, Colombia, Afghanistan and Iraq and throughout his deployments he plied his trade doing the most dangerous job in the world. This book tells his story.
This book was a completely engaging account of the life of an EOD operator. It's more than simply defusing a bomb on the side of the road. These guys also investigate the bomb-makers, piece together evidence, look for links and signatures in a bid to trace each bomb-maker, where they were trained and where they may operate from, or strike next.
They defuse bombs too of course; A task that can easily lead to them being instantly vaporised, and the deaths of many others in the vicinity. Not a job for the faint of heart.
The author securely captures the readers attention through engaging and easy to read text, bringing them down into the dirt right beside him as he works to defuse a bomb, piece together fragments of exploded ordinance or follows the trail of a bomb-maker. It's technical enough to get the message across, but not so much that it's difficult to read.
Iraq, at the time of his deployment, was the most dangerous place in the world and his enemy, the bomb-makers, didn't play by the rules of engagement or Geneva Convention.
His work was solitary, just him, the beating of his heart confined within a heavy protective suit in 40°C+ temperatures and a bomb that could detonate with any wrong move.
Hunter explains in the book how his team's forensic work began to unravel the enemy bringing them closer to being discovered, so much so that the enemy selectively targeted him with the intent to destroy him. It's amazing he lived to be honest.
Whether it was the drug cartels of Columbia, the IRA in Ireland or his tours in Iraq Chris was under constant pressure to perform flawlessly as mistakes would end his life, even the slightest mistake.
His book talks about the personal toll it took on him and as he got older and had a family how it affected the way he thought and what he did; It get's personal with his relationship and family.
It also links what happened in the field during his deployments to news reports that I can actually remember hearing...It gave an insiders version, not the sanitised or sensationalised version the media feeds people. It was fascinating.
Chris Hunter writes about his family on the last page:
"The back to back tours and constant loneliness had a terrible effect on all our lives...What's exciting and gratifying for a single lieutenant in his early twenties more often than not becomes a terrible strain for a married Major in his thirties. There's a limit to how much any of us can cope with before things reach critical mass. We came dangerously close. We were in a bad place, and I don't want us to be there ever again."
He goes on to say:
"Was it all for the greater good? I hope so. Fight what is wrong, believe what is true, do what is right. It's a difficult path to tread, but I keep trying. I also try to be a better husband and father. There's one sentence uttered more than any other by soldiers dying on the battlefield: Tell my wife I love her."
"By the time I found my way home, I'd used up eight of my nine lives. I had two wonderful daughters and a beautiful, loving wife, and I'd spent too much of my life focused on my career instead of them. What happens in the future, only time will tell. But I'm eight lives down, so I'm not going to waste my last."
I really like how he ties it in with his family and looks to the future with the intent to take what he learned and make the rest of his life better for it.
This book isn't just a list of deployments and what happened on them, nor is it a story about defusing bombs and shooting bad guys...It's a personal account of a seventeen-year military career, most of which was spent doing the most dangerous job in the world and the personal toll it took on the man and his family.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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