From: "Phil Payne" 

> Jeapes, Tony. SAS Secret War. London: Greenhill Books, 2005. (How the
> British Special Air Service raised and employed irregular tribal forces
> to counter a communist insurgency in Oman during the 1960s and 1970s.)

> Jeapes & Kitson are both good reads though Kitson leaves out some of the
> somewhat harsher methods. OK I admit to a leaning towards Jeapes for old
> times sake

I met Tony in Bangladesh in about 1982.  He's a tall bugger - stands out in
a crowd.  Drank water out of a bottle he brought with him.  Very polite,
very quiet.  I've no idea what he was doing there, but as someone said at
the time: "He never goes anywhere without a reason".

I don't know if it's in the book, but one of the techniques he described
(and I remember it as Aden, not Oman) was a stop and search of a truck.
While the driver was being "questioned on the bonnet", the search
team went through a load of fruit and found a box of grenades.  Rather than
make a fuss, they just screwed all the fuses down to "no delay". 
There were two grenade throwing incidents the next day, and two very dead
insurgents.  A box of grenades with two missing was found on the police
station steps the next morning and grenade throwing ceased to be a popular
pastime for a while.

I'm amazed he's written a book, but I bet it's 100% authorized.

He also told me a story about the Balcombe Street siege, but I'll leave it
to his judgement.  If it's in the book, fine.  Their preferred mode of
transport at the time was a furniture van. A "Hereford cattle
truck".

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5