Photos British Military Forces
- Thread starter Pretorian
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Which unit does this beret belong to?
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SBS , SF Communicator
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Uniform of the late n great Lt Col Frank Rennie NZSAS
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Happy St Patrick's Day to 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment.
Saint Patrick’s Day is the foremost day in the Regiment's calendar, marking Ireland’s National Day, the Patron Saint of Ireland and, following Queen Victoria’s direction in 1900, commemorating the gallantry of Her Irish soldiers during the Second Boer War.
The day lets our Irish Rangers take a pause to celebrate their identity amid a busy year developing their role as light recce strike. The new concept provides a highly mobile force to boost the brigade’s firepower and reconnaissance capabilities, with the flexibility to deploy onto operations by airlanding or driving.
Saint Patrick’s Day is the foremost day in the Regiment's calendar, marking Ireland’s National Day, the Patron Saint of Ireland and, following Queen Victoria’s direction in 1900, commemorating the gallantry of Her Irish soldiers during the Second Boer War.
The day lets our Irish Rangers take a pause to celebrate their identity amid a busy year developing their role as light recce strike. The new concept provides a highly mobile force to boost the brigade’s firepower and reconnaissance capabilities, with the flexibility to deploy onto operations by airlanding or driving.
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Duke class (Type 23) frigate HMS Richmond (F239) sailing into the Bay of Gibraltar under "Kalima" weather conditions, as it calls at HM Base for a routine visit following a few weeks deployment East of Suez. March 2024
Survey vessel HMS Scott (H131) alongside South Mole HMNB Gibraltar with Duke class (Type 23) frigate HMS Richmond (F239) in the background. March 17, 2024
Survey vessel HMS Scott (H131) alongside South Mole HMNB Gibraltar with Duke class (Type 23) frigate HMS Richmond (F239) in the background. March 17, 2024
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PETER McALEESE 
Quote
Few soldiers in history had a military career as extensive as his... Peter McAleese (7 Sept 1942 – 18 March 2024) was a British soldier and SAS member and mercenary.
Former SAS trooper, Peter McAleese, from Shettleston district of Glasgow, joined the Army when he was 17 and had an eventful 60 year career serving with Britain's Parachute Regiment, British 22 SAS, and C (Rhodesia) Sqn 22 SAS / Rhdoesian SAS, British South Africa Police, and the South African Defence Force's elite Para Pathfinders, and as a mercenary in Anglo and Columbia. He later wrote the book "No Mean Soldier" and was a training instructor in the BBC documentary television series SAS Survival Secrets (2003).
As an SAS soldier, he fought during Aden's Emergency against Communist insurgents in Aden, under the command of the famous "Mad Mitch" Mitchell.
After leaving the British Army, he became a mercenary during the Angolan civil war for the US and South African backed and trained FNLA.
Military career:
McAleese enlisted with the British Army's Parachute Regiment in Aberdeen in 1960 at the age of 17, being assigned after basic training at its Aldershot depot to the Regiment's 1st Battalion's mortar platoon. In 1962 he was transferred to the 22. Special Air Service Regiment, which he served with in Aden with its 'D' Squadron's 18. (Mobility) Troop. After a few months he was Returned To Unit from the SAS for disciplinary reasons, re-joining the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment and being posted with it to Bahrain and Cyprus in 1962-64. In 1964 he re-joined the 22. Special Air Service Regiment, and served with 'D' Squadron's 16 (Air) Troop in Borneo and in the Aden Emergency. In 1968 he was again returned to the Parachute Regiment by the SAS for disciplinary offences related to violent disorder, rejoining the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment, which he served with from 1968-1969 as a sergeant-instructor. In 1969 McAleese resigned from the British Army.
He was subsequently convicted in civilian life of criminal offenses pertaining to violent assault, and spent several prison sentences in the early 1970s incarcerated at HMP Gloucester. On release from prison for the third time he left the United Kingdom for Africa, where he was a mercenary soldier in the Angolan Civil War for several months in 1976, fighting for the National Liberation Front of Angola, assuming command of the formation after the capture of Costas Georgiou.
In early 1977 he went to Rhodesia where he enlisted with the Rhodesian Special Air Service Regiment, being assigned to its 'A' Squadron, fighting in the Rhodesian Bush War with the rank of a non-commissioned officer. In 1979 he joined the British South Africa Police's Special Branch operating in South Rhodesia. After the fall of Rhodesia in 1980, he enlisted with the South African Defence Force's 44 Parachute Brigade, which he served as a Colour Sergeant in the early 1980s, where he assisted with the creation of a new pathfinder reconnaissance unit, and took part in the South African Border War.
Security contracting career:
In the mid-1980s McAleese set up a family home in Pretoria, and became an employee of the COIN Security Group, a military/police private contractor based in South Africa. After a near-death parachuting display accident, he moved back to reside in the United Kingdom. At the end of the 1980s he spent two years as a security contractor working for the government forces in the Colombian Conflict. In the mid-1990s he worked in Moscow as a bodyguard training instructor, and undertook security work in Algeria and Iraq for several years.
Retirement
In his latter years McAleese was a pub landlord in Birmingham, England, UK. In 1993 he published his memoir, entitled No Mean Soldier, which has been reprinted several times.
McAleese died on 18 March 2024, at the age of 81.
Media appearances:
McAleese acted in the role of a British Army training instructor in the BBC documentary television series S.A.S. - Survival Secrets (2003).
Publications:
McAleese, Peter & Avery, John (1999). McAleese's Fighting Manual. Orion. ISBN 0-7528-0063-9. McAleese, Peter (2000). No Mean Soldier. Cassell Military. ISBN 0-304-35684-0. McAleese, Peter (2015). Beyond No Mean Soldier (an updated and more detailed revision of No Mean Soldier). Helion & Co., Ltd. ISBN 978-1-910294-01-7. McAleese, Peter (2022). Killing Escobar. Gadfly Press.
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