Thread: Niall Arden - Ex SF officer turned Author ( allegedly)

I've just tried reading "Desert Fire - The SAS in Iraq- a shocking true story" by Niall Arden

his story is -
Niall Arden
At eighteen, Niall Arden was one of the youngest men ever accepted for SAS selection, and was then recruited into a covert black operations unit, employing both serving and ex members of the SAS, SBS and various intelligence agencies
Over some twenty years he served in Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, the former USSR, the Balkans and Iraq. Having left the services, he is now training to become a surgeon.

Now either i've made a terrible mistake and loads of you are going to post -
" Bloody hell! 'Nails' Niall Arden has finally got round to writing that book he was always going on about when we were in the Regiment together!"

or i haven't made a mistake and the bloke's a bluffer ( and a very poor author)

Originally Posted by Issi

I've just tried reading "Desert Fire - The SAS in Iraq- a shocking true story" by Niall Arden

his story is -
Niall Arden
At eighteen, Niall Arden was one of the youngest men ever accepted for SAS selection, and was then recruited into a covert black operations unit, employing both serving and ex members of the SAS, SBS and various intelligence agencies
Over some twenty years he served in Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, the former USSR, the Balkans and Iraq. Having left the services, he is now training to become a surgeon.

Now either i've made a terrible mistake and loads of you are going to post -
" Bloody hell! 'Nails' Niall Arden has finally got round to writing that book he was always going on about when we were in the Regiment together!"

or i haven't made a mistake and the bloke's a bluffer ( and a very poor author)

As 3 years minimum service is required before application, i'll cry horseshit.

Niall Arden has been mentioned here before.... Not sure that 'They' have a squadron masquerading as part of the Essex ACF?

http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/.../p=731116.html

Pretty well covered here!

bugger!! But my link is better looking than yours, Archimedes.

Really Bear Grylls joined at aged 17 ( although 21 SAS TA ) and I've heard of other occassions of applicants without the 3 year minimum criteria passing ( including a close friend) so I'll delay judgement on the author until all the facts are in...

The guys an utter walt, the total extent of his service was 10 months as a probationary 2nd Lt in the Essex ACF in 1990.

Niall Arden. I've heard of him! Wasn't he Flash Gordon's girlfriend?

The truth will out.

Just read Archimedes link and I stand corrected the fella Ardens a throbber, just goes to show you can't hide from arrse...

Phew, so my initial feelings that this guy was not what it seems were correct.
I was starting to get worried that I would get 'slotted' (BTW has anyone ever heard this expression being used anywhere outside walty literature and TV?)

I should have known that this wasn't a real book as there were no photos of Bavvo, Spavvo, Davvo or the obiquitous Big Dave ( usually a chain smoking Geordie) with their eyes blacked out in the middle.

The book is awful, full of the kind of language that people who are not soldiers think that soldiers use.

thanks all for confirming my initial thoughts about this loser, thank feck that i got this from the library and didn't pay the £16.99 price.

PS- Genuine query - how do these people get this nonsense published?

Because books with the letters 'SAS' on the front cover tend to sell quite well, and the people who do the commissioning rarely bother to ask the question 'is this man a walt?'.

I can imagine that the scenario here involves Arden spinning a plausible enough tale about his time with 'Them' (because there's eff-all chance that the commissioning bod will have any knowledge about SF beyond the publically available literature and watching Ultimate Force), which gets the commissioning editor thinking about the sales figures - not Harry Potter, but likely to be enough to turn a profit. Editor thinks of his/her bonus for bringing in an interesting book that may even get some reviews in the papers.

Perfunctory checking then takes place, possibly with some self-proclaimed 'expert' on the SAS (expertise limited to knowing where the regiment is headquartered) saying the story seems to be accurate, probably implying that he, the expert, knows that the story is true, but of course, can't wink, wink, talk about it because he was given the information in confidence by his mate Fijian Bob (who is in fact a friend called Robert who went to Fiji for his last summer holiday), making the publisher confident that he has a good tale.

Publisher then commissions ghost writer, since walt fantasist says he's better at killing than writing (ho, ho), and hey, presto a book appears.

Book then gets reviewed by incredulous arrse member who happens to know that the author is, in fact, the airsofter found propping up the bar at his local trying to get inside the barmaid's underwear by dropping heavy hints that he's in the SAS, currently working undercover on some anti-terror op.