Read Online Spider Shepherd: SAS: #1 by Stephen Leather - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Stephen Leather
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beetle grubs?’
Pilgrim nodded. ‘And termites and ants eggs.’
Liam put his hand up to his mouth. ‘Are you serious?’
‘It’s protein,’ said Pilgrim. ‘And now you’ve eaten it, and enjoyed it, next time…’
Liam nodded. ‘Point taken,’ he said.
They made another brew and then Pilgrim began educating them on regimental policy as he saw it. Still unbadged and with nothing having been said directly, Shepherd took the way that they were now being taken into Pilgrim’s confidence as sign enough that he now no longer regarded them as candidates on Selection but as members of the Regiment. ‘A lot of the guys serving in the Regiment are happy to coast along taking promotion and career moves,’ Pilgrim said, ‘but they’re not prepared to put in the hard work and the hard yards to be a proper professional SAS soldier. With a couple of honourable exceptions, most of the trainers on the Selection course are also guys who couldn’t make it in the fighting Sabre Squadrons. They’re happy to lord it over the new recruits but will find any reason to avoid going back to a squadron.’
Shepherd nodded enthusiastically. That was exactly what he’d been thinking, even before they had arrived in Belize.
‘However, there is an inner core of like-minded guys within the Regiment who want to be the best of the best,’ Pilgrim continued. ‘You’ll never hear them bragging and big-timing about the stuff they’ve done. They don’t need to. They know and their comrades know, and that’s all that counts, but if you study them and learn from them, you might one day join their ranks. I’ve seen enough in you four to think you all have the potential to do so, but only you can decide whether you’re willing to make the necessary commitment. Green Army training and even SAS training will just give you the basics. After that, you must then put in the follow-up time if you want to become experts in what you do. It isn’t a part-time job, it’s a full time, unrelenting commitment and to become one of the inner elite you must expect to make sacrifices at the expense of family, friends and your career. Think about it, decide what you want to do and then either commit to it wholeheartedly or get the hell out of the way of the guys who do.’
There was a long silence. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Enough said, it’s up to you. Now we’re heading out of the jungle tomorrow, but we’re calling at a Mayan village on the way. We’ve been doing hearts and minds work with them for years now - medicine and hygiene, improvements to their agriculture, and simple construction projects like latrines or a clean water supply - but we’re careful about what else we give them. We don’t give the Maya chainsaws because they can already fell enough trees with axes. They’re the only tribe I’ve ever seen that don’t use nets for fishing, but we don’t supply them either because they’re catching enough fish for their needs with longlines, and if we gave them gill nets they might overfish the river. We’re also teaching the older children basic medicine, so that there will be a legacy of continuing care when we’ve gone, just like in Malaya, Borneo, Oman and a score of other regions where we’ve operated over the years. In return for our help, they give us Intelligence. They fish the rivers and hunt in the forest. They know if there are strangers - soldiers or drug-traffickers - coming across the border, so the Maya are our eyes and ears in this area.’
The following morning they followed Pilgrim through deep jungle and emerged on a well-worn path towards the Mayan village. Heliconias, flame trees and bougainvillea lined the track and they glimpsed brief slashes of even more electric colour - crimson, turquoise, violet and gold - as toucans, macaws and countless other birds flitted through the forest canopy a hundred feet above them. Clouds of butterflies danced in the columns of sunlight in the clearings and open
Pilgrim nodded. ‘And termites and ants eggs.’
Liam put his hand up to his mouth. ‘Are you serious?’
‘It’s protein,’ said Pilgrim. ‘And now you’ve eaten it, and enjoyed it, next time…’
Liam nodded. ‘Point taken,’ he said.
They made another brew and then Pilgrim began educating them on regimental policy as he saw it. Still unbadged and with nothing having been said directly, Shepherd took the way that they were now being taken into Pilgrim’s confidence as sign enough that he now no longer regarded them as candidates on Selection but as members of the Regiment. ‘A lot of the guys serving in the Regiment are happy to coast along taking promotion and career moves,’ Pilgrim said, ‘but they’re not prepared to put in the hard work and the hard yards to be a proper professional SAS soldier. With a couple of honourable exceptions, most of the trainers on the Selection course are also guys who couldn’t make it in the fighting Sabre Squadrons. They’re happy to lord it over the new recruits but will find any reason to avoid going back to a squadron.’
Shepherd nodded enthusiastically. That was exactly what he’d been thinking, even before they had arrived in Belize.
‘However, there is an inner core of like-minded guys within the Regiment who want to be the best of the best,’ Pilgrim continued. ‘You’ll never hear them bragging and big-timing about the stuff they’ve done. They don’t need to. They know and their comrades know, and that’s all that counts, but if you study them and learn from them, you might one day join their ranks. I’ve seen enough in you four to think you all have the potential to do so, but only you can decide whether you’re willing to make the necessary commitment. Green Army training and even SAS training will just give you the basics. After that, you must then put in the follow-up time if you want to become experts in what you do. It isn’t a part-time job, it’s a full time, unrelenting commitment and to become one of the inner elite you must expect to make sacrifices at the expense of family, friends and your career. Think about it, decide what you want to do and then either commit to it wholeheartedly or get the hell out of the way of the guys who do.’
There was a long silence. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Enough said, it’s up to you. Now we’re heading out of the jungle tomorrow, but we’re calling at a Mayan village on the way. We’ve been doing hearts and minds work with them for years now - medicine and hygiene, improvements to their agriculture, and simple construction projects like latrines or a clean water supply - but we’re careful about what else we give them. We don’t give the Maya chainsaws because they can already fell enough trees with axes. They’re the only tribe I’ve ever seen that don’t use nets for fishing, but we don’t supply them either because they’re catching enough fish for their needs with longlines, and if we gave them gill nets they might overfish the river. We’re also teaching the older children basic medicine, so that there will be a legacy of continuing care when we’ve gone, just like in Malaya, Borneo, Oman and a score of other regions where we’ve operated over the years. In return for our help, they give us Intelligence. They fish the rivers and hunt in the forest. They know if there are strangers - soldiers or drug-traffickers - coming across the border, so the Maya are our eyes and ears in this area.’
The following morning they followed Pilgrim through deep jungle and emerged on a well-worn path towards the Mayan village. Heliconias, flame trees and bougainvillea lined the track and they glimpsed brief slashes of even more electric colour - crimson, turquoise, violet and gold - as toucans, macaws and countless other birds flitted through the forest canopy a hundred feet above them. Clouds of butterflies danced in the columns of sunlight in the clearings and open
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