Product Description

Don Camsell joined the men in black of the SBS in 1974. From the deserts of Oman to the hills of Port Stanley, from the bottom of Gibraltar harbour to the deep, cold, black waters of Loch Long and from the QE2 to the back alleys of Belfast, his new role demanded that Don fought in just about every theatre of war - overt or covert.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41128 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

About the Author
Don Camsell lives abroad where he is involved in training operations. Additionally, he has helped to devise and run training programmes for people travelling for their work to hostile areas of the world, During his career with the SBS he fought in, among other places, Oman, the Falklands, Northern Ireland, and Iraq, and rose to be operational commander on missions around the globa.

Customer Reviews

Very god account of a 'good but hard life in SBS'
My name is Chris Brogan. As detailed in the book I get a 'mention' as I was the Australian SAS member who following his discharge from the Australain Army joined the British Royal Marine Commandos to be in the SBS. Therefore, I know the author very well.

What he describes in the book are items to which I can relate. In relation to the 'extreme hard determination' that individuals must endure, it is definite! When they conduct the SC3 - Selection Course this is the beginning. They must continualy achieve the required results during their time in the unit. It only stops when they retire from the SBS.

If I was to outline all the points I consider are valid with this book, I would use more than 1,000 words!

All due respect to other Special Forces articles, but this one 'is spoken from the heart!' Don Camsell spent the majority of his life training hard to produce 'good results'. Not only in operations but in the hard, very demanding but rewarding training.

In my 19 years of active service I never went operational. If I had to do an operational task I would had felt 'very psitive' to do this with SBS members like Don. Thank God, in SBS their are a multitude of men of the same determination and caliber as Don Camsell.

As a Commanding Officer of the Australian SAS once said: "Train Hard Fight Easy!" This was a definite attitude and committment of all members of the SBS. I worked with Don for 2 years and he definitely "emplifies this remark".

Therefore, this article relates to the tremendous results achieved by the SBS. A good deal of operational activities could not be discussed due to security. Don, and all serving and ex-serving members of SBS want this 'point to be maintained!'

But SBS is the unknown Special Forces unit of UK. Yes, the British SAS are determined, good and achieve the results. So does SBS! This is the 'major point' that Don emplifies in his article. His hard training inorder to achieve the results in operations is proof of this fact.

I feel that this is a 'good book' not only for all serving defence members but also for the public. It is 'History and Truth'. It spoken by a man who is 'dedicated to ensuring the task will be achieved'.

Don, also dedicates a great deal of his time to injured operators/members of SBS. Not only during operations but also those that suffer an injury during training. I am living proof of this fact. A 'major point' he details in his book!

A good book. It bring out a great number of good point. It also outlines points that were not successfull and need a reviewed to ensure the 'next action will be improved'.

Don stresses this point. The 'Good Points - Yes Tremendous'. The 'Bad Points need to be re-assessed to ensure that they never re-occur!'

Abandon Ship!
Without doubt Don Camsell has led a dangerous and exciting life within the Special Boat Service. However, his book suffers from an unfortunate aspect of the genre. It is used repeatedly as a platform to voice critical observations of the SBS's counterparts, the SAS. Whilst from the Author's viewpoint this might be justified and indeed has been echoed in other similar books, it becomes a little wearing for the Reader.

In places, much operational detail appears to have been omitted. No doubt this is for reasons of security, nevertheless on occasion it makes the narrative a little thin, particularly when compared to other biographies on the same subject. The Ministry of Defence is credited for their co-operation in the production of the book, hence one has to wonder how much was left out at their request.

Black Water as a whole left a feeling of being disjointed and spare on detail at critical phases.

Black Water: by Strength and by Guile
Not a bad read if you are interested in the special forces. Sometimes it is a bit dissapointing in that the author keeps refering to the rivalry betwewen the SAS and the SBS. We all know that you need to be a certain type of person to attain this level of achievement, but I felt that at times it was almost being forced down my throat. All said and done it makes a change to read about the SBS as opposed to the SAS, a different kind of soldiering. A good addition to any SF's readers collection.