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High Risk: A True Story of the SAS, Drugs and Other Bad Behaviour

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He still works in conflict zones as a security consultant and medic, and has an on-the-ground view of 21st century western military intervention in the Middle East – which he labels a “fucking disaster from start to finish” – and the diffuse role drugs have played in modern warfare. The Americans work nuts hours – the smell of every ops room is the smell of coffee that’s been reduced to nail polish to keep everyone going. The part of the story that I enjoyed the most was his describing of the flow state and even some of his descriptions of getting high and his withdrawals.

Who dares to explore where angels fear to tread, who dares to dance with devils, and who dares to look unflinchingly in the mirror. High Risk is a dark, raw and uncompromising tale of the human condition in extremis, drawing on the many lives of Ben Timberlake: as an archaeologist, special forces soldier, combat medic and drug addict. When I say obsessive, I mean an almost autistic fascination by the author in drugs and bio-chemical processes that left me baffled for the most part.Deeper and deeper he goes into the needle and the spoon while at the same time making plans for what he was definitely going to do. I do not find drugs interesting personally nor the attempts to explain why some people do this to themselves. Full of scintillating prose and postmodern ruminations that explore topics ranging from the hive mind flow state of US Marines bounding through the city's hostile streets to . Full of scintillating prose and postmodern ruminations that explore topics ranging from the hive mind flow state of US Marines bounding through the city’s hostile streets to … the unfathomable beauty of dropping ecstasy on a Ramadi rooftop at Christmas. With the American soldiers, there was Provigil, Adderall and all these quite Gucci stimulants – medical-grade uppers that the US military medics dished out like candy.

Inspired by the skillset of British special forces fighters, he took the Special Air Service (SAS) selection in his late twenties and, against all his expectations, passed. At the heart of Timberlake’s book is the idea of “post-traumatic growth” – that having gone through extreme experiences, people can recover and then grow, finding new reserves of strength and stability following extraordinary trauma. The timing was partly to do with enjoying the sun, but it was also that, once the drugs kicked in, the military men would start telling stories, some of which “were of such nerve-shredding evil” that the other guests were left traumatised. If you’re looking for that I wouldn’t bother with this book—there’s a short piece about an incident when he was a young ‘war tourist’ in a bar in the Balkans during the nineties, where he had a pistol shoved in his mouth, and another about a stint in Iraq, which feels a little aimless after his U.While the American soldiers were initially wide-eyed, having never seen anything like Iraq, Timberlake believes they later evolved into an effective counter insurgency force. I’m always looking for something to shock me, and even though many events in the book didn’t (mainly his accurate picture of Herefordian nightlife! Very occasionally there are footnotes to books, scientific papers, etc some of which are worthy of follow-up even by a layman such as I am; and to be inspired to explore further is, for me, one of the hallmarks of a good book. This book will become a classic of the genre and should be read by anyone with an interest in risk, war, drugs, addiction, belief, re-wiring the mind, how the mind works under stress, deeply embedded psychological pain and the points where those areas intersect. In this pilgrimage on the road of excess Ben looks at the social, biological, religious and personal factors that drive people to the edge and has a whole lot of fun along the way.

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