An incredible true story by Scott Ryder, Forged in Fire: An Australian commando’s story of life and death on the frontline, takes us inside the secretive world of the Australian commandos. Photo: Supplied.
A revealing insight, Forged in Fire takes us inside the secretive world of the Australian commandos. Australia’s primary war-fighting special forces (SF) unit, the 2nd Commando Regiment (2 Cdo Regt), has a short but proud history in which Scott Ryder played a small part.
This is an incredible story of how the special forces sniper survived (though he suffered serious injuries) a deadly Black Hawk helicopter crash on the plains of Kandahar that killed his mates. He was the only survivor to return to active service.
Writing this autobiography, while challenging, has also been a rewarding and cathartic experience for ex-commando Ryder. He admits that while his story is unique, he didn’t write it to “feed my ego or promote myself”. Nor is this book designed to be a historical account of Australian military operations.
This book aims to give you an “honest, insightful look” into a young man who joined the Australian Army at 17 and dedicated 22 and a half years of his life to “doing a job he loved with a passion”. He served with the Australian Army, including 16 years as an operator with the 2nd Commando Regiment. He served in East Timor and multiple tours of Afghanistan and Iraq. He holds numerous commendations, and he works in charities to improve the life of veterans and their families.
Ryder shares battlefield stories from his tours to Afghanistan where his regiment saw some of the heaviest fighting Australian forces have experienced since the Vietnam War.
“By telling my story, I do not wish to minimise or discount the experiences of other operators in Australia’s longest war, who have all fought with enormous courage in some of the fiercest combat Australian soldiers have seen since the Vietnam War,” Ryder writes.
“In the Australian participation in the Global War on Terror, 2 Cdo Regt has seen the most casualties — the physical scars are evident when you walk past the companies at Tobruk Lines, the commando barracks in Sydney, while the emotional scars, kept hidden for so long are slowly starting to surface, increasing each year since the war ended.
“As the war in Afghanistan recedes into the past, and stories of combat and sacrifice are replaced with reports of SF war crimes allegations, I hope this book serves as a counter-narrative – a small glimpse behind the curtain of a secretive world that has taken so much from so few.
“Additionally, I want to give injured soldiers hope and show them that sometimes doctors can get it wrong. It’s a long road, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, and willpower knows no bounds. For many of us, the battle doesn’t end with the flight back home.”
From the foreword by Chris Masters, author of No Front Line, Flawed Hero, comes this accolade: “Scott is not famous; his chest is not bedecked with the grandest tin and ribbon. His voice is from among us rather than up on high. And his account of the DNA of the commando, the lesser sung super-soldier, is all the better for it.”
Masters says 2nd Commando Regiment, operating with larger numbers than SASR, and with greater combat power, was regularly engaged in heavy fighting.
“The raids on the heroin facilities that helped finance the insurgency took them deep into neighbouring Helmand and the furnace of battle. One such raid, south of Kandahar, brought the author of this book close to death. Indeed, three of his comrades did not survive that helicopter crash, which also claimed the life of the US crew chief as well as seriously injuring all other occupants.
“Of the many tales that will be told of Afghanistan, among the most inspirational is the fight for life by the seven surviving commandos of that crash … Against all odds, Scott not only recovered from the catastrophic injuries he sustained in that helicopter crash, but was able to pass a series of exacting combat fitness tests that returned him to a cherished and unbroken brotherhood.”
More than a collection of memories shoved away in a drawer, Scott Ryder’s story is told candidly, with self-effacing wit, from “my eyes and memory”.
“This book is dedicated to the fallen heroes of modern Australia and the current generation of operators holding the torch until they are again called into the fray. This is for all those broken men whose lives will never be the same, and their families, who are left to pick up the pieces.
“Always remembered. Without Warning.”
Forged in Fire, by Scott Ryder, Allen & Unwin, $36.99
