In an interview on War Plc

Tell me about your first choice.

Bob Shepherd’s book The Circuit is a true story about an ex-SAS man. It’s a good example of how the private security industry has evolved, from a first-person perspective.

Bob Shepherd left the SAS and joined the private security industry before Iraq kicked off. At that point the private security industry was very much a nod and a wink game. It was really just for the elite special forces. If you were a quality SAS person at the end of your time in the forces you would join a private members’ club near Harrods. In those days the group was called the Circuit because you knew all the people involved and there weren’t that many jobs about. You’d get people like a Saudi prince coming into town and he would have his own security people, but he might have brought his daughter with him so he’d need more people to look after her.

Bob Shepherd quickly specialised in looking after journalists. He worked with CNN so most of his stories are about specific events and moments in history. For example he was there when CNN went into Yasser Arafat’s compound in the Gaza Strip.

Bob Shepherd is a smart bloke who is very aware of how the security industry is changing and he starts to unpick that as he is going along. You get this sense of how this small group of specialised people suddenly found that the demand for their type of work had escalated. He talks about how amateurs were starting to get into this line of work, like the nightclub bouncer from the UK who turned up in Iraq, picked up an AK47 and got himself some private security work! This book makes you remember that there are blokes who were trained as soldiers, then the army said, ‘You’ve served your time, out you go,’ and they are doing the best they can. And can you blame them? The book de-demonises the job. Most of these people are not bloodthirsty mercenaries, they are just trying to get by using the skills they have.