Books like Soldier Spy

This is a book I thought I would not see in print for many years yet. It is a part biography and part operational exposé of a young man working for the Security Service (that’s MI5 to most of us) in contemporary Britain. It discloses many techniques they use to monitor, track, follow and stop potential terrorists in their tracks, whether they be in the IRA with the desire to see a united Ireland or self-radicalised Islamic extremists bent on the destruction of the whole structure of Western society.‘Tom Marcus’ is the author’s nom de plume and obviously not his real name, and he had a troubled childhood. His father was in the army and was absent much of the time, as well as being a drinker. His mother also neglected the children and Tom grew up very fast, learning to look after himself on the streets - by the age of 16, he was rough, tough and afraid of no-one, though on the inside he was insecure, vulnerable and desperate to fit in. He is also very intelligent, though uneducated, with a quick and resourceful mind.At 16 he became a boy soldier and hoped the army would be the family he never really had. He was different to his contemporaries, however, so didn’t really feel like he belonged. He got through by being tougher and more resilient than his peers, working extremely hard at all his training and courses to make a difference.His skills were noticed and because he was also comfortable on the streets he was recruited by Special Operations, the army unit tasked with infiltrating the Republican areas of Northern Ireland to listen out for intelligence about any possible terrorist activity. He walked their streets, drank in their pubs and generally lived an extremely dangerous life. He had to be vigilant all the time because one slip of the tongue or some small behaviour trait could reveal his identity as a British soldier, which would have led to his probable torture and a horrible death.Tom became so good at this that he was recruited by MI5, the Security Service (equivalent to the FBI/NSA in the USA), by which he was trained to an even higher level of expertise. He then worked the streets all over the UK, in a large team of other field officers and surveillance specialists.The book goes into a great deal of detail about how their operations were carried out, so I was surprised to read that MI5 sanctioned the publication of the book, even though the operations he describes took place only from about 2000 onwards, so I imagine they still use many or most of the same techniques today. Some of the actions taken that Tom describes are quite extreme, especially in his own case, and I wonder if there might have been a small element of over-egging some aspects, which MI5 might be pleased about if it gets the message home to the ‘bad guys’ (and girls) that they will stop at nothing to prevent innocent people being murdered; on the other hand, maybe not.An aspect that comes across loud and clear from the beginning is that Tom was a troubled man, and this was also an issue for his employer. They had him on their radar and tried to help him switch off when off duty, but so many years of hyper-vigilance in order to survive in dangerous environments, coupled with the fact that he could not talk about his job to anyone, on top of his poor background and lack of ‘belonging’, all contributed to make him a powder keg of unexpressed emotion and potential violence.I noticed that at least one reviewer did not like the book because he felt it was an ego-fest and not very well written. It’s true that the feel of the book is that it was written by the man himself rather than a ghost-writer, who might have presented it in a more polished form, but for me I like the down-to-earth honesty of this man and his very real expressions of frustration, anger, hatred of the enemy (except for members of the IRA, for whom he had respect – at least they had a cause he could understand and the brains to be a very dangerous adversary) and pride in his work. He could only justify in his own mind the sacrifices he was making: the long hours of work; not being able to go for a pee for hours at a time (!); the nightmares he continually suffered and which got worse as time went on, by reconciling that life with the hundreds, if not thousands of civilian lives saved by the work he and his colleagues were doing every day.Tom does mention throughout the book that he was saving lives and making sacrifices to save his country; this does sometimes come through as egotism but I feel it is more that he needed to continually reassure himself that it was worth the effort – he had a wife he adored and a young son he didn’t see much of.Ultimately, his hyper-vigilance over a period of years took its toll and developed into full-blown Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Tom, even though he knew it was a risk to his career, sought help within the Service. All credit to them; he was immediately relieved of duty and given the medical help he needed, though this was a double-edged sword because he was not reinstated and had to leave after a year or more of treatment.I’m guessing that the reasons the book was authorised for release by MI5 were threefold: firstly to permit the author to make some money after having had to be medically retired; to reassure the British public that they are working very hard to protect our safety; and also to send a message to the would-be terrorists – don’t fuck with us because we are going to get you!I found this book fascinating and I am sure I will read it again. I hope very much that Tom is happier now that the pressure’s off (other than the pressure of still trying to earn enough to support his family, of course) and that he is enjoying spending more time with his wife and son – he deserves it. After all, as a street-wise 16-year-old, he didn’t have to join the army and end up in such a demanding role – he could have got into drink, drugs and/or crime and been a burden on society rather than the valuable asset he clearly was. I admire the man.