We are delighted to share that both books by Steve Heaney MC , Operation Mayhem and X Platoon are now available in audio format from Amazon . We are extremely fortunate to have Steve as our Director of Training, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Argus, the foundations of which were build during his time with Airborne Forces.
What happened and where?
Airlifted into the heart of the Sierra Leone jungle in the midst of the bloody civil war in the year2000, 26 elite operators from the secret British elite unit X Platoon were sent into combat against thousands of Sierra Leonean rebels.
Notorious for their brutality, the rebels were manned with captured UN armour, machine-guns and grenade-launchers, while the men of X Platoon were kitted with pitiful supplies of ammunition, malfunctioning rifles, and no body armour, grenades or heavy weapons.
Intended to last only 48 hours, the mission mutated into a 16-day siege against the rebels, as X Platoon were denied the back-up and air support they had been promised, and were forced to make their stand alone. The half-starved soldiers, surviving on bush tucker, fought with grenades made from old food-tins and defended themselves with barricades made of sharpened sticks.
Sergeant Steve Heaney won the Military Cross for his initiative in taking command after the platoon lost their commanding officer. OPERATION MAYHEM recounts his amazing untold true story, full of the rough-and-ready humour and steely fortitude with which these elite soldiers carried out operations far into hostile terrain.