This well written book has nothing to do with matters maritime but it came in for review and turned out to be much more interesting and informative than expected. It is a very detailed "warts and all" tale of a boy whose life went wrong as an early teenager but who eventually pulled himself together and became a useful citizen and proud family man.
It is a tale that may be familiar to many of us, perhaps fellow students at school or even family members. The author went “off the rails”, as often happens, following the accidental death of his father.
Years of drug taking, violence and other reckless behaviour followed before he decided to “sort himself out”. He wasted nine months trying to join the Australian Army but its bureaucracy beat him, as it has done so wastefully to so many other enthusiastic potential recruits.
His next move was to fly to Paris where the French Foreign Legion welcomed him with open arms. Having happily completed his training and on his first leave as a legionnaire, he was, as a result of mistaken identity with a legion colleague, charged with rape in London. That led to months in English prisons until he was finally acquitted.
Returning to Australia, he was bored and frustrated until he developed a sympathy and appreciation of the Kurdish cause against ISIS. After getting to know Kurdish refugee families in Melbourne, he decided to put his military training to good use and volunteered to fly to Iraq and support them.
That resulted in an additional bureaucratic nightmare but he soldiered on and eventually served with the Kurdish YPG in their successful battle of Raqqa in Syria. As such, the author is the only Australian known to have participated in the toppling of ISIS’s capital that led to the demise of that vile organisation.
Returning to Australia, the bureaucrats struck again and he was charged under Australia’s anti-terror laws before he was ultimately cleared following more completely unnecessary trials and tribulations.
His is an impressive tale of persistence, determination, personal growth and development that proved conclusively that you cannot write anyone off, no matter how hopeless they may appear to be at certain stages of their lives. Finding the right partner, he married and became the very proud father of two children, living happily in the suburbs of Melbourne. He has become a successful writer. That was an unimaginably different outcome given his previous life.
It is a raw but very inspiring tale.
Author: Jamie Williams
Available from Hachette Australia, Sydney
Web: www.hachette.com.au