In this episode I chat to Jason Fox about his new book ‘Life Under Fire’ for those of you that aren’t familiar with Jason, he is a former Royal Marine Commando and Special Forces Sergeant. Joining at 16 and serving for 20 years; Jason passed the grueling selection process for the Special Forces in 2001, serving with the Special Boat Service till 2012. Jason has planned and led operations including hostage rescue, counter terrorism, counter insurgency, maritime counter terrorism, surveillance, body guarding and counter narcotic missions. He currently features in the channel 4 program - SAS: Who Dares Wins.

The book is split into two parts, the first part the battle mind looks at his journey to a resilient life and mental approach. The second part - Strength and Guile looks at the lessons learned from his 20 years as an operator and royal marines commando and inferred learning to the reader. Concepts we explore include:

The concept of graded exposure to training. The sense of community and brotherhood from war. Jason's struggles with PTSD and the emotional combat indicators that signify it. The ‘cigar moment’ and how it calms the central nervous system down. Awareness of your own vulnerabilities and how it can help protect you. The preferential mode of de-escalation over aggression (grey man, passive use of the weapon). High performing teams ability to self regulate rather than externally regulate. Reframing negative events and what it can teach us about resilience. The power of debrief also known as Sensitive Site Exploitation/SSE. The concept that there is a flattened hierarchy and everyone can contribute a game changing piece of information. Not resting in the aftermath of success and using failure as a teacher.

I hope you enjoy the episode. You can find 'Life under fire' by Penguin books here:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1119268/life-under-fire/9781787633193.html

Life Under Fire with Jason Fox