A Mother’s Worry

Immerse yourself in the riveting true story of a young maverick’s journey from the gritty slums of Melbourne to the elite ranks of Australia’s Special Air Service (SAS) during the tumultuous 1950s and 60s. Witness the struggles of his mother, wed to an abusive man, and how the hardships of his upbringing influenced his formative years. Leaving school at 14, he delved into the world of firearms and hunting by working in a gun shop, a precursor to his military service.

Enlist alongside him at 17 and endure the gruelling selection process and intense training regimen that propelled him into the SAS, Australia’s pinnacle military unit. Experience firsthand his arduous pre-deployment conditioning in the unforgiving terrains of New Guinea, and feel the adrenaline rush as he was thrust into the heart of the Vietnam War at just 19 years old.

Laced with unfiltered humour and detailing the escapades of the SAS’s hard-living, harder-fighting men, this memoir utilizes Australian War Memorial records to shed light on the innovative tactics and extraordinary kill ratios the unit achieved in Vietnam, despite their primary mission of intelligence gathering.

Chart his meteoric rise from Private to Sergeant in just one year, a promotion that garnered him both awe and animosity from older, yet less aggressive, SAS soldiers. Finally, accompany him as he navigates the tumultuous transition from battle-hardened warrior to peacetime soldier, facing the strictures of a by-the-book Regimental Sergeant Major upon his return to Australia.

Ian ‘Bagzar’ Stiles OAM, JP escaped from working-class background to a life of adventure, excitement, and travel. Passing the Australian Special Air Service selection at 18, he was sent to New Guinea. He then saw service in Vietnam at 19 and was leading SAS patrols on his second tour as a sergeant at 22 years of age. Leaving the Australian SAS after a court martial for fighting, he joined the Rhodesian SAS fighting in Zambia and Mozambique. Leaving the military, he took up oil field diving, living, and working in many parts of the world. Retiring from commercial diving he became a dive shop, and charter boat operator and became involved in his community as a shire councillor, justice of the peace, volunteer ambulance driver, and marine rescue volunteer. He co-authored a paper on ‘Euthanising Large Whales with Explosives,’ which was accepted by the International Whale Commission as the preferred method. He has travelled to all seven continents and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his service to the community. He and his wife Sharon of 48 years have two grown-up daughters and three grandchildren.