Ranulph Fiennes: Encyclopedia II - Ranulph Fiennes - Soldier

Ranulph Fiennes - Soldier

Fiennes served eight years in the British army, first with his father's regiment the Royal Scots Greys and later on secondment to the Special Air Service, where he specialised in demolitions.

Offended by the construction of a concrete dam built for a film production of Doctor Dolittle at Castle Combe, Wiltshire, Fiennes and an SAS comrade demolished the dam (using explosives Fiennes had obtained for authorised demolitions, for which he just signed for at the armory as he declared in the Top gear program in 2004.) Both fled, and Fiennes (who had recently completed a training course on evading search dogs by night) escaped capture - but his comrade did not, and both were subsequently discharged from the SAS and returned to their regiments.

In the last two years of his service in the British Army, Ran Fiennes was seconded to serve with the army of the Sultan of Oman. After familiarisation, he commanded the Reconnaissance Platoon of the Muscat Regiment, seeing active service in the Dhofar Rebellion. He led several raids deep into rebel-held territory on the Djebel Dhofar.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Soldier", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki