Kate Adie is a noted British news correspondent who worked for the BBC for over thirty-five years, often facing uncertain conditions in the Tienanmin Square uprising, the first Gulf War and in Afghanistan. Adie denies that she is brave, and to make the point, her latest book, Into Danger (Hodder & Stoughton, September 2008, ISBN 978-0340933213), examines the working lives of people who regularly put themselves in harm's way. Often not because they are reckless or foolish, but from careful calculation and assessment of the hazards involved.
Modern society is obsessed by avoiding risk. The safer lives have become, the more society tries to avoid all peril. Yet without soldiers, firemen, policemen and others taking studied, calculated risks, modern society could not function.
War
Unsurprisingly, many of the risks involve soldiers and associated professions. Some of those interviewed are veterans of older conflicts; WAAF Avis Parsons, who won the Military Medal for her part in staffing a radar station under constant bombardment from the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain; pioneering bomb disposal expert Stuart Archer, who had to defuse unexploded bombs in often hazardous conditions; Derek Kinne, captured by the Chinese in the Korean War, and who successfully resisted brainwashing for twenty-eight months. For these people, the choices were simple - to serve their country, or to perish as a civilian.
But more recent conflicts involve the volunteer soldier. The Bomb Disposal Officer taking The Long Walk in Northern Ireland to explode a much more sophisticated device than anything Stuart Archer faced from the Germans. Worse, his successors in Afghanistan have to the same job but surrounded by mobs of hysterical civilians and assassins willing to kill at any cost.
What is unexpected is how many risky civilian professions are staffed by ex-military personnel. The deep sea diver who single-handedly brought many to sea from the cap-sized ferry Herald of Free Enterprise served in the Royal Marines. The bodyguard who found himself helping virtual strangers out of a besieged hotel in Sierra Leone is ex-SAS. The hostage negotiator, working to free political prisoners, or the victims of criminals around the world , .
Often they help others for no financial consideration, as have the men already mentioned, and the de-miners, clearing minefields of ordinance using dogs or African pouched rats to find mines that can then be disarmed, or the food taster, who never knows when his next mouthful of food or drink will be his last, running risks on behalf of heads of state.
Entertainment
The male and female stuntmen, risking their lives so that film stars can look good are also often ex-military, and like their counterparts in other fields, prepare meticulously to be burned, to drop from a great height.
However, not all risks are so consciously assessed. Prostitutes often drift into work that can see them become drug addicts, or the victims of abuse, as is the case that Adie highlights, of a girl who who thought it was easy money.
Religion
Many of the dangers involve religion. Adie looks at the former terrorist in Northern Ireland, who killed in the name of religion. The policeman on the other side of the divide, unusual in that he was one of the 2% of an overwhelmingly Protestant force who was Catholic.
She also interviews idealists, accompanying missionaries into the backwoods of South America, and talking to the Faluan Gong member persecuted by the Chinese authorities.
Whatever their motivation, almost all of these people make conscious decisions to expose themselves to perils that would terrify ordinary people, yet Adie's conclusion is that "Everyone can face danger" (p309.)
A fascinating and rewarding book.
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