In the spring of 1980, the Irish Department of Defence sanctioned the establishment of a new unit within the Irish Defence Forces and the Irish Army Ranger Wing (ARW) came into being. In the decades that followed, its soldiers have been deployed on active service at home and abroad, generally without the knowledge of the wider public. The ARW is made up of seasoned men from across the island, who are selected through tough competition. Only the best of the best make it through and are trained in an extraordinary range of specialist skills. Being one of these elite operators takes more than simply being a skilled soldier - it means believing you are the best.

Shadow Warriors tells the story behind the creation of the ARW, from its origins in specialist counter-terrorism training in the late 1960s and the preparation of small unconventional units in the 1970s to the formation of the ARW itself in 1980 and its subsequent history. The first and only authoritative account in the public domain of this specialist unit, authors Paul O'Brien and Sergeant Wayne Fitzgerald have been granted access to the closed and clandestine world of Ireland's Special Forces, who train hard, fight harder and face unconventional types of warfare, yet prefer to stay out of the limelight.

About the Authors

Paul O'Brien, a military historian, works for the Office of Public Works at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham. Author of fifteen books, he has written extensively on the military strategy of the 1916 Rising, as well as the British Army in Ireland. Two of his books, Blood on the Streets and Crossfire, were turned into the critically acclaimed drama-documentary A Terrible Beauty. He lives in Santry, Dublin with his wife, daughter and two cats.

Sergeant Wayne Fitzgerald joined the Defence Forces in 1990, serving with the 5 Inf Bn until 1997. He has worked in a number of roles in the Army's 2 Bde HQ and Air Corps HQ. In 2011 he was detached to Defence Forces HQ to work on www.military.ie. He then became the editor of the Defence Forces Connect newsletter. In May 2011 he was appointed editor of An Cosant�ir, where he still works. Wayne has served overseas as a peacekeeper with the UN, EU and NATO PfP in Lebanon (1991), Kosovo (2002, 2010) and Bosnia (2008).

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