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  • MRF Shadow Troop

  • The Untold True Story of Top Secret British Military Intelligence Undercover Operations in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1972-1974
  • By: Simon Cursey
  • Narrated by: Johnathan Rufus Welsh
  • Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (115 ratings)
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MRF Shadow Troop cover art

MRF Shadow Troop

By: Simon Cursey
Narrated by: Johnathan Rufus Welsh
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Summary

Some thought it stood for "Military Reconnaissance Force", others "Mobile Reconnaissance Force". Many people thought it didn't exist at all....

For decades there has been argument in the media and amongst politicians about the possible existence and extent of a shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland. MRF Shadow Troop confirms there was such an agenda in the early, chaotic days of British military intervention across the Irish Sea. But amongst the mountain of speculation there is little of any accuracy or authority relating to this period.

The speculation about the unit's name and mission only added to the uncertainty amongst their targets: members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the IRA, the provos. Simon Cursey was recruited into the Military Reaction Force - the unit's true name - in 1972. This book is his personal account of his time with the group and in it he reveals the truth about their operations-the briefings, missions, political wrangling, and government-sanctioned law-bending.

MRF Shadow Troop is a fascinating, exciting but above all accurate historical audiobook about the pioneers of counter-terrorism.

©2013 Simon Cursey (P)2021 Tantor

What listeners say about MRF Shadow Troop

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

interesting book

I enjoyed the information provided, but felt the narrator was very good unfortunately. a narrator with military knowledge would have been better.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding!

An audiobook I couldn’t switch off!!! A brilliant insight into a group of exceptionally brave men standing toe to toe with a ruthless unforgiving enemy during the mayhem of 1970’s Belfast …Hugely enjoyable

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

fascinating story,

fascinating story, very interesting, listening about something I never heard or knew about, but couldn't get on with the narrator, in my mind he sounded wrong for the story, also if you heard 'pot of tea' once you heard it 50 times! made me cringe every time i heard it come the end, but that is just me,
worth a listen tho,

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Authentic and plainly told

The right decision, I think, to leave this book so much in the author’s voice. The MRF, like so much else in the confused period of the early Troubles have been subject to much mythologising and demonising, depending on your point of view. This plainly written account carries conviction to me and is a useful corrective to Republican leaning accounts which tend to emphasise “moral equivalence” of the main players in the conflict to an extent that those alive at the time may still struggle to accept.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Medals for all

Best book on a long time
Well written and put together couldn't put down gripping book

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Great knowledge/memory of Northern Ireland

I really enjoyed the story as a whole as there were lots of intricate details such as songs that were in the charts, news headlines,which celeb was dating who, makes and models of cars etc…..
Great knowledge and memory of the authors time spent in the province doing this dangerous undercover work.
The worse thing I didn’t like was the narrator. Every paragraph of so u could hear the noise of his saliva as he opened his mouth to read the next line, never heard that before in an audiobook and almost made me give up listening 🤬.
All in all a great book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

gripping account of a vicious undercover war

Impossible to put down. The undercover war on British soil in the 1970s between a highly secret British Army unit and then the world's most deadly terrorist organisation. The author is the real deal and doesn't pull any punches about how he and other tough men dealt with tough situations when coming up against a murderous terrorist organisation, with many members who were actual psychopaths. Much is made of the so called shoot to kill policy the army operated then , but the terrorists had a shoot to kill policy. This book also touches on the ironic situation of many of the relatives of those terrorists now trying to use the British legal system to prosecute the men who neutralised those terrorists who despised the British legal system and murdered without warning or mercy.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

The final 6 words were exactly what I was thinking. Brave men, doing their level best.

Great listen.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • I
  • 14-12-21

Fascinating story, not so keen on the narrator.

I stuck with the book because I found the story and history interesting, but this was in spite of the narration which I found stilted and lacked personality.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

At last.

An excellent and enlightening account of events of what were really happening in 1970’s Great Britain.

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