Andrew Kain joined 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment – 2 Para – in 1973. Five years later, he passed SAS Selection, going on to spend the next eleven years as a Special Forces soldier. He saw active service in theatres as diverse as the Falklands, Northern Ireland and Middle East; he was an instructor on the SAS counter-terrorist team and also worked with other government and law-enforcement agencies, developing specialist techniques still in use today. His skills also helped to save lives and he has a testimonial from the Royal Humane Society in tribute to his work.

After leaving the Special Air Service, Andrew worked as a security consultant and later founded AKE Ltd in 1991, providing security services and advice based on SAS methods to clients ranging from small NGOs to industrial giants. In 1993 he designed and delivered the world’s first Safety in Hostile Regions course for journalists operating in war zones.

The SHR course celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2013 and has grown to become the benchmark for training that has now become mandatory for the industry. In 1996, the SHR (Surviving Hostile Regions) course proved its worth when video footage in Zaire captured a correspondent from TV4 Sweden saving his colleague’s life under gunfire.

In 1998, Andrew was able to demonstrate to specialists within the insurance industry that training could diminish the risk to people operating in high-risk environments and war zones. In the same year, he began working with insurers from the floor of Lloyd’s delivering political risk intelligence. He also designed and delivered the first safety course for journalists operating in war zones delivered on behalf of BBC World Service and The Freedom Forum to Albanian journalists in Tirana just prior to the Kosovo war, and trained Radio B292’s Serbian journalists in Montenegro under the noses of Milosovic’s Serbian military.

In the immediate aftermath of the NATO Kosovo campaign, Andrew and AKE took the lead – and were successful – in tracking down and safely returning two engineers who had gone missing.

From 9/11 and its aftermath, which saw Andrew and AKE supporting CNN in Tora Bora, Afghanistan in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, right up until today, he has demonstrated that the basic principles set out in this handbook, developed with their foundations in the SAS, do work and can save lives. They are as applicable in business, travel and the home as in conflict – from Afghanistan, through Iraq, Somalia and to the Arab Spring, the principles apply and can bring advantage. Most importantly, they can invest you with confidence and empower you in dealing with your fears.

Andrew Kain lives with his wife Bethan and daughters Madeleine and Charlotte, and they split their time between the island of Mull and Hereford.

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Hear the recent British Forces Broadcasting Service interview with Andrew Kain: