In Honour Bound

In Honour Bound remains my favorite Gerald Seymour novel. In fact I would go as far as to say that it’s one of my all time favorite books.

It’s the 1980s and the Soviet war in Afganistan is raging. The British government learn of the benefits of gathering some technology from the latest in Russian helicopter gunships that are being used in the conflict: the MiL Mi-24, codenamed “Hind” by NATO.

In order to do this Barney Crispin, a young SAS soldier, is sent to the Afgan border to train the Mudajadin to shoot down some helicopters with a “borrowed” Stinger missile. They are then to salvage some electronics from the wrecks.

However the mission is a complete disaster and Barney decides to disobay his orders and go across the border and into Afganistan himself. There he hooks up with some local fighters and goes to war.

We also meet the Soviet helicopter commander who is forced to change his tactics to duel with his unknown opponent.

I’d love to see this one filmed but it won’t happen.