Steve Heaney, MC, is an acclaimed author.
Steve joined the British Army in 1986 aged just 16. In 1987 he was posted to 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment. During his time in 3 PARA he saw active service in Northern Ireland being awarded a GOCs commendation.
In January 1990 he undertook selection for X Platoon more formally known as the Pathfinders and aged only twenty became the youngest soldier ever to pass the rigorous selection process.
Heaney was regarded as one of the most accomplished parachutists in the military and was at the leading edge of high altitude parachuting helping to advance most of the techniques that are employed by Special Forces today.
In 2000 Heaney was the Pathfinder Platoon Sergeant as 26 men of X Platoon were deployed to Sierra Leone as part of a task force responsible for the evacuation of entitled personnel from that country in the face of certain massacre at the hands of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) a murderous rebel organisation famed for its brutality. The Pathfinders where tasked to stop the RUF advance towards the country’s airport and then to its capital Freetown. X Platoon positioned in the village of Lungi Lol was deliberately exposed with the aim of enticing the RUF, believed to number 2000 fighters to attack their position, the aim being to inflict such a blow that they would think twice about continuing their assault on to the capital. Originally planned to last just 48 hours the mission mutated into a 16 day siege, the Pathfinders working with the local villagers to create defences.
On the 17 May 2000 the village was attacked by a significant rebel force, the Pathfinders engaged the rebels during a vicious close quarter battle. Heaney was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for his actions in taking control of the battle, becoming the first non-officer in the unit’s illustrious history to receive this decoration. X Platoon at Lungi Lol stopped the RUF advance in its tracks and helped to restore peace to Sierra Leone.
Heaney now works with high performance sports and corporate organisations focusing on leadership and team building development. He has also written about the operation in Sierra Leone in his bestselling book Operation Mayhem, his second book titled X Platoon, which describes his early life, entry into the Parachute Regiment and then selection and service with the British Army’s elite and highly secretive Pathfinders was published on 24th September 2015.