Page 132 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Fall 2015

Knife Edge

Life as a Special Forces Surgeon

Villar, Richard. Knife Edge. Life as a Special Forces Surgeon.
Windmill Hill, United Kingdom: Vineyard Press; 1997.
Paperback, 310 pages, ISBN 0-9542203-0-7.

Review by COL (Ret) Warner “Rocky” D. Farr, MD, MPH

ichard Villar, a frequent guest of the BBC’s “Hospital spots, and he cared for his regimental mates, other sol-
RWatch” television series, is a world-famous ortho- diers, and innocent civilians wherever he deployed. He
pedic surgeon. He is also a fearless Special Operator. relates stories of gunfire outside his “consulting room,”
For much of his career, Richard Villar worked with the the dangers of landmines, of how to deal with life-
British Special Air Service, mostly threatening bleeding in the desert, and his fear while on
in the developing Third World, a suicidal operation during the Falklands War. Richard
and frequently in combat zones, Villar’s experiences as a physician are unique; the story
which included Lebanon, Bosnia, he recounts, truly remarkable.
the Middle East, Northern Ireland,
and Central America. Knife Edge is It appears for operational security that he has watered
his true and occasionally extraordi- down or, as he says, “fictionalized,” some of the par-
nary story. ticulars of some missions and medical cases, but even
with that caveat, they still appear and read as dangerous
To join the regiment, Dr (actually and real. He seems to have a knack for hitting all the
“Mr” in UK medical terminology) bad spots, Bosnia, Falklands, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, and
Villar, an orthopedic surgeon by training, still had to Lebanon. Some were missions and some were humani-
survive and pass the British Special Air Service selection tarian missions in a civilian status. He has subsequently
course, which has the reputation of being the tough- written a book of his post military disaster medicine
est Special Operations qualification course anywhere. career after leaving the Special Air Service, which I pre-
Much from it has morphed into the US Special Forces viously reviewed [Villar R. Winged Scalpel. A Surgeon
qualification course (“The Q course”), which was in the at the Frontline of Disaster. South Yorkshire, United
past until the mid-1990s and now, today, is open for Kingdom: Pen and Sword Books; 2012]. Both books are
attendance by selected US Army medical officers. Vil- good reads. This current book, Knife Edge, will appeal
lar’s qualification and assignment to the SAS Regiment to SOF medical officers and the other, Winged Scalpel,
then became his entrée into the world’s many trouble to the wider civil affairs and disaster medicine audiences.

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