United Nations Peacekeeper in Sierra Leone, Was the Youngest Major in the British Army, Bestselling Author of ‘Unscathed’ & Inspirational Speaker

Major Phil Ashby QGM is a genuine hero. His autobiography Unscathed (published in 2002) rocketed into the bestseller list. To escape a desk job in London, he volunteered for a 6-month tour with the United Nations as a Peace Keeper in war-torn Sierra Leone (at the time the poorest country in the world).

Sierra Leone UN Mission:
The mission was brought to a violent end when the rebels restarted the country’s civil war. They turned on the UNs representatives, torturing and butchering them and taking over 500 hostages. Phil and three other Western soldiers found themselves cut off in a small compound in hostile territory, surrounded by rebels who taunted them by throwing the blood-stained uniforms of fellow UN workers over the walls.

After four days of physical and psychological bombardment with no hope of rescue, Phil took the decision to risk being killed trying to escape rather than be taken alive. So at 2.45 am the next morning, faces blackened with charcoal, he led his team over the wall. They were surrounded by rebel troops and outnumbered by at least twenty to one and were completely unarmed. Their chances of escaping alive were very slim. Despite trekking day and night for almost a week without food or water, Phil found the courage and strength to lead his colleagues on a daring and dramatic race to freedom through the hostile jungle. He was awarded the Queens Gallantry Medal for his actions.

Further Challenges:
However, perhaps the toughest challenge for Phil was yet to come. On his return to Britain, he was rushed to hospital, paralysed from the waist down. He had brought home a memento of the West African jungle in the form of a virus lodged in his spinal cord. He has had to face a whole new set of challenges both personally and professionally, even re-learning how to walk as he has come to terms with long-term disability.

Born and brought up on the West Coast of Scotland, Phil has always had a taste for adventure. He won a scholarship to Glenalmond College, Perthshire and was a talented gymnast and musician. His parents contemplated sending him to ballet school. Instead, he discovered rock climbing and was quickly mastering some of Scotland’s hardest extreme rock climbs. This was before finding another physical career as a Royal Marine Commando.

The Marines:
Commissioned into The Royal Marines at just seventeen and a half, making him the youngest officer in HM Armed Forces, he won his Green Beret one-week after his 18th birthday. Phil was sponsored by the Marines to read Engineering at Pembroke College, Cambridge, but he was more likely to be found climbing on the College Library than studying in it! He has climbed all over the world and survived an epic 2-man rowing expedition in the Arctic Ocean. This was the first – and only human-powered circumnavigation of the polar island of Spitsbergen. One thousand miles of rowing through ice floes for eight weeks in a 17-foot, open-topped wooden boat. He survived becoming trapped in the pack-ice, a polar bear attack, hurricane force winds and capsizing in icy water.

Phil met his wife Anna, a fellow student, on Valentines Day 1991. Phil saved her life after they were caught in an avalanche. They had been climbing together in the Scottish Highlands on New Years Day 1994.

He did a further fifteen months of Royal Marines officer training in 1992. This led to Phil winning the Commando medal for Leadership, Unselfishness, Cheerfulness, Determination and Courage.
In 1995 Phil was selected to join the elite Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre. This involved completing eleven months of arduous Mountain Leader training. It’s the longest and hardest infantry course in the British Armed Forces. He is also a qualified Jungle Warfare instructor. Phil served in command of Royal Marines around the world from the mountains of Alaska and Norway to the jungles of Brunei and Belize. He was promoted to Major at the age of 28, making him the youngest officer of that rank in the British Armed Forces. Later he studied for a Masters Degree in Defence Technology.

Speaking:
Phil is a powerful and charismatic speaker, who can really reach, move and entertain his audience. He is a natural storyteller who can adapt to suit any occasion. Phil has already shown real flair on television and radio. He has appeared on CH4’s Richard and Judy, CH5’s Gloria’s Open House and Radio 4’s Midweek with Libby Purves. Also Radio 5 Lives Simon Mayo Show and numerous serious current affairs programmes. He is an accomplished journalist writing articles for a wide variety of publications. These include the Sunday Times, The Daily Mail and The Lancet. Major Phil Ashby was commissioned by The National Geographic Magazine. This was to write about his first climb since being ill. It was called, an attempt on the North Face of Mount Robson in the Canadian Rockies.

Phil has been a guest speaker for Gartner, The D Group, Accenture, British Telecom, D’Arcy, Durham & Co, Marie Curie Cancer and the Foreign Office.

Why Hire Major Phil Ashby QGM?