Pen Farthing

At the age of 13, I watched the BBC news every evening to see the exploits of the Royal Marines as they retook the Falklands Islands from Argentina during 1982. From then on until I turned 18, my obsession was joining the Royal Marines. On passing the toughest infantry training in the world I gained my Green Beret as a Royal Marine Commando. In 2006, with an Afghan (Herrick) deployment looming, I volunteered to become a troop Sergeant of ‘K’ company (the Black Knights) for the operational tour, in charge of 30 young Marines and once more be in the thick of it. I had no idea at the time that the course of my life was about to change forever, but the plight of a battered, docked eared former fighting dog did that quite dramatically 😊 Naming him ‘Nowzad’ my new four-legged companion got me through the tough times of the deployment to Afghanistan and there was no way I could just let him fend for himself again once our deployment ended. That dog deserved so much more. My book 'One Dog at a Time' tells the tail (excuse the pun :) ) of how Nowzad the dog and I started out and the surreal rescue that followed. 'No Place like Home' follows on the story of Nowzad the dog and his new life in the UK. Sadly he died in 2014 but not before he had created a huge legacy that continues to this day. I received a huge honour being voted CNN Hero of the year in 2014 for all the animal welfare work that we have achieved in Afghanistan with the Nowzad charity. 'Wylie' is a book about another Afghan rescue who stole the limelight when he finally arrived in the UK - he was definitely a right scoundrel! The fall of Afghanistan as the coalition forces pulled out with little warning has set the scene for my latest book - 'Operation Ark' the true story of our escape from Kabul as the Taliban forces surrounded us. Published 8th July 2024. This is definitely a different book to those I have written previously - this I wrote for closure. These days you can find me working with the Nowzad charity in Ukraine and back in Afghanistan or just a home with my three rescues, Ragnar, Cora and Leif. Those three on the sofa and me on the floor.............. Please do follow me on twitter @PenFarthing