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Jæger - i krig med eliten

Jaeger - at war with the elite

ABOUT THE BOOK
The book deals with the former elite soldier, Sergeant First Class Thomas Rathsack's, experiences in the Danish special operation force, the Jaegercorps. A unit which despite Denmark's modest military significance produces elite soldiers in the absolute world elite and is a close collaborator with among others U.S. Delta Force (or CAG ).

Thomas Rathsack describes his experiences with dangerous mine clearing under the Taliban regime in 2001, and post 9-11 Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan with the Jaegercorps in covert and high risk operations in Afghan cities and in the mountains at the border regions with Pakistan chased by Al Qaida and Taliban. It also describes exhausting operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom where he has swum in Iraqi sewers, stood face to face with terrorist militias and fought his way out of ambushes in Basra as well as numerous operations as a bodyguard in Baghdad's war-torn red-zone.

THE SCANDAL
The publication of the book "Jaeger - At War With The Elite" resulted in the biggest scandal in the Danish military in recent times. The book aroused violent commotion even before publication in early September 2009. The Danish Defense Command tried to get the book stopped at the bailiff's court, and the defense commander had to resign on 4 October 2009 as staff members of the defense command were revealed to have fabricated and leaked a false translation of the book into Arabic. It was fabricated in an attempt to discredit Thomas Rathsack and the publishing company in order to "prove" that Al-Qaeda was now in search of the contents of the book. The book was published on 2 October 2009.

The Danish defense minister chose to resign on 22 February 2010. He stated the scandal about the book as an indirect cause to his resignation. The book has sold nearly 120,000 copies which, by Danish standards (a population of 5.5 million people), is remarkable. The book has also been published in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Bulgaria.

Thomas Rathsack was charged with breaching his confidentiality and having passed on military secrets. The charges ha a maximum sentence of up to 12 years imprisonment. However in October 2010 it was decided that Thomas Rathsack should not be indicted on these charges. Before the publication Thomas Rathsack made sure that the book's content did not compromise his confidentiality. Among others a military lawyer, a number of the books key figures and his colleagues in the Jaegercorps read through and approved the manuscript.

THE AUTHOR
In 1990, Thomas Rathsack (born 1967), a former sergeant in the royal Guards, joined the Danish special operation force, Jaegerkorpset, which led to him receiving the American distinction the Presidential Unit Citation, a distiction given only to units that have fought extraordinarily heroic against an armed enemy.

He subsequently participated in a number of special operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2009 he wrote Jaeger - At War with the Elite, which became an enormous bestseller and sparked the biggest scandal within the Danish Defense Ministry in recent times. Rathsack has now embarked on a new career as lecturer and novelist.