Some of you will have known TAZ. If you do, I don't need to explain who he was because you will have your own fund of stories to remember him by. You lucky people need read no further. Just take a few moments to call him to memory.
TAZ died nine years ago on 13th June 2017.
Taz was originally from New Zealand and while in the Kiwi Rangers he served four tours in Vietnam, ending as a Sergeant while still only 21. I only discovered recently that “Kiwi Rangers” is a short form of “1 Ranger Squadron, NZSAS”. So he was in the New Zealand version of the SAS! When the war ended, he was stood down as part of the so-called peace dividend. Rather than sit still, he came to the UK and joined the Royal Marines. He served all over the world in various trouble spots and again became a Sergeant. He was approached to enter selection for the SBS (Special Boat Service). He told me once that the SBS did the same range of things as the SAS but wearing a wetsuit and flippers!
He told me many stories of his time in the SBS, suitably sanitised I’m sure, but he ended his days with them as Warrant Officer 2, which I believe is one step down from being the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer in the military. His specialisms were desert warfare (but not in a wetsuit and flippers) and he was a skilled sniper. He was also an instructor in four different martial arts. Nobody messed with Taz.
I once asked Taz if he had ever thought to write a book about his fascinating life. He said that he'd been asked several times, but he couldn't afford the time. However, if you have ever read the autobiography "Sniper One" by Sgt Dan Mills (about his time leading a group of snipers in Iraq), then you will be delighted to realise that the mysterious "Buzz" who turns up to save the day with his awesome Barrett L50 sniper rifle, was in fact our Taz.
I got to know Taz through the MBR forum (now defunct) when I sent him some Ergon grips through the post to try. We later met for the first time when I was passing through Banbury, where he lived. We are about as unlikely a combination as you could imagine, but we just clicked. We lived so far apart that most of our friendship was conducted by phone, text and email.
Taz was a keen mtb’r and he used to ride at Cleve Hill when he was on attachment at GCHQ in nearby Cheltenham. When he was recovering from his third bout of cancer, his buddies organised a “Taz Recovery Ride” at Cleve Hill. For those that met Taz for the first time at that event, they saw only a shadow of his former physical self. In his prime he was 6'2", 18 stone and with 9% body fat. He told me that in those days he wasn't a very nice man. But then he left the SBS and, fortunately for him, he met his future wife. Four sons furthered the civilising process and he became the man we knew.
I think it’s safe to say that Taz missed his action-packed military life and it was probably why he sought thrills in his civilian life to liven things up a bit. Taz actually did a suicide parachute jump. Unbelievably to us mere mortals, you throw the chute out of the aeroplane and then jump out after it, with no reserve chute! Hence the name “suicide jump” (I’ll tell you how it ended later). He told me that he had already done 12,000 parachute jumps, so he just needed a refresher! Taz had the constitution of an ox and his powers of recovery were seemingly inexhaustible. He is the only person I know that has survived cancer four times, two of which he was told were terminal! On the last one he was told that he had days to live. Yet he survived (and made serious money out of it)! He has also woken himself up from a coma where no brain function had been detected and they were about to switch him off!
In training for his suicide jump, he had a 60mph wing-suiting crash in a rocky alpine meadow where pretty much every bone in his body was broken. And yet he survived and proceeded to survive the suicide jump I referred to earlier (he did several!) The guy was a force of nature and I am privileged to have had him call me a friend.
I’m certain that anyone that Taz was friends with would have a fund of similar stories (and I have a LOT more), but this is what his eldest son told me about how he sustained the injuries that led to his death. When I read it, I was astonished that a 67-year old man, that I knew, could do such a thing. It says a lot about him. (I thought he was a stupid sod, but that speaks to who I am, not him). I have edited it.
Errr, wow.
RIP Taz.
I’m glad that people like you are still looking after us soft civvies, albeit sight unseen.
TAZ died nine years ago on 13th June 2017.
Taz was originally from New Zealand and while in the Kiwi Rangers he served four tours in Vietnam, ending as a Sergeant while still only 21. I only discovered recently that “Kiwi Rangers” is a short form of “1 Ranger Squadron, NZSAS”. So he was in the New Zealand version of the SAS! When the war ended, he was stood down as part of the so-called peace dividend. Rather than sit still, he came to the UK and joined the Royal Marines. He served all over the world in various trouble spots and again became a Sergeant. He was approached to enter selection for the SBS (Special Boat Service). He told me once that the SBS did the same range of things as the SAS but wearing a wetsuit and flippers!
He told me many stories of his time in the SBS, suitably sanitised I’m sure, but he ended his days with them as Warrant Officer 2, which I believe is one step down from being the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer in the military. His specialisms were desert warfare (but not in a wetsuit and flippers) and he was a skilled sniper. He was also an instructor in four different martial arts. Nobody messed with Taz.I once asked Taz if he had ever thought to write a book about his fascinating life. He said that he'd been asked several times, but he couldn't afford the time. However, if you have ever read the autobiography "Sniper One" by Sgt Dan Mills (about his time leading a group of snipers in Iraq), then you will be delighted to realise that the mysterious "Buzz" who turns up to save the day with his awesome Barrett L50 sniper rifle, was in fact our Taz.
I got to know Taz through the MBR forum (now defunct) when I sent him some Ergon grips through the post to try. We later met for the first time when I was passing through Banbury, where he lived. We are about as unlikely a combination as you could imagine, but we just clicked. We lived so far apart that most of our friendship was conducted by phone, text and email.
Taz was a keen mtb’r and he used to ride at Cleve Hill when he was on attachment at GCHQ in nearby Cheltenham. When he was recovering from his third bout of cancer, his buddies organised a “Taz Recovery Ride” at Cleve Hill. For those that met Taz for the first time at that event, they saw only a shadow of his former physical self. In his prime he was 6'2", 18 stone and with 9% body fat. He told me that in those days he wasn't a very nice man. But then he left the SBS and, fortunately for him, he met his future wife. Four sons furthered the civilising process and he became the man we knew.
I think it’s safe to say that Taz missed his action-packed military life and it was probably why he sought thrills in his civilian life to liven things up a bit. Taz actually did a suicide parachute jump. Unbelievably to us mere mortals, you throw the chute out of the aeroplane and then jump out after it, with no reserve chute! Hence the name “suicide jump” (I’ll tell you how it ended later). He told me that he had already done 12,000 parachute jumps, so he just needed a refresher! Taz had the constitution of an ox and his powers of recovery were seemingly inexhaustible. He is the only person I know that has survived cancer four times, two of which he was told were terminal! On the last one he was told that he had days to live. Yet he survived (and made serious money out of it)! He has also woken himself up from a coma where no brain function had been detected and they were about to switch him off!
In training for his suicide jump, he had a 60mph wing-suiting crash in a rocky alpine meadow where pretty much every bone in his body was broken. And yet he survived and proceeded to survive the suicide jump I referred to earlier (he did several!) The guy was a force of nature and I am privileged to have had him call me a friend.
I’m certain that anyone that Taz was friends with would have a fund of similar stories (and I have a LOT more), but this is what his eldest son told me about how he sustained the injuries that led to his death. When I read it, I was astonished that a 67-year old man, that I knew, could do such a thing. It says a lot about him. (I thought he was a stupid sod, but that speaks to who I am, not him). I have edited it.
“Dad was contracted to go to Africa as an expert in his specialism. He'd been there awhile and was travelling in convoy when they were ambushed. Abandoning their vehicles for cover they defended themselves, dad was badly wounded but was still fighting when a grenade or rocket hit his position behind rocks taking his left leg below the knee and his left hand above the wrist, pieces of rock and shrapnel hit him in the head, face and chest, no one understands how he lived long enough to be evacuated to hospital. He has had a lot of surgeries but is not responding well due to the extent of his injuries.
His colleagues say his fast thinking, skills and fearlessness were a big factor in their survival until the back-up convoy arrived and turned the tide.
I'm very sorry if people are upset but at least he did the right thing, he couldn't just retire.”
His colleagues say his fast thinking, skills and fearlessness were a big factor in their survival until the back-up convoy arrived and turned the tide.
I'm very sorry if people are upset but at least he did the right thing, he couldn't just retire.”
Errr, wow.
RIP Taz.
I’m glad that people like you are still looking after us soft civvies, albeit sight unseen.
