Colin MacLachlan waded through stinking swamps in Sierra Leone in West Africa to hunt down the West Side Boys, a guerrilla gang holding 5 British soldiers hostage. It was a mission so daring and dangerous that they nicknamed it Operation Certain Death. The SAS recce teams secured the hostages’ building and neutralised any West Side Boys prior to the main assault arriving and secured the prison building before the rest of the unit arrived, wiping out the terrorists in 2000.
He was also the first sniper on the scene when a hijacked Afghan flight with 150 passengers landed at Stansted in the same year, sparking a stand-off that lasted four days. But five years later Colin found himself on the other side of a rescue mission after he was taken hostage in the Iraqi city of Basra. Blindfolded, battered and stripped naked, he repeatedly felt a gun pressed to his head and heard them pull the trigger, as his captors held mock executions.
Father-of-two Colin only survived long enough for British troops to rescue him because the terrorists who held him wanted to film his suffering in a propaganda video before they executed him.
Colin left the SAS shortly after doing an exchange programme with both Delta Force and Seal Team 6 and after doing security consultancy for the Saudi Royal Family, A-List Celebrities and US Media Networks decided to fund himself through university where he attained a First Class MA (Hons) in History from Edinburgh University and an M.Litt in Terrorism from St. Andrews University.
Colin is now involved in TV and Radio and is actively engaged with charities being involved as Ambassador for the Lee Rigby Foundation, Pilgrims Bandits and Who Dares Cares among others. As well as local community issues, Colin does motion capture for Rockstar Games, writes and edits articles on military and terrorism, and also risk consultancy on a project basis.
Colin is a former member of the SAS where he was in Mountain Troop in 22 SAS and had various roles throughout his SF Career. These ranged from Sniper Commander, Driver Commander, Instructor on Selection Training Wing, Surveillance Operator, Forward Air Controller, Medic, Bodyguard, SF Exchange Programme with Delta Force and Seal Team 6.
MacLachlan has most recently appeared on Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins where he, alongside a number of other former SAS members and GREAT BRITISH SPEAKERS, Jason Fox and Mark Billy Billingham
It’s a programme where members of the public through the same selection process he went through many years before when starting out in the SAS.
He also writes and edits security and terrorism-related articles. Additionally, he works on Motion Capture for films and video games and can be seen in the Grand Theft Auto Series, Red Dead Redemption and LA Noire by Rockstar Games.
An expert when it comes to leadership and ensuring peak levels of performance are reached by a team, Maclachlan has also turned his hand to after-dinner speaking at business events where he details the trials and tribulations of the SAS as well as the commitment required to be successful.
Colin MacLachlan | Keynotes
- Leadership
- Peak Performance
- Motivational Speaker
- Teamwork & Teambuilding
- After Dinner Speaker
- Drive & Determination
