He's inside 14 Riverside Drive alone. His own side is planning his court-martial. Nobody sends him maps, mug shots, or orders — and 150 people are hiding in a hair salon.





Part 2 of 3. Christian Craighead — former SAS — walks through the DusitD2 assault door by door: the kitchen full of wounded, the hair salon, the 12-story car park, the police commissioner who asked "Can you lead my men?", and the phone call that put him on the line with the President of Kenya. It ends on the sixth floor of the hotel with grenades coming down the stairs and the terrorists starting to pray.





The first 40 minutes are the conversation that explains the rest: why military training "isn't good enough," why cardiovascular is king, why the monsters fail selection, and the 10-round shooting standard he refuses to publish.





If you want the assault only, jump to 40:20.














CHAPTERS


0:00 Cold open — "Security forces outside. I'm armed and I'm coming in."


0:29 Part 2


2:52 Why military training isn't good enough


6:37 "Why does it matter?" — where standards actually come from


8:44 The magazine change nobody trains


10:40 Training scars and what actually transfers


12:00 Be good at everything — champions of a choreographed zone


13:44 Moving with the gun: freeing up bandwidth


16:43 "Cardiovascular is king"


18:02 Kenya was a physical day — "not once did I wish I'd done more deadlifts"


19:03 Consistency at your worst: 22 hours in, no food, no sleep, no water


20:06 The drag test — after a mile and a half and a 400m sprint


22:01 Air, endurance, and the long meditative effort


24:55 The big Russians who vanished when it went cardiovascular


26:26 "You're lifting weights. You're not getting stronger."


28:34 The thing "right about here"


28:55 7 September 1992 — eight boys at the train station, one graduate


29:32 Why the monsters fail selection


33:03 Standards are always for one event


34:55 "The Standard" — the 10-round drill he won't publish


36:42 Standards as identity vs. the bare minimum


39:02 Range break


39:06 The James Bond myth — special ops is a team, stack the odds


40:20 Back inside: "I didn't know what the terrorists looked like"


44:17 Door one vs. door fifty — rewriting CQB on the job


45:15 "I'm going to have to write a report about this"


46:26 The storeroom. The kitchen. The first wounded.


47:39 Banging on the door — "Security forces outside"


48:08 Decision point: search-and-destroy becomes hostage rescue


49:49 "Come and help me." Nobody does.


50:05 The free radicals


51:42 The one he didn't trust


52:47 The ops room calls: "He's on the telly"


53:52 The High Commission: "Who gave him permission?"


54:46 "He's gone rogue" — the court-martial, 30 minutes in


55:35 Heavy fire from an elevated position


56:05 "Everyone wants to be a gangster…"


56:54 "Give me four guys." "We're waiting for orders."


57:42 The footage that disappeared


59:27 "You just sold the SAS to a generation"


59:49 Betty — his grandma


1:04:06 Morpeth, Stobhill, and where the hypervigilance started


1:06:25 "I'm not this angelic kid" — the violent path


1:07:58 "When did you know you were different?" — "Maybe 2019."


1:09:12 Sheepdogs, wolves, and geezers


1:10:14 The hair salon: a flashbang and 150 people hiding


1:11:50 Taking charge of the free radicals


1:13:36 The two Kenyan police officers who stayed


1:14:53 The office — sliding under the desk. "Jambo, habari."


1:17:06 Clearing the 12-story car park


1:18:04 Daniel, the Slovenian in the ballistic vest


1:19:10 Complacency — the last cupboard on the last floor


1:21:31 Second people vs. millisecond people


1:23:27 Why "everyone is a threat" is wrong


1:27:19 "I'm just adding value"


1:28:31 Photographs, evidence, being an asset at every level


1:30:59 Shots from the helicopter — the red-tape miracle


1:33:02 The Police Commissioner: "Can you lead my men?"


1:34:35 What would have happened otherwise


1:35:57 The plan — a company of GSU officers behind him


1:36:35 The photograph with the piece of paper


1:38:32 No maps, no mug shots — "No one is to communicate with Christian"


1:39:51 Recce Squadron: "Can you prove it?"


1:41:16 Two and a half hours, soaked through — "I might be in trouble"


1:42:05 The message to the Director of Intelligence


1:43:16 "Report directly to me and the President" — legal again


1:44:26 The command post in the hotel bar


1:45:47 "I'm not adding value" — up the service stairs


1:46:48 Two grenades down the stairs


1:48:34 "Do you think they saw the Mzungu turn up?"


1:49:16 They start praying. "Get ready."





—


Christian Craighead served 28 years in the British Army, including the Parachute Regiment and the SAS. On January 15, 2019, while serving as a liaison officer in Kenya, he responded alone to the Al-Shabaab attack on the DusitD2 complex. He was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.





hosted by Michael Blevins.


Instagram: @Weareheavymeta





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