Inside a Ransom Exchange With Somali Pirates | David Leaning

**David Leaning** (0:00)
I've got a theory, and I don't know if...

**David Leaning** (0:03)
I've never heard this from anyone else, but...

**David Leaning** (0:06)
It's...

**David Leaning** (0:07)
I like... I'm not sure if I believe it, but...

**David Leaning** (0:09)
The theory goes, for Somalis, gunfire isn't necessarily an attempt on your life. It's a form of dialogue.

**Jack Murphy** (0:17)
East African proverb.

**David Leaning** (0:19)
Yeah, um...

**David Leaning** (0:21)
So, you could take it as that, or you could take it, you know, us in the Western world, you know, when someone shoots at you, you're like, okay, it's on, you mean to kill me, and I am, you know, emboldened to use the same measures against you. But, for them, maybe it's not quite the same as that. Maybe it's just an escalation in the dialogue, or a way of saying, hey, I see you.

**Jack Murphy** (0:44)
Hey, everyone, I'm Jack Murphy. This is The Team House, and tonight's guest is Dave Leaning. Dave served as a Royal Marine, and then he worked for a number of different private military companies doing counter-piracy work in Africa.
This is a unique episode, and I think Dave has some pretty unique insights working the piracy issue, doing things like ransom deliveries, hostage recoveries, and all sorts of interesting anecdotes as we go on. But Dave, welcome to the show. I'm happy to have you here.

**David Leaning** (1:15)
Thank you very much, Jack, for the introduction, and thank you for having me.

**David Leaning** (1:19)
It's a huge honor, and I definitely feel a little bit of imposter syndrome being here. Given that you've had some very eminent guests and speakers before me, but I'll try and do my best and recount some of the experiences I had, and hopefully have something to share with your audience, and shed light on a subject which I don't think many people have covered before.

**David Leaning** (1:43)
So yeah, let's get into it.

**Jack Murphy** (1:46)
So start at the beginning. Tell us a little bit about what your pathway was into the Royal Marines.

**David Leaning** (1:55)
Yeah. So I had been to university, college you call it here, and I hadn't actually thought of joining until I found myself at a loss as to what to do.

**David Leaning** (2:11)
My old man had been in the military, he had been an Army Commando.

**David Leaning** (2:16)
I figured why not give it a go, why not do four years, see if I was as tough as my old man was, get the Green Beret and see if I can get a war under my belt, because as a young man, all that kind of stuff seemed to be exciting, and was definitely very appealing. So I showed up at an recruiting center, got fed all the lies about what great stuff I would get to do, and showed up at Limston Commando one day at that train station, that platform that you go through, and began the process of becoming a Royal Marine Commando.
I got through the Commando course, I broke both my feet, had to spend 16 weeks in rehabilitation, and then rejoined a troop. Then went on, did my service, did the minimum contract, the four years, one month and one day, not that anyone was counting by that stage.

**David Leaning** (3:11)
I got a tour of Afghanistan.

**David Leaning** (3:14)
It was an adventure.

**David Leaning** (3:16)
We can circle back to Commando training and that experience, and my time in Afghanistan, which interestingly enough actually intersects with one of your recent guests, Jay Morton, 22nd SAS. He was talking about the exact same places that I was.
We relieved his company. I think he was 3Para, and I was Lima Company 4-2 Commando, and it was Opsera, the relief in place of 3Para.

**David Leaning** (3:47)
And so I know the exact position he was talking about.

**David Leaning** (3:51)
And he mentioned an orchard at that position in Sangen.

**David Leaning** (3:55)
Let me just cover up my opo there.

**David Leaning** (3:58)
That is that orchard.

**Jack Murphy** (4:00)
Wow.

**David Leaning** (4:01)
And the river that he mentioned, that is that river.

**Jack Murphy** (4:06)
You would swim in it? You guys are crazy.

**David Leaning** (4:08)
Yeah, you could bathe and you could wash your clothes, have a swim.

**David Leaning** (4:12)
The Afghan National Army would sit out there watching you.

**David Leaning** (4:15)
So we christen them cop watchers after a while because they seem to drive enormous pleasure from watching Marines.

**Jack Murphy** (4:22)
They're stroking their beard.

**David Leaning** (4:24)
I don't know, whatever does it for them.

**David Leaning** (4:28)