Early Life and Jaeger Corps Selection

• 💡 Thomas Rathsack was inspired to join the military as an insecure child after reading a book about the Danish Jaeger Corps.
• 🎯 He joined the military in 1985 and later completed the 16-week Jaeger Corps selection course, which involved intense marching, orienteering, and cold-water swimming.
• 🔑 The Jaeger Corps is a small Danish Special Forces unit (around 50 shooters) that evolved from a LURP unit in the 1990s.

Demining and Afghanistan Deployments

• 🌍 After a break in service due to a lack of missions, Rathsack worked in humanitarian demining in Chechnya and Afghanistan before 9/11.
• ⚠️ He experienced the 9/11 attacks while in Afghanistan, leading to his evacuation and subsequent return to the Jaeger Corps to assist with operations.
• 🚀 His team, part of Task Force K-BAR, conducted reconnaissance missions in Afghanistan, learning crucial lessons about loadout and team size after a compromised observation post.

Iraq Operations and Domestic Training

• 🛡️ Rathsack served in Iraq, providing security for the Danish ambassador in Baghdad, navigating an unpredictable war zone with IEDs and suicide bombers.
• 🕵️‍♂️ He also participated in a six-month undercover operation with Danish intelligence in Afghanistan, blending in with locals to escort a field officer to source meetings.
• 🚁 Domestic training included EU meeting security and multi-national exercises like Nighthawk, featuring realistic full-mission profiles and asset integration.

Post-Military Career and Controversy

• ✍️ After leaving the military, Rathsack authored the best-selling memoir "Jaeger," which sparked a major controversy in Denmark as the military sought to imprison him for breaching confidentiality.
• 📈 The controversy inadvertently boosted the book's sales, which has now sold over 450,000 copies globally.
• 📺 He has since written five novels and participated in eight seasons of the Danish reality TV show "Corpsal," as well as producing a documentary on cocaine production in Colombia.