Urban Survival

Thomas Gast

Thomas Gast was born in Bindlach (Upper Franconia) in 1961. He joined the Bundeswehr as a temporary soldier in 1979. He served in the paratrooper battalion 253 and left active service as a staff sergeant in 1984. Seventeen and a half years in the French Foreign Legion followed. Of these, two years in the Third Infantry Regiment in French Guyana and fifteen years with the paratroopers of the 2nd REP, the Legion's 2nd Parachute Regiment. He graduated at the top of his class from the sergeant's course, which was held at the national level at the Infantry School in Montpellier. From 1995 to 1997, Gast was a paratrooper platoon leader, responsible for 42 soldiers in both administrative and operational areas. After his time as platoon leader, he became company sergeant in the first company of the 2nd REP. In 1998, he transferred to the staff company and served as 'Maître de Tir`, as shooting master, until January 2002. His responsibilities included the regiment`s gunnery training at all levels. He was thus the person responsible for all combat firing within the regimental framework, within the framework of the individual companies and platoons, as well as for the firing ranges and firing installations, for simulation and for the management of training and combat ammunition. Gast has served thirteen deployments. He left the Legion in 2002. This was followed by 12 years of armed service in Private Security. Key stations were: Security Officer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Country Manager, responsible for guarding the Delegation of the European Commission in Pétionville, Haiti. Country Manager, responsible for guarding the Ambassador of the European Commission in Jerusalem. In 2010, he moved to Yemen for four years, and then to the high seas (Gulf of Persia, coast of Somalia and Red Sea) for one year as a Privately Contracted Armed Security Personnel (PCASP) to counter piracy. He has written up his experiences in several books. In 2021, he settled definitively in Sweden. Thomas Gast is married and father of three children. He maintains a growing YouTube channel with over 100,000 subscribers.