Welcome to The SAS Files: Interview with Operator Keith Nell – His Ingenious Method to Prevent Accidental Weapon Discharges.

Today, Keith discusses his initial training of auxiliary (non-regular) troops. They initially thought they had nothing to learn until Nell did jungle lane training with them, and none of them hit a single target. Nell quickly deduced that the men were flinching every time they fired their AKs. This was mostly because they were not properly trained and not used to them. He started the men off, shooting again as if they had never touched a gun. First, there were pellet guns, then .22 caliber rifles, followed next by AKs.

Once trained correctly, the men rarely missed. They did have one issue, though: accidental (AD) or negligent discharges. Basically, making your weapon go “bang” when it is not supposed to. I don’t mean to make light of this; accidental discharges can be deadly. This is why, when one of the regular Rhodesian troops would have an accident discharge, their leaders beat them so badly with sticks they could not walk.

After seeing many of his trainees put out of commission for a while, Nell thought there had to be a better way.