David Scott-Donelan

David Scott-Donelan was a career soldier with almost three decades of active duty in the war zones of Rhodesia, South Africa, Mozambique and South-West Africa/

Enlisting in the Army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1961, Scott-Donelan was one of the original members of the resuscitated "C" Squadron (Rhodesia) Special Air Service (SAS), where he was introduced to the concepts of irregular warfare and tactical tracking by Allan Savory, a game ranger known for his innovative and successful concepts in hunting down heavily armed elephant and rhino poachers.

In 1968, Scott-Donelan was posted to the new Tracker Combat Unit (TCU) commanded by Allan Savory, with the mission of tracking down and annihilating Communist trained and equipped nationalist insurgents infiltrating the Rhodesian border from Zambia and Mozambique. He went on to command the TCU and was responsible for the selection and training of expert trackers for the unit, which was beginning to make a name for itself on operations. In 1974, the TCU was absorbed by an innovative new counterinsurgency unit known as the Selous Scouts, and Scott-Donelan was posted to the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI). The RLI was heavily involved in helicopter and airborne operations against armed and dangerous terrorist gangs infiltrating Rhodesia in ever- increasing numbers. After several years of nonstop action, he served as an intelligence officer at a Brigade Headquarters (HQ) and Combined Operations HQ, Rhodesia's equivalent to the Pentagon. Frustrated with staff duties, he agitated for a transfer to the Selous Scouts and was appointed Officer Commanding Training Group, which included the Tracking and Bush Survival School, the notorious "Wafa Wafa," on the shores of Lake Kariba.

In 1980, due to intense political pressure from the USA, Britain, and the UN; Rhodesia, after never having lost a battle, lost the war and became the Republic of Zimbabwe. Joining the South African Special Forces in 1980 as a member of 5 Reconnaissance Regiment, Scott-Donelan commanded the Regiment's Developmental Wing which was responsible for establishing a complete training and operational resource base as well as conducting training programs for several guerrilla armies. Five years later, he was seconded to the South-West-Africa Territorial Force as Company Commander and responsible for operations against the Peoples Liberation Army of Namibia, which was infiltrating into South-West-Africa/Namibia from Angola and Zambia.

Immigrating to the USA in 1989, Scott-Donelan is now the Training Director of the Nevada-based Tactical Tracking Operations School and trains law enforcement, corrections, and military personnel in the same tracking techniques that proved so successful against armed and dangerous fugitives in Africa.