Fear Naught: A Soldier, a Firefighter, a Man on Trial

David Waterman spent much of his life running towards the things other people ran away from.

From a difficult South London childhood, he found purpose first in the boxing ring, then in the British Army, serving with the Royal Tank Regiment.

Later came almost three decades in the London Fire Brigade, where he attended some of the capital’s most demanding incidents and witnessed courage, tragedy and loss at painfully close quarters. But the greatest battle of his life would not be fought in a burning building or on a military exercise.

After years of accumulated trauma, a devastating brain haemorrhage and the breakdown of his marriage, David found himself arrested, imprisoned and eventually standing in a Scottish courtroom accused by the woman he had loved and trusted. His life unravelled.

Fear Naught is the candid story of a soldier, firefighter, husband, and father forced to confront not only the destruction of the life he knew but also the memories and wounds he had quietly carried for decades.

At times brutal, at times darkly funny, and always deeply personal, it is a story of service, brotherhood, love, betrayal, trauma and survival. Above all, it is the story of what happens when a man accustomed to rescuing others finally has to find a way to rescue himself.