SPECIAL HONOR & DEDICATION
SCOUT-TRACKER GUIDE (2nd EDITION)

David Scott-Donelan (DSD)

December 27, 2023 (RIP)

 

 

David was born, served, and lived in Africa for his army career. He served in the Rhodesian SAS, Rhodesian Light Infantry, BSAP PATU Selous Scouts and South Africa’s 5 Recce. While in Rhodesia, he pioneered the development of the original Tracker Combat Unit (TCU).

 

When Rhodesia ceased to exist he moved to South Africa and continued to work with the special forces and reconnaissance units until 1989, when he emigrated to the US. He founded his first tracking school in 1994, and later the Scott Donelan Tracking School. We had a conversation about what to name his reformatted business model. I buoyed his decision to title it after himself. He has trained “countless” US military units, special forces operators, police officers and border patrol to know the ways of tracking humankind. He was one of the charter members of the International Society of Professional Trackers (ISPT) that I co-created in 1998.

 

My dear friend and colleague, David, you are missed. I would not have been able to bring my scout tracking from Alaskan obscurity into the operational light of the United States Marshals Service without you. You are truly a trailblazer, forerunner, and father of combat and tactical tracking throughout the world. You embraced both the indigenous way of knowing and the combat way of tracking and brought both these worlds together to serve all of us in countless ways through your military service and tracking teachings.

 

You are not here but I know in spirit that you know of my appreciation for your friendship. It was an honor to be one of the charter members, with you, of the Frederick Russell Burnham Historical Society of Tucson. It was an honor to have your support for the development of the U.S. Marshals Scout Tracking School, Scout Tracker National Certification Standards, and the Science of Tracking (Forensic Spoorology), I founded at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

 

Thank you for flying out to see me and my wife, Sheli, upon my retirement. Until we meet again, in the world of spirits, may this follow-up you are on be the mightiest track thus far.

 

Gæjhtoe! (Thank you), my friend. May you rest in peace.