I came out shortly after the war... on the rebound from it.... killing is easy for me.... for me the hard part is living with it afterwards.... spent time burying the bodies, took pride in how we all did our job.... recited all the old clichés justifying our actions... I was a professional soldier and a good one...and God was on our side...?

I moved to the port of Immingham when I was 12 years old I joined the local Comprehensive (senior)  school and the local army cadets... made new friends and enemies and started to grow up into a young man....

Life was full of problems, girls, mates, beer, fighting,  bullying... all the fun things we go through, on our way to adulthood...

I joined the Royal Engineers at 17 1/2... would've  gone sooner but was too small and light...spent a year eating like mad and building myself up... made it in September 1985 when I arrive at the Army Apprentices College in Chepstow.... right on the English/Welsh border.

Life in the Army was good for me I went to Osnabruck in Germany before being sent back to Chepstow to train young soldiers when they first joined up.... I stayed there  till Nov 90 when I volunteered to go and fight in the Gulf war..... silly eh ?