How I escaped from sweeping up leaves.

`Northern Ireland`


After being bored to death in Dortmund West Germany by sweeping leaves and painting the curb stones black and white, I decided to some real soldiering, or so I thought and volunteered to go to Northern Ireland with 74 Battery (The battle axe company)32Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery. So I put away my sweeping brush and me and four other squaddies from T,Battery started our training.

As we were more of glorified police officers than soldiers , although the R.U.C. got paid ten times as us and deserve it, we had to learn the "yellow card", rules of the legality of opening fire.

We trained around camp for a few weeks, learning basic patroling skills, before going on to a place we all called "Tin City" in Sennelager. We were severely tested by N.I.T.A.T (Northern Ireland Training Advisory Team)on everything we had learnt. It was two weeks of constant pressure as your every move was recorded on C.C.T.V, Then played back to everyone totally embarrasing you as you took up a fire position behind a dustbin only for it to blow up in your face.

Finally the day comes when where of to the Emerald Isle. We flew by VC10 from R.A.F Gutterslough to Aldergrove airport just outside Belfast. After the intensity of our training I was expecting to be shot at as soon as my boots touched Irish soil. I was brought down to earth again when our transport arrived in the shape of several army Bedford four Tonners. I clambered on board, the only thing between me and a potential sniper was the thin canvas of the wagon.

We were taken to our new home for the next four months, H.M.P Maze, formerly known as Long Kesh or just "Kesh". We were greeted by rows of smiling faces of the Tank Regiment soldiers we were relieving Basically we were as much a prisoner as the inmates. We spent most of our time in the watch towers, four hours on four off, for four months. I soon started to go stir crazy and blind, so I did something you should never do and I volunteered again to spend two weeks in a place called North Howard Street Mill with the 2nd Battalion the Light Infantry. I really enjoyed my time with the infantry lads and they made me very welcome. After pounding the streets of West Belfast it was back to stagging on in the towers.

I was rescued again when you've guessed it I volunteered again to go to sea with the Royal Navy searching boats for arms and explosives in the Irish sea. We never found any terrorists but we did find a French yatch that was lost and heading for the rocks, they thought we were pirates as we boarded them in the dark brandishing lots of guns. You could say the whole experience wasn’t what I expected Ireland to be like.

When I was a 14 year old army cadet on my way home from drill nights we would patrol up the street like the soldiers we used to watch on the T.V, as the early seventies were the height of the troubles, I had now been one of those soldiers and achieved some would say a strange ambition particularly after having fought in the Falklands.

I came home from Ireland and received my second and last medal of my colour service. "Oh well back to sweeping up leaves".

You can read more about my time in Northern Ireland in `Watching Men Burn`



© Mack (RG) The thoughts of a Falklands War Veteran.