Tales from the Big Peace

Part social history, part military memoir; join the author on a rollicking ride through the Eighties and life in the peacetime defense forces. Read along as his career, while having its ups and downs, mostly travels sideways while dodging irate superiors, partying with crazy friends and experiencing equal amounts of boredom and exciting adventures whilst travelling the country during exercises, postings and other wanderings through this vast nation.

Enjoy the story as the protagonist remembers his time in the Army when dying on active service was an extremely remote possibility, with the Cold War entering its death throes and the 'New World Order' about to bring a semblance of peace, albeit temporarily, to large sections of the globe. Laugh as his intoxicant-fueled shenanigans constantly land him in hot water, where only his fancy footwork and his God-given ability to look innocent amidst the carnage of his various escapades save him time and time again from the wrath of his exasperated superiors, and other people and groups with a vested interest in ending his existence.

Rip-roaringly funny, mostly irreverent yet moving and poignant in places, Tales from the Big Peace is a panegyric to the Army and the companions of the author's youth, in a time when the services were exclusive travel agencies for those wishing to work on their tans, and get some shopping done in exotic locations around the country and the wider world. It traces the gradual happy degeneracy of the author, while at all times praising the efficiency of the peace-time Army and its continued professionalism, despite the best efforts of the protagonist and his crew of fellow rat bags.