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This is a tough one... where do I start.
Having joined the Territorial Army, (Part time soldier in the British Army) I realised quickly that there was more to it than smearing my face in animal droppings and creeping through the woods after dark, the part time soldier thing was bloody hard work. Years later I found myself facing mobilisation and with Sadam still out there somewhere, I had no desires to rush out and look for him. I had just three weeks to get my life in order and prepare to leave my job and go to Iraq. The first job, and one which some people spend 2 years planning was a wedding. Kerry and I met when we were 12 at the same school, we have been engaged for 17 years, we have three kids... we have a mortgage that would pay a premiership footballer for two weeks work, but the fact remained that we were still not married. I gave Kerry 7 days notice and we planned to wed with our kids as best man and bridesmaids. Kerry had no idea what Alex and me would be wearing on the day, and when she saw us both at the alter for the first time, it blew her away reducing her to tears immediately. We were both in full Royal Engineers No1 Military uniform. No easy task finding a set of No1's and ammo boots for an 8yr old in 7 days (see the gallery for the photos) without Kerry knowing. Following our wedding we had just 6 days together before saying our emotional goodbye's.
The book tells the full story from joining the TA to coming home and returning to work.
I have never concidered myself as a Bill Bryson or Andy McNab, I just sent home emails every few days telling my friends and family exactly what I saw, from the mundane elements such as phoning home with a phone card worth 20 minutes once a week, (thats 4 minutes with each child and 8 minutes with my wife,... once a week) to the horrific sights and smells that shocked me. Exactly the type of thing that... if you were to go, would shock you. From the little children begging for water standing barefoot on melting tarmac in nearly 60 degree heat to the slaughter house style cattle markets on the side of the motorway. In short everything you lay your eyes on shocks you in some way or another. I simply wanted to let other people experience what the papers and the media don't tell you. My book does exactly that. If you want to read a war story, buy an Andy McNab book, don't buy this. If you want to get a feel for how it affects your family when you go away, leaving them with only the daily news to tell them if you are OK or not, then maybe this book will give you that dimension. I cover the homecoming and the elation of being reunited with my wife and children. and then finally returning back to work to face normality once more.
If, through this book I can affect you with the words I have chosen to put on the page and give you a peice of how my family and I felt during this testing time, then I will have succeeded in my objective. I explain my reasons for writing a book on the 'Buy the Book' page.
Thanks for spending the time to read this.
Phil Woodhall |
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