I spent about 20 years in the Army.
It started with 3 years at The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst
Then came about eight years as an infantry officer in the Royal Anglian Regiment.
This started with 3 years at the Army University
RMCS Shrivenham.
Then came a couple of years as a platoon commander,
where my first posting was to the battalion in Aden.
Before I left for Aden, I attended a "Support Weapons Course"
and so became proficient in the use of Mortars and Infantry Anti-tank guns (Wombats).
After a short time acclimatising, and attending a soldier's funeral in the baking heat,
I was flown up to join C Company at a frontier post with a small garrison and an airfield, in Mukerias.
The walled tented area of the camp was dominated by the sandbagged command post.
Each evening we fired our mortars and Wombats into the empty countryside,
hoping to deter the supply of ammunition and weapons which flowed across the border
and down into the plain and eventually to the revolutionaries in Aden city.
When the bulk of the Company left, I was left in command of the camp .
(though there was a battalion of local troops close by)
We were shot at from the nearby hills and shelled, from the Yemen.
It was exciting and somewhat dangerous!
Eventually the company returned and my independence ended.
We marched out and down the escarpment to the battalion base at Thumier.
Here damp ammunition nearly caused a disaster as our mortar bombs fell short.
We found that there had been heavy rain there, though not with us.
After a time patrolling the Dhala road, we returned to the City and IS work,
nightly patrols of the streets, with road blocks and searches of people and cars.
It was tiring and boring, most of the time, though we did sleep in proper beds again!
Finally the battalion was relieved and we flew home.
A video was made about another battalion doing much the same task
at about the same time.
Soldiers in the Sun
