Walking Into War

From Conflict to Combat: A Soldier’s Journey Through War, Brotherhood, and Resilience

After completing our tour in Northern Ireland, we returned to Catterick, our home base, and picked up with routine military training. At that stage, it felt like we were in a constant preparation cycle - always getting ready for another deployment, another operation, another mission.

One of the most significant exercises during that period took us much further afield; to Canada.

Training in Canada – The Scale of Preparation

Canada’s vast training areas allowed us to conduct large-scale manoeuvres that simply weren’t possible in the UK due to space constraints and regulations. The sheer size of the training grounds gave us the freedom to replicate real combat scenarios, making the experience both intense and invaluable.

After three months in Canada, we returned to Catterick and soon prepared for another deployment—this time to the Falkland Islands.

The Falkland Islands – A War Footing

The Falklands War had ended only four years earlier, and tensions remained high. With 10,000 British troops stationed on the islands at any given time, we were still operating under what was known as a "war footing." As infantry soldiers, we carried live ammunition on patrols, always prepared for the potential threat of an Argentinian return.

The environment was harsh—bitterly cold, with treacherous minefields left over from the war. Some were clearly marked, while others weren’t, adding an extra layer of danger to every patrol. We spent six months in the Falklands before returning home.

The Hidden Costs of War

One statistic from the Falklands has always stayed with me: more veterans from that conflict have died by suicide than were killed in action.

This is something that most civilians never hear about—intentionally or not. At the time, the government and media focused on the victories and sacrifices of war but rarely acknowledged the long-term psychological impact on those who returned. This wasn’t unique to the Falklands; it has been a recurring pattern across generations of soldiers.

The British mindset of stoicism and "stiff upper lip" culture meant many veterans suffered in silence. Unlike modern awareness around PTSD and mental health, back then, there was little support or acknowledgment of the struggle these men faced once they were home.

The Reality of War

By 1989, after years of rapid deployment—from Northern Ireland to Canada to the Falklands—our unit was reassigned to Germany, becoming a mechanised infantry battalion. This meant training in armoured personnel carriers, specifically the FV 432. At just 20 years old, I was driving a 25-ton armoured vehicle through UK streets and motorways during training—an experience that highlighted the trust and responsibility placed on young soldiers.

As we settled into life in Germany, our old FV 432s were being replaced by the Warrior—a state-of-the-art combat vehicle. The timing couldn’t have been more significant, as in 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and Operation Desert Storm was launched.

Deployment to the Gulf War

Initially, we were told that we would be battle casualty replacements (BCRs)—essentially on standby to replace fallen soldiers. However, as the conflict escalated, our role changed. Our commanding officer gathered the battalion and announced:

"Gentlemen, bad news and good news. The bad news is, we are no longer BCRs. The good news? We’re going to war—on the front lines."

The reaction? Cheering.

It might sound strange, but this is the mindset of a soldier. We trained for war, and now we had the chance to do the job we had prepared for.

However, reality set in quickly. I had just married, and my daughter was three months old. The thought of leaving my family behind added a new layer of emotional weight to the deployment.

Training for Chemical Warfare

With reports that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, our training intensified—especially in chemical warfare preparedness.

We spent countless hours in gas chambers, practising operating in full protective suits and wearing respirators. By the time we crossed the start line into Iraq, we were in full chemical gear, ready for an attack that, thankfully, never came.

But one of the biggest mysteries of that time remains—the inoculations. We were given a series of vaccines and injections to "protect" us from potential chemical attacks. To this day, many soldiers still don’t fully know what was injected into us.

The Next Step

From the streets of Northern Ireland to the deserts of Iraq, the journey of a soldier is one of constant adaptation—both mentally and physically. In the next part of this series, I’ll share what it was like to fight in the Gulf War, the aftermath of the conflict, and the lessons learned along the way.