In Foreign Fields

We're putting the finishing touches to the above book at the moment.
It's a series of verbatim interviews with medal winners from Iraq and Afghanistan - from blokes who won Military Crosses in the initial invasion of Iraq to others who won the higher Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (one down from the Victoria Cross) in the street fighting that followed, or out in Afghanistan.
Mostly, they're soldiers, but there are a couple from the RAF and three Royal Marines. There's one woman.
I have absolutely no idea how well this book will sell, as an awful lot of people don't seem to give a monkey's about the men and women of our armed forces.
I had the honour and the privilege of interviewing 25 of them. After 20 years spent in journalism, writing and (bizarrely) sports management, they were - without doubt - the most impressive collection of people I have ever met.
They were modest, unassuming and often reluctant to be interviewed; we had planned to call the book 'Heroes' but found ourselves with a mini-rebellion on our hands from the heroes themselves. They don't see themselves as anything special at all, you see, so they found that title a bit embarrassing. (Next time you hear David Beckham described as a 'hero', I hope it makes you feel a little queasy.)
We had trouble finding a cover photo. We wanted something which was real and which conveyed - as much as possible - the drama and danger they go through. In the end, we found this one. It was taken by Royal Marine Gaz Faulkner out in Afghanistan. It looks like a film poster, but just the other side of that wall there are Taliban fighters, armed with real RPG launchers and your actual lead bullets. I think you'd go a long way to find a better photograph - I very much doubt the camera would have been quite so steady if I'd been holding it.




On a slightly tangential note, if you go here and search for 'Creation' you'll find a track called Remember Me. (It's actually by The Creations, and it's called Just Remember Me, but there you go. On Globe records, from about 1967).
It's a very moving song in which a young man asks his girlfriend to remember him as he leaves for the war in Vietnam.
Girl, I'm so afraid, that I may never see you again...
At a time when many of our own young men are risking their lives so far away, I think it's spine-tingling stuff.

By the way, we are giving our writing fee to SSAFA, a charity you should support.

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