General Galtieri – my part in his downfall.
Victory in the Falklands. Take that you Argies.....
I am a Falklands Veteran. Yes, that's right, 30 years ago I was one of those brave souls who headed south to drive the invading Argentinean scum off of our land.
However, I have a confession to make. You see I wasn't one of the amazing Para's who yomped across the Islands carrying a weight akin to a medium sized child on their backs nor was I one of the sailors who spent their war bobbing up and down on waves which from the films I've seen gave them a ride like a non-stop trip on the Big One at Blackpool.
No, my war was easy. And more importantly, it was fun.
You see I was in the RAF and so my war was spent on the relative luxury of Wideawake Airfild on Ascension Island which for those that don't know, is a pile of volcanic rock in the middle of the Atlantic. Being close to the Equator, it's also quite warm. Well, very warm.
Now I won't go into what my actual job was (I'd have to hunt you all down and kill you) but after a very exciting flight down most of which was spent in the cockpit of a VC10 talking UFO's with the crew –well at least those who were awake- it involved a lot of sitting around and waiting. Now this sounds fun and to be honest, as someone who does pretty much that for a living now, it generally is! But when you're at war and both chaos and uncertainty are all around you, you do kind of get caught up in things and so in an effort to do my bit I ended up working with the American Fire Crews who, it's fair to say, pretty much ran the Island.
As a result, I would be tasked with all kinds of odd things from dragging extremely stubborn donkeys from the runway with a Landrover through to
Where my war was fought. Happy days.
sorting through the endless pallets of gifts which had been sent down to the Task Force from the fabulous people back home. Gifts which included everything from beer and fags to hard core porn! And when I wasn't doing that, I spent my time doing everything from swimming with what I later learned to be sea-water Piranhas (really!) and trying to break into the NASA station in the middle of the Island to being spied on by the SAS. And that really is a tale!
I was also prone to playing practical jokes on people. Jokes which included placing a huge landcrab in my bosses sleeping bag which he only found when he climbed into it after a 24 hour shift and scaring the shit out of the intelligence officers by hiding in their porta-loo in the middle of the night and screaming 'BOO!' when they pulled the door open. Trust me, the impact that can have when you've been told to expect an Argentinean Special Forces attack is quite dramatic!
Of course things changed dramatically when rumours of the Vulcan raids began to break and I cannot even begin to descibe what it was like to be involved with those. Then, once our fabulous soldiers had actually landed and the fight to reclaim the Islands began, even those of us thousands of miles away felt like we really were at war. Which of course, we were.
And then the losses began and when the injured started to drift back I started to actually understand the realities of war for those who had been on the front line. That really was an experience I will never forget nor is it one I would ever want to repeat. Humbling doesn't come close.
A Vulcan. Given the lack of Victor tankers in this picture, I suspect they might have been 'orf somewhere!
Victories were of course, celebrated in time honoured style but oddly, the actual surrender came as something of an anti-climax. And whilst I remember exactly where I was when I heard it nothing much changed for me, at least not initially. My job, such as it was, continued whilst supplies still had to sorted, planes still took off and landed and donkeys still had to moved! When troops started making their way back it actually became even busier and in fact one of my most emotional periods of the entire war came when a Hercules full of Harrier lads landed en route back home. Some of them lads I knew and had worked with.
And then out of the blue came the news that I was to go home. In fact I was the first person on Ascension Island to be told that their job had been stood down which is something I'm quite proud of.
Within days, I was geared up to head back to the UK. Thankfully, on the very plane that the new (and first) Station Warrant Officer arrived on and those of you with experience of the RAF will know what that means!
My arrival back at RAF Brize Norton was unintentionally hilarious as I flew back with a group of men from Hereford who had no intention of hanging around for the waiting ceremony to welcome back the other soldiers on the plane (Cue potentially very violent stand-off!). This being followed by a three hour wait for a car to take me back to Abingdon and a row with the orderly Sergeant who refused to take my rifle off me. Hence my having to sleep with it in my bed. And that was that.
But not for me the civic receptions nor the big parades. For various reasons I wasn't invited to attend any of those but I cherish my South Atlantic
A handsome chap!
campaign medal and am as proud of that as I am of anything I have ever done.
And given half a chance I'd do it all again. War may be hell for some but for many it's also where they feel more alive than you can possibly imagine. Even those of us who played only a minor part.
To all those who lost loved ones or who have endured untold suffering since 1982, please do not think for one second that I am trying to belittle what you have gone though. Nothing could be further from the truth as I am and continue to be in awe of you all.
