Blood, Sweat and Tears: An Irish Soldier's Story of Love and Loss

by Tom Clonan

Irish troops have served 40,000 individual tours of duty over four decades in Lebanon. All over Ireland, in almost every family, there is a father, a brother, a sister, son, daughter or cousin who has come under fire in South Lebanon. Forty-seven Irish troops died in Lebanon and thousands more have returned with physical and psychological injuries. Blood, Sweat and Tears tells the true story of the Irish at war. Clonan brings the reader on a tour of duty in Lebanon from 1995 to 1996. His vivid account brings you from a rain-swept Dublin Airport on a dark October night to the massacre of 118 innocent men, women and children in the village of Qana, South Lebanon in April 1996. The reader is taken on patrol with the Irish army and shares in their black humour, their fears, frustration and pain. It is through this odyssey that the heartbreaking nature of peacekeeping operations as seen through Irish eyes is laid bare like never before. Blood, Sweat and Tears is above all a story of personal loss, loneliness and the psychological trauma of military service in a time of war. Tom Clonan served as an Irish Army Officer from 1989 to 2000. He is Security Analyst with the Irish Times, where he provides in-depth defence and military analysis of fast-moving international events. He also provides expert military and security analysis to RTE television and radio, and international broadcasters including the BBC and Sky News. Blood, Sweat and Tears is his first book.

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2012

Reviews

[Nick Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written and articulate memoir of Irish peace-keeping duties in the Lebanon. Powerful and moving.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read from an old friend.

[Ciarán Ó maoilchiaráin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoughtful personal reflection on the Irish Army and its role in Lebanon in 1996. Well written, at times funny while others sad.