TIMELINE
1973- Born Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
1989- Join Junior Leaders Regiment Royal Artillery, in Bramcote.
1990- Posted to Sennelager, Germany and 39 Regiment Royal Artillery.
1991- Serve in Gulf War.
1992- Go Absent Without Leave, join 106 Brigade HVO (Croat/Bosnian Army).
1993- In Military Hospital, Woolwich for leg injury, then court martialled.
1994- Discharged from the forces.
BACKGROUND
I was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire in 1973 and as long as I can remember I wanted to be a soldier. I joined the Army straight from school aged 16 in 1989. After a years training with the Junior Leaders Regiment Royal Artillery, I was posted to Germany to join 39 Regiment Royal Artillery. Within months we were told we would be going to the Gulf. It was 1991 and I was 17.
Our MLRS rockets were devastating and I remember vividly the damage they did.
On my return I became disillusioned with the Army and our reasons for fighting in a war for oil, at the same time Yugoslavia was in the midst of a civil war and I watched the Serb soldiers march through the streets of Vukovar and pictures of the Serbs Omarska concentration camp. I did'nt understand why we could mobilise the western worlds Armies for Kuwait but not Croatia and Bosnia. Determined not to be a bystander I went AWOL and at the age of 19 joined the Croat/Bosnian Army in late 1992.
I was injured by a Serb mortar in the Bosnian village of Vidovice, Posavina and had my leg amputated soon after.
I handed myself in to the British Army and upon my return was court martialled and discharged from the services. I did'nt adjust well to civilian life and a new found disability, the period from 1994 to 2000 involved crime, violence, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and drink and drug addiction. It took a long time to find some stability; and I am now happily married with four beautiful children.
I wrote my autobiography as therapy, as well as a means to change the publics perception of foreign volunteers.
