Winter Warriors - Across Bosnia with the PBI 1995/96

[The Rifleman]

Yep - I think Bosnia's main produce at that time was mud

Love the photos - glad that I wasn't the only one living like that! 

 

[Hunter]

The book arrived today!  Looking forward to starting it tonight.  Great photos included with the book too - nice full-colour glossy pics - well done Les!

EDIT - I'm 100 pages in now.  Les I really like your writing style, you make me laugh while telling a great story.  Well done lad.  If you can get Amazon.ca to carry your other book, I will order it right now.    :cheers:

 

[The Rifleman]

Sorry Hunter - there is only one book 

If I get around to publishing another I will let Army.ca know first!

Glad you are enjoying my book - its great to get some feedback. I had some trouble with the publisher about the photos. There were a few more but we swapped them to keep the photos colour - they wanted a cheaper production run by making them B&W - it wouldn't have been the same, you need to feel how cold, muddy, icy and down right miserable the place was was visually as well as from the writing

Still, really enjoyed the tour  :warstory:

 

[Hunter]

Sorry Les thought you had another published work.  Bloody hell I'm tired today, and it's all your fault - I stayed up way too late reading.

One question though - what is a Geordie?  It's not in the book's glossary and being a colonial I'm not familiar with the term. 

 

[old fart]

People who hale from the North-east of England (Newcastle area) are called "Geordies" just as people from the Birmingham area are called "Brummies", and so it goes on with Cocknies etc from the London East end.

Want the full meal deal,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geordie

"Whiii aye bonny lad"....eh Rifleman.

 

[The Rifleman]

Hunter - as it is so well known in the UK that a Geordie hails from Newcastle it was overlooked for the Glossary. Sorry about the late nights but you should be well used to sleep deprivation even when its self inflicted! 

 

[Hunter]

Les - Finally got a chance to finish your book tonight.  Thanks very much, it made for a great read.  You write with that dry and somewhat jaded sense of humour that us colonials have come to expect from the Brits.    I really enjoy reading first-hand accounts of peoples' tour experiences - I only wish more tour vets would write a book, especially perspectives from different trades.I found it particularly interesting to read about the way the TA soldiers got the bum's rush out of Germany at the end of the tour.  It reminded me a lot of Kurt Grant's experience upon returning from Bosnia (All Tigers, No Donkeys).

A great read, realy enjoyed it.

Les if you ever find yourself in Ottawa pints are on me.  :cheers:

 

[The Rifleman]

Hunter - thanks for the comments. It makes me feel that I didn't waste my time when writing the book if the reader takes something away from the experience. I especially like comments from other squaddies, those that have been in similar situations. I totally agree that more personal accounts should be written otherwise our experiences will fade away and will be lost forever. Historians and the general public need to understand what it was like on the ground at that time, away from politics, the media and public misperceptions. General historical overviews of campaigns have their place, but we also need to hear the voices of our former comrades to balance the story.

Even today, with the abundance of well educated military personell, personal accounts are very thin on the ground. Bosnia, from the British perspective, only has a handful of books written by personnel that served there. That's from the tens of thousands that were in theatre. And from those accounts I found only 1 other written by a "squaddie", the others were penned by very senior officers.

My story is from the eyes of an infanteer, with references to our supporting arms & services. Its a shame that others, Arty, Engineers, Cavalry, etc haven't done the same.

 

[3rd Horseman]

Rifleman,

  Wait for it, I do believe it is in the works, they just needed the 10 year security clause to elapse. Edited by a senior well known war corespondent that was their and was on some of the classified missions as an in-bed.

"Shades of Gray"
Canada's secret war in the Bulkans 92-95.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Wait for it, I do believe it is in the works, they just needed the 10 year security clause to elapse. Edited by a senior well known war corespondent that was their and was on some of the classified missions as an in-bed.

Reference please?

 

[3rd Horseman]

Michael,

  Tried to pm ya but it said no such address. Reference for book is impossible since it is not complete. I believe it is almost done, that is what I have been told. 10 year security clause is the one we all sign on the way out the door for not releasing certain classified info for 10 years. Is that the reference you desire?

  As for books I am also aware of another being written by a Canadian civilian wriiter on the similar topic that deals with the aftermath of the war also not done yet.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Perhaps you missed the highlighted yellow text. I was asking for the reference for the "10 year security clause".

 

[The Rifleman]

I asked for my battalions war diary for Bosnia under an FOI but was told that it will remain secret for 30 years - to varify facts and put events in a chronological order I had to rely on my memory and the memories of a few former comrades. All I wanted to do was make sure I didn't mix up events and put them in the wrong order.  :-\

 

[The Rifleman]

A review of Winter Warriors


“The frank and gritty story of life in a good infantry battalion in a freezing Bosnian winter. This is the best account I have ever read of day-to-day life on operations in the Balkans, written with an ordinary soldier’s unerring eye for detail and scorn for bullshit. If you want to understand the real British army, this is a good place to start.”

Professor Richard Holmes
author of Redcoat, Sahib, Tommy and Dusty Warriors