Boys to Men: The story of a junior soldier

The author grew up in a small West Country village during the sixties. With a German mum and English dad life was at times confusing but not boring. Although well-mannered and polite Steven was not the best behaved kid on block and soon began to flash on the radar of the local village policeman. No matter how harsh the punishment misbehaviour persisted and school results plummeted; parents despaired. John and Elsa’s rising concerns were brought to a halt when their now fourteen year old somewhat wayward son came home from school one evening and announced he was leaving home to become a boy soldier in the Royal Engineers. From that moment life changed; two years as a Junior Leader Royal Engineer stationed at Dover followed by four years in Germany defending the free west from the Soviet hordes posed in readiness behind the iron curtain and two tours on the streets of Northern Ireland changed Steve from boy to man. The years that followed his time in the Army were interesting and exciting with jobs in the oil industry and the world of International marine tourism, the latter taking him all over the world through numerous contracts and adventures. Steven eventually married in 2010 and settled in Norfolk where he works in a variety of management roles; now approaching retirement he hopes to fulfil a final ambition to live a few years in the country of his mother’s birth, which he dearly loves, Germany and eventually settle back in West Wiltshire.