30 years ago in 1982 I was an 18 year old soldier serving in the British Army. Having joined at 16 I undertook training to become a military accountant which meant that I worked alongside other pay clerks handling the money paid to officers and soldiers. If I was to compare myself to a character in a movie I would like to say I was like Rambo, but the reality was that I was more like Radar from MASH. After training I was posted to "2nd Battalion Scots Guards and 6 months after joining them I found myself going to the Falklands as part of a task force sent to liberate the islands. After a number of adventures I found myself taking part in the battle for Mount Tumbledown which was a night attack conducted in a snow storm with a katabatic wind that bought the temperature down to -20C. The fighting was bitter as the Argentine Marines defending the mountain fought almost to the last man, the critical tipping point was when one of the British companies conducted a bayonet charge."
