Guest
There are many video compilations on YouTube of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This, which uses more or less the same clips harvested from YouTube as others have used, is mine. Some points to note, mostly for those not among the more than 300,000 of us who served there during the 30 year period; The Army’s deployment in Northern Ireland, called Operation Banner, lasted from 1969 to 2007. Some 1,441 British military personal died; 722 of whom were murdered by terrorists. More than 6,000 servicemen and women were physically injured. Many others continue to battle with injured minds. The clips making up the piece are not in chronological order. Seasoned observers will note that some are from Dumcree in 2010 which strictly speaking is outside the Op Banner timeline but then a Molotov cocktail in 2010 smelt and burned just the same as one in 1971 or 1981. The little cherubs even used to add soap flakes to create a napalm effect….. nice. I had originally intended to include, amongst other things, a balance of rural and urban clips. It just didn’t work out that way and I may do a rural piece separately. It is also important to highlight, that this is a compilation of clips which squeeze a lot into five minutes. It does not reflect the fact that the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland were and are, ordinary decent citizens who just wanted to get on with their lives. Many soldiers will not have experienced the scenes reflected here during a tour. For some, during periods of elevated tension in hard areas however, it was a daily event. The threat for all though, was omnipresent, in the Province and equally, at home. The end clip showing a brick patrolling may have resonance for some. I think it was taken from a Panorama documentary and I remember it being used by NITAT, (Northern Ireland Training Advisory Team), when they gave their opening lecture to the battalion in the gym at the start of our NI training. The music is Find My Way Home by Jon & Vangelis, released in 1981, but performed here in Gregorian style which gives it a more ethereal quality. I use this song because the original was popular with many of the boys in that period, in NI or on their way to places like the Falklands, listening to their Sony Walkman’s in their down-time. Oh and yes, most of us really were that young. Soldiers generally are. The clip however is not designed to elicit sympathy. Perhaps encourage remembrance but not sympathy. While we were young, we were very much doing a job and one which, for the most part, we were keen to do and would much rather have been part of than have been left behind. It has left scars, of course it has. We believed then though, that we were a force for good, doing the right thing and protecting life and by and large, most of us believe that to be true still.
