My entire adult life was happily spent in the British Army – starting as an 18-year-old Private soldier to my retirement, 36 years later, as a Lieutenant Colonel. Just as well, as I had no Plan B if I hadn’t made it into the Army!
I am a child of my time and Western movies and TV series featured strongly in my boyhood. They brought a fascination with the Native American way of life, pioneer wagon trains, cattle drives, gunslingers, the US Cavalry and – always in the background of any Western tale – the jaw-dropping scale and harsh beauty of the American landscape. That fascination never left me.
When work allowed, I took the earliest opportunity to go West; perhaps it was just military curiosity but I wanted to walk across the terrain, feel the heat and wonder how native tribes, soldiers and pioneers lived, settled and died there
So, I’ve ridden in a western saddle in Wyoming (where I heard my first coyote howl), walked Apache trails in the Chiricahua hills in Arizona, examined the pioneer wagon ruts in Nebraska and explored iconic places like the Alamo in Texas, Fort Laramie, Yellowstone National Park and South Pass in Wyoming, the Little Big Horn battlefield, Crow Agency and the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. Cynics may call that tourism – I call it research!
Retiring from the Army brought an opportunity to reflect on what I’d seen and experienced. There was a need to record this stuff. In between civilian jobs, the books slowly came to life.
My wonderful wife patiently watches as our bookshelves fill with yet more volumes on American history (and now the Cold War period) but she still encourages me to keep active, do research and shoot my black powder pistols and rifle. She deserves a medal.
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