Fighting Back One Man's Struggle for Justice Against the British Army

The British Army has a problem on its hands. In its recent advertising campaigns, its gone out of its way to portray itself as a manly-but-sensitive organisation. The message is: "we may be tough, but we're also tough enough to care". In short, the army is selling itself as everything the New Man could aspire to. The danger with this sort of approach is that people can take them at their word. Barry Donnan certainly did. He fulfilled a childhood dream by joining the Royal Highland Fusiliers at the age of 16; within a few years the dream had become a nightmare. He had been made to clear up the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing, a local soldier died while out on patrol with him in Belize and he had served as a motorcycle dispatch rider in the Gulf War.

Fighting Back is written in True Brit, True Grit, Bravo Two Zero style, but the subject matter could not be more different. Instead of endless tales of daring, we get the day-to-day routines and abuses of army life. Donnan wasn't singled out for any special treatment; he was just one, among many, who served ably but without distinction. Donnan's problem was that he believed the advertising blurb which said that the armed forces were about companionship, sharing and adventure. They're not. At the bottom line, they're about killing people. And when Donnan came face to face with this reality, he cracked. Like many others he came home from the Gulf War with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The army isn't keen on PTSD. For one thing it hints at the fact that war isn't all it's cracked up to be; for another it involves expensive treatment and a touch of compassion, neither of which is the Army's forte. So after the Gulf War Donnan went AWOL, was captured, court-martialled, sentenced to prison and sent straight back to the mean streets of Belfast as soon as he was released. Unsurprisingly, he threw a wobbly, thumped a guard, got arrested and tried to commit suicide. He has now left the army and has tried, so far unsuccessfully, to take the British Army to court. Donnan isn't over-gifted with personal insight and the "up and at 'em" style doesn't help, but there's a far better book in here than the cover suggests. The whole aim of the army is to depersonalise both its own troops and those of its opponents; Fighting Back suggests that this is ultimately a futile objective--and it's the individuals who pay the highest price.

Fine/Near Fine