CONTACT

A few months ago I was a guest speaker at a `Peace & Reconciliation' conference hosted by the Tim Parry Peace Centre in Warrington. Various figures from the military were there to speak about our experiences of serving in Northern Ireland at different stages of the conflict; I was there to discuss how it felt in the very end stages, when 'The Troubles' had all but petered out. But by far our most illuminating guest and powerful speaker was a former Parachute Regiment Captain and author, AFN Clarke - which brings me to the purpose of this review. In 1983 Tony wrote Contact, a blisteringly honest and deeply controversial account of his two tours in NI at the very height of the troubles in the 1970s. Contact rapidly achieved cult status amongst the rank & file of the army, won critical acclaim from prestigious reviewers and at the same time drew stinging criticism from the retired Brigadiers & Colonels establishment brigade - which usually means you're doing something right because you've got them rattled. As the saying goes: "You judge a man by the strength of his enemies." Well Tony gained plenty; not least of all in the highest ranks of the MOD and politics - so much so that a smear campaign was launched against him and he was forced to defend his name with aggression and grit. The attacks only strengthened him and Contact was immediately made into an award-winning BBC film. Tony went on to live in America where he built a new career as a Pilot, Yaught Charter Captain for hire and general all-round adventurer. If ever you have the privilege of meeting him you'll instantly recognise the classic `rebellious officer' streak that runs right through him and so irritated his former paymasters. But maddeningly for them he was undeniably a gifted soldier; he joined 3 Para as a Private `Tom', made Lance Corporal within a year and was commissioned from the ranks after just two; a difficult task in today's army but damn near impossible in the class ridden 70s - unless you were very, very good. And he was. Contact deals with his first tour in Belfast in 1973 and his second tour in South Armagh in 1976, before culminating in his tragic and premature medical discharge from the army as a 28yr old Captain with his entire brilliant future cruelly ripped away from him. During his first tour the temporarily `friendly' locals spiked his tea with ground glass as he drank it on hearts & minds patrols, which resulted in internal organ failure, the removal of his entire bowel region and the almost complete ruination of his health. He soldiered on for six long years passing glass shards and undergoing a dozen operations, before his body finally gave in and literally half of his belly was removed. It was only his previous dogged fitness and determination that kept him in the army and on his feet for so long. Of course, he fought back and went on to climb mountains and fly planes, but all the time since he's carried a permanent pain and dreadful scars. But the pride, fierce glint in the eyes and inner steel remains... It felt a little odd at the Warrington peace talks because some anti-war types and `Troops Out' members were there and they clearly had strong feelings about British soldiers. And there was Tony, sat there with injuries that they couldn't imagine, this hard-as-nails former Para, and he was cool as a cucumber, effortlessly batting away their attacks with genuine warmth, humour and compassion. He'd seen more action than everyone in that room put together and paid the highest price, yet he was the calmest, most graceful and forgiving one there. It was inspiring stuff and a lesson in how to handle yourself when you're getting it from all sides. At the moment Tony is rewriting and updating Contact to take in the aftermath of his own service, that of his former colleagues and his own assessment and true feelings about the peace process - something that I know he's a great supporter of, however painful NI was and continues to be for him. I can't recommend his book highly enough to you - truly it's a superb, timely read - especially in light of the recent deaths in NI and roadblocks that seem to constantly block the path to peace. I think too that it's an important and hugely relevant book in that we seem to be bogged down in an eerily similar `terrorist War' in Afghanistan, and there are lessons and parallel conclusions to be drawn for our military involvement `out there'. Certainly I reckon that any young Squaddie going on his first tour abroad would get a hell of a lot from this book, because for me it was an object lesson in how to treat and interact with the locals; they're never going to be your friends and they'll never accept your presence, but if you at least treat them with a modicum of tact, diplomacy and discretion (whenever you safely can), then a wary tolerance and fragile mutual respect can sprout. Which is a damn sight better than the alternative... Contact is one of the best military stories that I have ever read and I recommend it to you in the highest terms; it's a book from a past conflict that has timely and resonant lessons for a present one. Steven McLaughlin, Author of Squaddie: A Soldier's Story Mainstream Publishing

Tont Clarke was a soldier who served, like myself, in Northern Ireland. He served during two of the worst years of that period and he writes dramatically and honestly of his time there. This is a fine book of the period and an excellent historical record of life for a British soldier in those terrible, violent times. Highly, highly recommended. I lost my copy and am now buying a second one.

This is a very realistic and accurate portrayal of what it was like to serve in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. I served with the Light Infantry in Belfast in the Ardoyne 1972 and in South Armagh at Cross in 1973.Both my tours bear a very close resemblance to Tony Clarkes experience of his tours in Belfast and Crossmaglen. He captures the danger, tension and futility of young infantry soldiers patrolling in Belfast and South Armagh, with infrequent contacts, ambushes and firefights with the Provisional IRA. He also accuratley captures the day to day bullshit, tactical ineptitude and poor decisions made by some senior commanders during the 4 month tours and the constant boredom and lack of sleep that ordinary soldiers had to deal with. It is a very well written, honest and powerful memoir of his time in Northern Ireland that mirrors my own experience very closely. In my view the best book written by a soldier who served in Northern Ireland during the 1970s which were the really dangerous and difficult years. Like Tony Clarke and the Paras, my Regiment the 1st Battalion Light Infantry lost soldiers during both tours in Belfast and Crossmaglen to snipers and bombs. Reading this memoir brings it all back to me and I can picture Belfast and Cross even now in my head as it was in 1972 and 73. We always considered the Paras as a tough and aggressive breed but who may not have been trained ideally for a peacekeeping role in Northern Ireland. Bloody Sunday probably showed that, though the Paras 3rd Battalion and Tony Clarke were not involved in that tragedy. The book though is a very accurate and personal account of what it was like to be a Para and soldier in the Ardoyne in Belfast and in Cross in 1972 and 73, and the descriptions of carrying out patrols, house searches and vehicle check points in an urban and rural setting whilst constantly on the lookout for snipers, ambushes and roadside bombs is very gripping. On reflection I think that at times the Paras were a bit heavy handed in the way that they handled house searches and civil disorder in Belfast in the 1970s in comparison to the way my Regiment operated and behaved. I think we were a bit more restrained and disciplined in our modus operandi, until we were forced to engage with the Provos in ambushes, firefights and gun battles. Anyway as a military memoir it is excellent and highly recommended for portraying the reality and danger of what it was like as a soldier to serve in Northern Ireland. Well worth reading and well done Tony Clarke.

I watched the TV docudrama but needed to read this - it’s a compelling book by a remarkable former soldier who has refused to let his disability caused by military service hold him back - anyone who served in NI or wanted to understand what it was like should read it too. Brilliant. Thank you for writing it.

An enjoyable read could have provided a more in depth view of the 'troubles' in parts.... But an honest reflection of the on the ground aspect of soldering

Contact by A.F.N. Clarke is an astonishing account of a paratrooper in Northern Ireland during the mid to late '70s. Drawing on his own experiences as a Captain, Clarke depicts the monotony of routine and the suddenness of violence. The tone is raw and immediate and we sense the strain of trying to remain individual in a system run by poor leadership; of trying to control your imagination and remember your training when your life is in danger; the battle to remain awake when exhausted and your mission has been extended. Use all your willpower to hold yourself together, or you will crack. "You can't crack me, I'm a rubber duck" is the refrain. Clarke never uses rhetoric or manipulation to entertain us or push our buttons. Indeed, he despises the efforts of his superiors to save face and avoid "bad PR." There are moments of beauty, bleak poetry and devastating surrealism. Humour and horror abound. Clarke spares us nothing, including his own injuries, which led to medical neglect and prolonged treatments. The story was adapted by Clarke for a BBC production of the same name, directed by the brilliant Alan Clarke (no relation). It was perfect material for the director, who specialised in depicting institutions, their routines, violence and power struggles - and individual rebellion. This stark masterwork stripped things down all the way, narrowing the focus on the rural patrols in Crossmaglen, and juxtaposing these scenes with the subsequent rests back at HQ. There's no music or traditional characterisation, just men searching, camping, fighting to stay awake and following procedure when under attack. The direct access to the protagonist's thoughts in the book is absent. We have to look carefully at the facial expressions, body language and behaviour of the Captain played in a wonderfully understated performance by Sean Chapman, especially when his attitude to SOP becomes increasingly reckless when examining a car for bombs. Both book and film are remarkable and disturbing pieces of work.

The spunk and gusto was deafening in the first few chapters and you can clear empathise with the provos in making all British soldiers as legitimate targets. However what came through to the reader is the superiority of the oafs who command the armed forces in the hope of certainly that they will be elevated with honours to protect the wealth and class structure of the socially inept upper classes. To be denied a pension due to your almost inept feeling that all of the strains and impending disability is due to you being injured on duty (that is fighting for your country) as informed to do so. But it wasn’t a war the Northern Ireland apparently ? Armed, in combat and instructed to kill freely have destroyed our country to protect the rich and bigots in society. But we weren’t at war !!

An extraordinary book. Anyone, from what ever side of this sad conflict should read Capt.Clarke's book. My life was over shadowed by the "Troubles" and Capt.Clarke's description, at times very slightly biased against the RC/Nationalist minority in N.I. is one of the best descriptions of the entire mess that I have read. Many Irish men and women and a small minority of British people now need an explanation of what happened and why so many died. His use of English is fantastic and transcends this genre. This is high but attainable prose wrapped inside an approachable and personal narrative. My only criticism, and mild at that, is that Capt. Clarke did not express how trapped all the "players" were. Whether they were British or Irish, Protestant/Loyalist or Catholic/Republicans - they were all trapped in a historical narrative that drove this tragedy on wards in time and down wards in moral terms. The "players" and the "played" were, so a large extent victims of a failed, inaccurate but strangely warm set of historical identities. I feel certain that Capt.Clarke would agree with me, that all involved owe a huge debt to Sir John Major, Dr Mo Mowlem, Tony Blair, an Tioseach Berti Ahern, Dr Paisley, Mr Adams and many others for at least breaking the cycle that a twisted simplistic historical narrative of hurt and hate had created. Capt.Clarke's excellent book adds to that process by giving us an understanding of what was going on, from the "Brits" point of view and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this area. 10/10 DM

An engrossing, lyrical look at the life of a British officer during two tours of duty in Northern Ireland during the 1970s, Contact by AFN Clarke (@AFNClarke) reminded me in many ways of two of my all-time favorite books, one fiction and one non-fiction but both centered on Vietnam: Michael Herr's classic Dispatches and Fields of Fire by James Webb. As a platoon leader in the elite Paratroop Regiment -- the Paras -- Clarke served in Belfast in 1973 and South Armagh, close on the border with the Republic of Ireland, in 1976. The operational environment of each posting war very different -- one urban, crowded with warring factions who agreed on little but a hatred of the Paras; the other, seemingly bucolic farmland masking nearly unlimited routes of infiltration and escape for the enemy -- but the fear of sudden death or maiming injury by explosion or bullet were very much the same. Writing with fluid and light prose, Clarke sweeps the reader up into the day-to-day life of a British soldier in Northern Ireland: "The incompetence of the commanders; the insanity of our orders, and the surrealism of being an occupation Army on home soil." You won't find any pronouncements about which side is right or wrong but there is plenty of fear, sweat and some tears, frustration, mind-numbing boredom and a few laughs. Be warned: if you haven't served in a military unit, some of the humor may escape you. Don't let that be an excuse not to read Contact, just know it in advance. There is something unusual forged in the furnace that is the military, something that often doesn't translate well to those who haven't shared the experience. Another thing: to someone in the year 2013 the conduct of Mr. Clarke and his soldiers may appear unduly harsh, brutal even. To be sure, both sides of the conflict are treated the same, but there is undeniably a tendency to freely use the baton. Know the context. One step outside the cobbled-together fortifications of their too-small bases, Clarke and his men were targets for attack by any number of enemies and in any number of ways including car and pipe bombs, landmines, snipers, ambushes, and mortars. The little old lady from either side of the conflict bringing you tea and cakes will also pump you for information that could be used to kill you later. The author does an excellent job of describing how this environment influenced his decisions, which in most cases was to fall back on his training. With the benefit of our experience in Iraq, US military training today includes Counter-Insurgency Operations (COIN) but in the Cold War-era things were different. Elite combat forces like the Paras were trained to attack the enemy, violently and with the intent to destroy, to seize the initiation and in doing so to keep the enemy off balance. Fine and proven to succeed on the battlefield, but in a murky sectarian conflict like Northern Ireland such tactics frequently ran counter to political calls for "reconciliation." Remember the context. This edition restores passages of the book that the previous publisher wanted removed from the author's initial manuscript. These passages dealt with Mr. Clarke's severe medical issues, which first appear near the end of his South Armagh posting. Clarke nearly died as a result of the inaction and incompetence of British military medical personnel; a situation too many military personnel will relate to. I suppose the earlier publisher wanted to keep the focus on Northern Ireland, but the author's illness and eventual recovery was just as compelling to this reader. One final note: there were several instances of typo or format errors in my copy, perhaps as a result of the eBook conversion by the new publisher or after rewrites in preparation for the new edition. These may have been fixed later. I normally wouldn't mention this in a review but I know some take exception and therefore allow typos or grammatical issues to influence their experience. I strongly urge readers to ignore any such issues and focus instead on the narrative. Don't lose out on a great story, and this is a great story.

Having life's in the area in Belfast I can vouch for the authenticity of this book relating to Belfast. My wife lived about 50 yards from the Leopold Street Police Station. Regarding Crossmaglen and Fonthill on our trips to Dublin we had to ensure that we were past Bandit Country before dark on our return to Belfast. Go, Paras, Go.

It was interesting reading Capt Clarke's perspective of his two tours in Northern Ireland. He described what it was like and how the troops adapted to the conditions by shedding their normal personalities and assuming a cold, hard and sometimes brutal demeanor. As in most wars (although this was not officially classified as a war), politicians sending young men into combat for political reasons without much concern for either side of the issue. Good reading for anyone thinking that it's good to use troops in a policing action.

While the book provides interesting snippets of what life was at platoon level while deployed in Northern Ireland in the 70's I take the author's claims with a large grain of salt. Anyone who has served in the military will see the author as disloyal to his chain of command, a hot head, overly familiar with his subalterns and not one who helped the British Army with their "hearts and minds" campaign in NI. There are much better books on the topic on the market.

Speaks the truth as he sees it. No romance or misplaced glory. Brutal and messy - anytime humans pickup arms against each other. Enjoyable no; fascinating definitely.