Red One: Kevin Ivison
Nathan told me about this book and it sounded right up Maffi’s street so I gave it to him for his birthday last year. I have just finished reading it. It is extraordinary, easy to read, gripping and will leave me thinking for some time.
I am not very good at book reviews but I found this book gripping. It is the story of a bomb disposal officer in Iraq who won a George Medal.
It is gripping and as I sit in my arm chair there is no way on this planet that I am ever going to ‘feel’ as he felt but the moment he describes having to walk the long solitary road to diffuse a bomb by hand left me cold. He walked to a certain death and survived.
Not only is it a true story of bravery, courage and war, but it is a story of losing his mind as so many other soldiers do. The things soldiers have to face, see, witness and go through is so beyond our imagination.
Many bits struck me but particularly this:
“More soldiers killed them selves after the Falklands War than died in it”
Mental health and PSTD is a bigger killer to the soldiers in the Falklands than this war.
I will be thinking about that for a long long time.
posted by MortimerBones at
1:27 PM
4 Comments:
Too true, Bones. I went to college with Kev so found it very emotional reading. It's good to see him speaking out about the mental health problems soldiers are coming home with. Would recommend this book to anyone.
As someone who is ex-military and suffered with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can I just say that it can be overcome. It never goes away you just learn to lock away the dark memories. Unfortunately they never actually get erased but with a positive attitude, good understanding family,freinds and colleagues life can return to something like normality. The dark days get fewer :0)
I must get this, my late brother was in the R. E. and spent a good part of his miltart career cleaning up after the fighting. Left the Army in the '80's, and was not very happy man.
Died last year aged 58, way too young, genetically he should have mad 80!
it is a compelling and thoughtful book!
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