Hi Everyone,

I am an ex-Royal Engineer (1965-89) who recently gave up work (Aug 07) to become a full time carer for my wife. At the beginning of this year I was urged by my daughters to write my autobiography. There being too much literature out there about the harshness of service life so I decided to write about the lighter side:

It would make a great new TV comedy series hah "Lads Army"

The Continuing Story of Our Lad Ricky

Ricky – The Early Years
I have attempted in my books to give a feel of what life was really like for a military family living below the poverty line in the thirty years between 1950 and 1980. In this, the first of the three books, I detail my life from my earliest memories, through my school days, until I eventually joined the Army in the mid 1960s. You are able to follow the numerous scrapes, incidents and often funny, sometimes tragic situations in which I found myself. Arrested by the RMP three times before reaching the tender age of 7!

Our Lad Ricky
In Our Lad Ricky I write about the several abortive attempts I made to join the Army, always failing due to my apparent weakness and ill health. And how, in desperation, I persuaded my best friend and school chum Ben to travel with me to Queen Street, Wolverhampton and take my entrance medical there on my behalf. The book highlights my hesitant, precarious and often hilarious attempts at turning from boy to man, by learning to be a soldier and how, not just once, but twice, I was almost discharged from the Army as ‘Services No Longer required‘!

Ricky – Green Beret
In Ricky – Green Beret, I cover the period from my arrival in Germany until, quite accidentally, I found myself posted to a Commando Unit forming up in Singapore, my subsequent Commando Training and the five years that followed wearing the coveted Green Beret. I served in Singapore, Norway, Greece, Turkey, Malta, Cyprus, Sardinia as well as Germany, the UK and several tours in Northern Ireland. It was while serving with the Commando Squadron that I met and married my dear wife, Helen, in Malta. (Available January 2009).
Find out more at: http://www.crawldog.com/michaelruston/index.php