Another good military read - from a different perspective
Tales of daring do, punching holes in the sky, pressing on regardless and wizard heroics are all part and parcel of the the military aviators life. There is a pleathora of good reads out there ....but sometimes, something a little gentler can put things into perspective especially when viewed from the ground. John Mount's novel "Rig a dig dig (Boy Entrant Blues)" does just that
It's a novel largely about the 'rites of passage' suffered by 16 year old boys joining up at time of great social change, but where old and sometimes cruel traditions were paramount ensuring the continuation of the higherarcic "Entry System" of Boy training. It is set at St Athan during the early sixties where the main character joins up with the 45th Entry and we follow him through ITS, the Wings, workshops and graduation to his first posting. As an ex BE myself, there are so many "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" moments that it took me very little time to read. (It is pretty obvious that much of it is based on Johns own experiences as a B/E with the 45th) Having said that, it IS a novel and should appeal to many outsiders who just like a good read. My good lady is reading it now and she asked if it really was like that back in the day. She is a good few years younger than me and she said it gave her a great insight to my early 'formative' years in the Air Force. Apparently, she understand me much better now!!!!
Those of you who have gone through the B/E or Apprentice training of the 50s and 60s should find it very entertaining and will nudge at the memory banks a bit. If you went through St Athan in those times you WILL find so much comes flooding back. Those of you who were direct entry, Cranners, Sleaford Tech or whatever might just have their eyes opened a bit.
A word of warning, the layout is a little random at times as John has self published, but, as I say, well worth a read.
Available as paperback only through Amazon books but very reasonably priced at around £6:50.