The books that are in the process of being written are in the main, based are true events, as they occurred during the writers lifetime, they also include combat situations and the taking of life.
When he was a young, very naive recruit in the Royal Marines, he thought it was his duty to do so, and he hungered for the glory.
But he was to learn very quickly that though it was his duty, there is no glory in war, there is only fear, constant trepidation, and pain, with aftereffects that can, and will last many years after the event.
He was lucky in one respect, very early in his career, he met people; a monk and an Abbess, who showed him how to compartmentalise those pains and fears, and allowed him to lead a productive life.
The world today is full of men and women who have been to war and carry that burden long after their return.
There is no glory in taking the life of another human being.
A man who could be a father, a son, husband or brother, or a woman who could likewise be a mother, daughter, sister, or wife.
Later, he transferred from the military to the police, a transition he found extremely difficult given his additional training and experiences but, the transfer was considered necessary at the time, in service to the State.
The taking of a life as police officer is even more unwanted. As a Marine, he was trained to fight. he was trained to survive, to do what had to be done, without compassion.
As a police officer he was trained not to fight, but too coerce or persuade individuals to restrain from fighting, he was trained to work within the law. It was a paradox, which he initially found it very difficult, even after a period of de-training, or anger management as they now call it and throwing his previous ten years into reverse. Which led to his late arrival to join his class at Hendon. He found it difficult to bear fools, and the world is surprisingly full of them.
Finally, he arrived at the front door of the firearms department, D11. The total staff numbered 38, top to bottom and a closed shop attitude prevailed with instructors having an input into candidates. He was the first candidate unknown to any of the department. But he had been personally invited by the department head.
The teams trained hard to prevent taking a life, however, it still occurred. But there is no glory in taking the life of a villain, even an armed robber.
Those officers should, however, be assisted and supported at every turn, for the shooting will not only affect the individual who pulled the trigger, but his or her family will suffer from their changed attitude.
Pulling the trigger is the easy part, after all that is where your training comes in, dealing with the consequences and the fall out on your family, who have not been trained, is much harder.
Which is why throughout the books you will see that families, though essential, are kept at a distance and are unaware of the true nature of their partner.
In my experience, support is sadly lacking within the police service, senior officers tend to distance themselves from any potential complaint or ask first if any of the dead were black, now referred to as persons of colour. That was a s far back as 1988.
He spits at their feet as there was never discrimination within the department, one of the things he picked out very quickly as he is an absolute advocate of merit. The best man or woman for a job, irrespective of race, colour, creed, or sexual orientation. Which makes him diagonally opposed to positive discrimination which, in his view, promotes discrimination and weakens the organisations concerned and insults good men and women, and he has no time to spend on petty arguments by small-minded people. Merit; the best man or woman for the job. End of.
His books are Faction Books, that is they are fiction based on fact and he has tried to make his books as close to reality as is possible, he has changed locations in some places and all names.
What is fact, and what is fiction, is for you the reader, to decide.
John Grant
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