This is a story of two identical twins born in 1961 who from the age of 16, lived very separate lives and followed very different paths; one joining the Army and living and working in England and Germany, getting married, having children and after 33 years, leaving the Army to settle in Dorset and work as a civilian; working for a member of Parliament, a council and a holiday park, where the other worked as a bank teller, airline steward and teacher before getting married and having a son and moving to America to follow the dream.
Despite this separation both twin boys are still very alike physically and emotionally with similar likes and dislikes and attitudes and behaviours. Still, after 60 years, like two peas in a pod and two sides of the same coin, a testament to nature versus nurture, where nature wins but where nurture plays a significant part in shaping their lives.
This is the story of Alan, one of the pair, one of the brace of braces who left home at 16 to join the Army. A career covering the period of the Cold War to Iraq, a time of living and working in England and Germany, deploying to pre-prepared defensive positions on the West/East German border, awaiting the Soviet (Russian) advance, the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany and the enlargement of NATO.
Very topical today with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Finland joining NATO. This was against a backdrop of much social change in the UK; the miners' strike, power cuts, Margaret Thatcher, the Beatles, Dr Who, flower power and the Millennium.