I was born on the 19th of February 1967 in a small village in Bradford, West Yorkshire to John and Sheila Byrne.
At the time of my birth my dad was serving in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Aden, so for the first few months of my life i was brought up by mum and my grandparents.
Dad finished his time in the Army and came home to make our family complete.
Three years later there was another addition to the family in the form of my brother Matthew.
I always remember my childhood as a happy time until i reached the age of seven and i was involved in a road accident, where i was knocked off my bike by an oncoming bus and spent the next few months of my life in hospital, undergoing several operations to repair my fractured skull and various other injuries.
The visible scars of that day in 1974 are still very much visible above my left eye and a scar literally from ear to ear.
I carried on my schooling after i left hospital with no ill effects to my concentration whatsoever , so in effect i had fully recovered although i sometimes wonder if they left my brain on the operating table lol.
i left school at 16 and went more or less straight in to a job manufacturing fireplaces and fittings, this job lasted about 9 months but i needed to move on and try and get a job which i enjoyed doing, so for the next 8 years i went from job to job but nothing seemed to suit me until i was offered a job in a printshop, where i progressed from checker to the coveted status of trainee printer within 3 months.
It was a job i thoroughly enjoyed and got a lot of satisfaction from but i wanted to take it one step further and get a qualification from it but college was expensive, so after a lot of thought i decided to enter the Army careers office to try and carry on my printing experience within the Military enviroment.
So after passing entrance exams and various medicals and selection processes i was accepted and joined the Training depot RAOC, on the 25th of February 1990.
After 10 weeks basic Military training and 6 weeks trade training and a weeks pre posting leave i embarked for my first "Working Unit" in August.
Soltau, West Germany was my destination to join the now defunct 11 Ordnance Company RAOC, I was ecstatic and a little scared but after arriving i made loads of new friends and felt like i belonged.
As a little taster for what was to come in september the company deployed to The Gulf to free Kuwait in "OP DESERT STORM", So with a few Yanks (sorry Ellamarie), we fought the might of the Iraqi Army and within a hundred hours of the ground offensive starting they were defeated.
We returned to Germany and after post tour leave i concentrated on my trade qualifications and was upgraded to Class 1 and i passed my Regimental proficiency qualification too.
In 1992 i married a girl called Michelle(enough said lol) and left Germany to return to blighty, and a new post.
Within my 4 years there we had 2 gorgeous children Katie and Thomas, the only good thing to come out of the marriage.
In 1996 we were posted to Northern Ireland and the marriage went down hill(the reasons i wont go into), anyway she went back to the UK and i was alone.
Two weeks later i was posted back to the UK and embarked on life as a single soldier in the block.
Bosnia loomed in March 1998 and i was quite happy to go but not to leave my new girlfriend Dee on her own, but needs must and on the 18th the Squadron deployed, but not before i had proposed to Dee.
September i returned and received a posting order for Cyprus, so lots to arrange and so little time to do it.
31st of October 98 and Dee and I got married and moved to our new house in Wiltshire for 3 weeks until we left for cyprus.
You are now up to date, we are still in Cyprus for another 12 months unless i get posted earlier as i was selected for promotion in june this year where we will be going is a mystery at the moment but i will keep you all informed.
