First Light

As violence erupts in Ulster in the late sixties, Paul Wharton begins a journey to become an Ammunition Technician, which will bring him face to face with the terror of the Northern Ireland conflict. Responsible for managing the army’s ammunition and explosives, the unenviable task of neutralising improvised explosive devices also falls to the inexperienced and untried Ammo Techs. In a conflict dominated by the Provisional IRA’s bomb-making prowess, everyday survival is counted as a success. In this the second, revised edition of his autobiography, a poignant insight is given to Wharton’s twenty-eight years of service, from the innocent excitement of life as an apprentice, through three operational tours of Northern Ireland to the subsequent disillusionment of a man who has suffered the losses of war and is now seeking recognition for his fallen comrades. Confronting his own mortality and that of his fellow soldiers every day – and working within a profession that was initially ill equipped to deal with the dangers that it faced – Wharton’s journey is one of courage and the unsurpassed strength and humility of young men at war.