As the first Black Hawk lifted off, carrying Colin, British and Russian wounded to field hospitals in the rear, Oz gave a wave to Beckett, awaiting his turn with his grim luggage, now inside a body bag, and then jogged away to his Warrior in readiness for the return to friendly lines.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Farman was born in Cheshire, England in 1956 into a close family of servicemen and servicewomen who at that time were serving or who had served in the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and British Army.
As a 'Pad brat' he was brought up on whichever RAF base his Father was posted to.
In 1972 Andy joined the British Army as an Infantry Junior Leader at the tender age of 15, serving in the Coldstream Guards on ceremonial duties at the Royal Palaces, flying the flag in Africa, and on operations in both Ulster and on the UK mainland.
Swapping his green suit for a blue one Andy joined the Metropolitan Police in 1981.
With volunteer reservist service in both the Wessex Regiment and 253 Provost Company, Royal Military Police (V) he spent twenty four years in front line policing, both in uniform and plain clothes. The final six years as a police officer were served in a London inner city borough and wearing two hats, those of an operation planner, and liaison officer with the television and film industry.
His first literary work to be published was that of a poem about life as a soldier in Ulster, sold with all rights to a now defunct writers monthly in Dublin for the princely sum of £11 (less the price of the stamp on the envelope that the cheque arrived in.)
The 'Armageddon's Song' trilogy began as a mental exercise to pass the mornings whilst engaged on a surveillance operation on a drug dealer who never got out of bed until the mid-afternoon.
On retirement, he emigrated with his wife to the Philippines.