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Contact
The new eBook edition of CONTACT about AFN Clarke's two tours in Northern Ireland with Britain's elite Parachute Regiment during the blood soaked 1970s. This edition has additional material previously left out of the hardbacks and paperback version first published by Martin Secker & Warburg, PAN Books and Schocken Books.
176 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 1983
About the author
A.F.N. Clarke
9 books4 followersAFN Clarke is the bestselling author of the nonfiction book CONTACT, which was serialized in a British national newspaper and made into an award winning film by BBCTV. He also writes fiction of various genres. He’s lived all over the world, served in the British army, had a near death experience, lost half his insides and recovered from the physical and emotional traumas of war. A proud father of four daughters, screenwriter, pilot, race car driver, he loves to sail, listen to opera, cook gourmet meals, drink wine, read good books, have heated discussions and travel off the beaten path.
Writing mainly fiction these days, he favors politically charged thrillers, suspense and intrigue, humorous satire and books about the challenges of human relationships, all of which reveal his curiosity about the world and his strong belief in the overwhelming power of love, laughter and of the human spirit.
Books include: The Orange Moon Affair and The Jonas Trust Deception (Thomas Gunn thrillers) Contact, Collisions, An Unquiet American, Dry Tortugas, The Book of Baker Series (Dreams from the Death Age; Armageddon; Genesis Revisited) with more coming soon. Author website: www.afnclarke.com.
Writing mainly fiction these days, he favors politically charged thrillers, suspense and intrigue, humorous satire and books about the challenges of human relationships, all of which reveal his curiosity about the world and his strong belief in the overwhelming power of love, laughter and of the human spirit.
Books include: The Orange Moon Affair and The Jonas Trust Deception (Thomas Gunn thrillers) Contact, Collisions, An Unquiet American, Dry Tortugas, The Book of Baker Series (Dreams from the Death Age; Armageddon; Genesis Revisited) with more coming soon. Author website: www.afnclarke.com.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 16, 2012
A crisp, taut, unsparing memoir by a para officer of his time in Northern Ireland during the worst of the early '80s. An account of exhausted soldiers trying to keep order and keep Catholics and Protestants apart while being despised by both sides and being essentially immured in firebases. Very much worth reading for anyone interested in the grinding routine of "ordinary" counter-insurgency.
August 20, 2015
Superb ,, my favourite personal account of the Northern Irish 'police action'
This is the way it as for one paratroop officer.
Read it.
This is the way it as for one paratroop officer.
Read it.
April 12, 2020
A Feeling of Truth
I’ve read many military biographies and I always fell that they need to be taken with a pinch of salt. This book however feels much more truthful which could come from the authors style.
I’d like to read some of his other books to see if this style continues.
A very good read and I was left feeling like I had been on the tour with the author.
I’ve read many military biographies and I always fell that they need to be taken with a pinch of salt. This book however feels much more truthful which could come from the authors style.
I’d like to read some of his other books to see if this style continues.
A very good read and I was left feeling like I had been on the tour with the author.
January 15, 2020
Having experienced the situation although it was the early 60's I found this book very much down to earth and the author not pulling any punches it should really make some people sit up and be counted
Excellent read
Excellent read
April 10, 2023
Gritty
The Parachute Regiments are not deployed as diplomats , they are highly trained for a reason and that is to get the job done !!
I never met Alan Clarke but I did meet officers just ?like him who were born leaders and respected for it.
XMG is just as Clarke described it and it is hard to imagine over 100 men being crowded into such a small space and only supplied by helicopter for food, ammunition and everything else that such a group of men needed. The living conditions were appalling and successive battalion of soldiers on 4 month tours of duty had to endure it.
The Parachute Regiments are not deployed as diplomats , they are highly trained for a reason and that is to get the job done !!
I never met Alan Clarke but I did meet officers just ?like him who were born leaders and respected for it.
XMG is just as Clarke described it and it is hard to imagine over 100 men being crowded into such a small space and only supplied by helicopter for food, ammunition and everything else that such a group of men needed. The living conditions were appalling and successive battalion of soldiers on 4 month tours of duty had to endure it.
January 14, 2018
Atmospheric true account of a Para's tours in Ireland and his stomach problems which were horrendous and should have been initially included in the original pressings of the book. Interesting and pacy..
January 14, 2019
Raw & Honest
I had previously read the shortened version of this book but still enjoyed this version which includes the authors illness.
It is an honest and sometimes hard to read account of one mans yours of Ulster in the '70's
I had previously read the shortened version of this book but still enjoyed this version which includes the authors illness.
It is an honest and sometimes hard to read account of one mans yours of Ulster in the '70's
July 15, 2022
The truth.
Not pleasant reading. But perhaps a good exposure of what actually went on. Not from a Catholic point of view or a Protestant point of view but the poor bigger in the middle whose main object was to keep his men and himself alive.
Not pleasant reading. But perhaps a good exposure of what actually went on. Not from a Catholic point of view or a Protestant point of view but the poor bigger in the middle whose main object was to keep his men and himself alive.
October 26, 2022
Hard to praise highly enough
Anyone interested in the Northern Ireland conflict should read this book. It bleakly , viscerally describes what actually happened, by someone who fought there and paid dearly for the rest of his life.
Anyone interested in the Northern Ireland conflict should read this book. It bleakly , viscerally describes what actually happened, by someone who fought there and paid dearly for the rest of his life.
October 27, 2023
I read this book many years ago when it first came out. I remember being totally absorbed by it back in the day. Then I happened to come across it again. The cover was different and after further scrutiny, I realised that I had read it back in the 1980s.
March 20, 2017
Incredible read
A must read, for those who were there and those who were not. I was a crap hat but much appreciated this book, for I was there.
A must read, for those who were there and those who were not. I was a crap hat but much appreciated this book, for I was there.
November 30, 2018
A good account and a great read ,
I've enjoyed reading this account of his tours of my country and the comical war that has too many sides
I've enjoyed reading this account of his tours of my country and the comical war that has too many sides
March 24, 2019
Great read brutally honest northern Ireland in the nineteen seventies from a soldier on the ground
At the height of the troubles very candid n n n n n n n n n n n n
At the height of the troubles very candid n n n n n n n n n n n n
June 5, 2020
Enjoyable
The realities of two two tours of Ireland by a Parachute Regiment Officer. If you want an insight to what the troubles were like from the army side give this book a read
The realities of two two tours of Ireland by a Parachute Regiment Officer. If you want an insight to what the troubles were like from the army side give this book a read
October 19, 2020
Gritty, honest and brutal of what went on in the 70s in Northern Ireland
May 12, 2021
a Very gritty book , well worth a read
April 20, 2023
Brilliant.
What a great book, I didn't want it to end. Can't believe it was written by a Rupert 😃 Well done Sir and thank you for the insight.
What a great book, I didn't want it to end. Can't believe it was written by a Rupert 😃 Well done Sir and thank you for the insight.
February 1, 2025
Contact is stream-of-consciousness drivel. It reads like someone's disjoint journal and is devoid of anything captivating. There is no purpose for this book to exist.
July 20, 2019
Better second time around!
I first read ‘Contact’ about fifteen years ago and thought it was great, very realistic and being ex army loved it for its excitement and fast moving action. I’ve just finished reading it for the second time and realise the depth and horror of the feelings that the author put into words passed me by. Reading it again, with more experience of life and the world around me and taking more time to think about what was actually meant, I realise that life in Northern Ireland as a soldier was much more complicated and frightening, on both a mental and physical level and just how much we were not told at the time by politicians who were, much like the present situation with Brexit, out for the kudos they could get for themselves.
I would recommend this book to all interested in the history of modern Britain and how truth is lost in conflict.
I first read ‘Contact’ about fifteen years ago and thought it was great, very realistic and being ex army loved it for its excitement and fast moving action. I’ve just finished reading it for the second time and realise the depth and horror of the feelings that the author put into words passed me by. Reading it again, with more experience of life and the world around me and taking more time to think about what was actually meant, I realise that life in Northern Ireland as a soldier was much more complicated and frightening, on both a mental and physical level and just how much we were not told at the time by politicians who were, much like the present situation with Brexit, out for the kudos they could get for themselves.
I would recommend this book to all interested in the history of modern Britain and how truth is lost in conflict.
July 3, 2013
An engrossing, lyrical look at the life of a British officer during two tours of duty in Northern Ireland during the 1970s, Contact by AFN Clarke (@AFNClarke) reminded me in many ways of two of my all-time favorite books, one fiction and one non-fiction but both centered on Vietnam: Michael Herr’s classic Dispatches and Fields of Fire by James Webb.
As a platoon leader in the elite Paratroop Regiment — the Paras — Clarke served in Belfast in 1973 and South Armagh, close on the border with the Republic of Ireland, in 1976. The operational environment of each posting war very different — one urban, crowded with warring factions who agreed on little but a hatred of the Paras; the other, seemingly bucolic farmland masking nearly unlimited routes of infiltration and escape for the enemy — but the fear of sudden death or maiming injury by explosion or bullet were very much the same.
Writing with fluid and light prose, Clarke sweeps the reader up into the day-to-day life of a British soldier in Northern Ireland: “The incompetence of the commanders; the insanity of our orders, and the surrealism of being an occupation Army on home soil.” You won't find any pronouncements about which side is right or wrong but there is plenty of fear, sweat and some tears, frustration, mind-numbing boredom and a few laughs.
Be warned: if you haven’t served in a military unit, some of the humor may escape you. Don’t let that be an excuse not to read Contact, just know it in advance. There is something unusual forged in the furnace that is the military, something that often doesn’t translate well to those who haven’t shared the experience.
Another thing: to someone in the year 2013 the conduct of Mr. Clarke and his soldiers may appear unduly harsh, brutal even. To be sure, both sides of the conflict are treated the same, but there is undeniably a tendency to freely use the baton. Know the context. One step outside the cobbled-together fortifications of their too-small bases, Clarke and his men were targets for attack by any number of enemies and in any number of ways including car and pipe bombs, landmines, snipers, ambushes, and mortars. The little old lady from either side of the conflict bringing you tea and cakes will also pump you for information that could be used to kill you later.
The author does an excellent job of describing how this environment influenced his decisions, which in most cases was to fall back on his training. With the benefit of our experience in Iraq, US military training today includes Counter-Insurgency Operations (COIN) but in the Cold War-era things were different. Elite combat forces like the Paras were trained to attack the enemy, violently and with the intent to destroy, to seize the initiation and in doing so to keep the enemy off balance. Fine and proven to succeed on the battlefield, but in a murky sectarian conflict like Northern Ireland such tactics frequently ran counter to political calls for “reconciliation.” Remember the context.
This edition restores passages of the book that the previous publisher wanted removed from the author’s initial manuscript. These passages dealt with Mr. Clarke’s severe medical issues, which first appear near the end of his South Armagh posting. Clarke nearly died as a result of the inaction and incompetence of British military medical personnel; a situation too many military personnel will relate to. I suppose the earlier publisher wanted to keep the focus on Northern Ireland, but the author’s illness and eventual recovery was just as compelling to this reader.
One final note: there were several instances of typo or format errors in my copy, perhaps as a result of the eBook conversion by the new publisher or after rewrites in preparation for the new edition. These may have been fixed later. I normally wouldn’t mention this in a review but I know some take exception and therefore allow typos or grammatical issues to influence their experience. I strongly urge readers to ignore any such issues and focus instead on the narrative. Don’t lose out on a great story, and this is a great story.
For more on AFN Clarke and his writing, including new military/spy thriller series of novels, visit his website.
As a platoon leader in the elite Paratroop Regiment — the Paras — Clarke served in Belfast in 1973 and South Armagh, close on the border with the Republic of Ireland, in 1976. The operational environment of each posting war very different — one urban, crowded with warring factions who agreed on little but a hatred of the Paras; the other, seemingly bucolic farmland masking nearly unlimited routes of infiltration and escape for the enemy — but the fear of sudden death or maiming injury by explosion or bullet were very much the same.
Writing with fluid and light prose, Clarke sweeps the reader up into the day-to-day life of a British soldier in Northern Ireland: “The incompetence of the commanders; the insanity of our orders, and the surrealism of being an occupation Army on home soil.” You won't find any pronouncements about which side is right or wrong but there is plenty of fear, sweat and some tears, frustration, mind-numbing boredom and a few laughs.
Be warned: if you haven’t served in a military unit, some of the humor may escape you. Don’t let that be an excuse not to read Contact, just know it in advance. There is something unusual forged in the furnace that is the military, something that often doesn’t translate well to those who haven’t shared the experience.
Another thing: to someone in the year 2013 the conduct of Mr. Clarke and his soldiers may appear unduly harsh, brutal even. To be sure, both sides of the conflict are treated the same, but there is undeniably a tendency to freely use the baton. Know the context. One step outside the cobbled-together fortifications of their too-small bases, Clarke and his men were targets for attack by any number of enemies and in any number of ways including car and pipe bombs, landmines, snipers, ambushes, and mortars. The little old lady from either side of the conflict bringing you tea and cakes will also pump you for information that could be used to kill you later.
The author does an excellent job of describing how this environment influenced his decisions, which in most cases was to fall back on his training. With the benefit of our experience in Iraq, US military training today includes Counter-Insurgency Operations (COIN) but in the Cold War-era things were different. Elite combat forces like the Paras were trained to attack the enemy, violently and with the intent to destroy, to seize the initiation and in doing so to keep the enemy off balance. Fine and proven to succeed on the battlefield, but in a murky sectarian conflict like Northern Ireland such tactics frequently ran counter to political calls for “reconciliation.” Remember the context.
This edition restores passages of the book that the previous publisher wanted removed from the author’s initial manuscript. These passages dealt with Mr. Clarke’s severe medical issues, which first appear near the end of his South Armagh posting. Clarke nearly died as a result of the inaction and incompetence of British military medical personnel; a situation too many military personnel will relate to. I suppose the earlier publisher wanted to keep the focus on Northern Ireland, but the author’s illness and eventual recovery was just as compelling to this reader.
One final note: there were several instances of typo or format errors in my copy, perhaps as a result of the eBook conversion by the new publisher or after rewrites in preparation for the new edition. These may have been fixed later. I normally wouldn’t mention this in a review but I know some take exception and therefore allow typos or grammatical issues to influence their experience. I strongly urge readers to ignore any such issues and focus instead on the narrative. Don’t lose out on a great story, and this is a great story.
For more on AFN Clarke and his writing, including new military/spy thriller series of novels, visit his website.
October 29, 2013
So writes AFN Clarke in Contact, the book he wrote about his experience as a 3 Para platoon commander during and after two tours of duty in Northern Ireland. In 1973, Clarke served a tour in Belfast and in 1976 he served a tour in South Armgah, two very different environments. He wrote Contact in an effort, it seems, to cleanse himself of his experiences in Northern Ireland and his Royal Army service. He wrote it to tell the truth about things as he experienced them first hand. He may have written, as he says in the introduction “in anger” and in a “stream of consciousness style” as he mentions at the end of the book, but I think that’s what makes Contact so effective. His anger at the way British soldiers were portrayed, the violence, and the hatred that was part of Northern Ireland combined with stream of consciousness writing style combined to give vivid descriptions of the environment, the people, the patrols, and the fighting.
Books that look at the big picture of wars and conflicts are necessary and so are books that delve into the policies and diplomacy (or lack thereof) that lead to wars, but if you really want to get an idea of what a war was about, you read the firsthand accounts of the men who were on the tip of the spear. Clarke’s book Contact is an excellent example of this type of book. You don’t get excuses; you get an unvarnished view of what happened from someone who was there. There are lessons in it for everyone.
Books that look at the big picture of wars and conflicts are necessary and so are books that delve into the policies and diplomacy (or lack thereof) that lead to wars, but if you really want to get an idea of what a war was about, you read the firsthand accounts of the men who were on the tip of the spear. Clarke’s book Contact is an excellent example of this type of book. You don’t get excuses; you get an unvarnished view of what happened from someone who was there. There are lessons in it for everyone.
January 7, 2014
A brutally honest account of a British soldier in a forgotten conflict. This book provides the account of a platoon leader in the vaunted Parachute Regiment of the British Army during a brutal time of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Much like Nate Fick's
One Bullet Away
, Clarke describes the incompetence of the leadership he worked. Clarke describes the fear he experienced leading his men into towns where knowing friend from foe was impossible until the shots were fired. His brutally honest writing and use of profanity will probably offend some reads but it provides the reader with an understanding of how soldiers in small units relate to each other.
Overall a good book about a conflict most of us no little about.
Overall a good book about a conflict most of us no little about.
October 19, 2013
This is a raw look at the combat life of British soldiers (paratroopers) in their battles with the Irish of Ulster. What got to me was the hard life these British volunteer soldiers had to endure in their support of Britain. I doubt that many of these soldiers enlisted specifically to fight the Irish yet that is what they had to do.
The despair and tribulations the paratroopers faced in their daily patrols is haunting. I honestly could feel the cold, the rain, the mud, etc. Kudos to the author for putting down his emotions for those of us that can only imagine the totality of life on patrol.
The despair and tribulations the paratroopers faced in their daily patrols is haunting. I honestly could feel the cold, the rain, the mud, etc. Kudos to the author for putting down his emotions for those of us that can only imagine the totality of life on patrol.
January 24, 2016
A great "tell it like it is" book chronicling a British Para's experience in Northern Ireland. Presented in an episodic fashion, Contact is written with a direct "from the ground" perspective, and often relies on a stream of consciousness style. The author uses the book to highlight examples of inept command and counter-productive practices. Highly recommended, but you will need to keep the glossary handy if you aren't familiar with modern British military vernacular.
May 17, 2013
Fabulous. Utterly fabulous, and it kind of sheds a new light on the conflict in Ireland today. That makes two I've read lately that hint at the lifelong conflict the Irish in general have had to face, both here and other places. More to follow.
February 3, 2015
Just finished this one; Clarke's honest to a fault. This is the best book I've read of the fighting in Northern Ireland, training of an officer of the British Paras, and recovery from serious medical issues most probably caused by stress, bad food, the strains of campaigning. Highly recommended.
Want to Read
January 22, 2013$0.0
September 29, 2016
Very very good
Thank you ,really good read.brought back lots of memories, good ,bad ,happy and sad .A must read for all veterans who assisted the bog trotters !.
Thank you ,really good read.brought back lots of memories, good ,bad ,happy and sad .A must read for all veterans who assisted the bog trotters !.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews