Amongst the Marines: The Untold Story

by Steven Preece

Amongst the Marines is Steven Preece's firsthand account of life as an elite Royal Marine Commando. He delivers a direct and unflinching depiction of the excessive and often shocking lifestyle of the Marines, and explains the impact this had on his own personality and behavior. On duty Steven was fit, committed, and loyal, while off duty he displayed a mammoth capacity for drinking, fighting, and, when the drink had run out, womanizing. On home leave, Steven found it increasingly hard to adapt to civilian life. He earned a reputation amongst his fellow Marines for pranks and dangerous behavior, and his eagerness to accept any challenge from other commandos eventually led him to be court-martialled. Preece was acquitted by the court, and here tells his story of life as a Marine.

Genres: Military Fiction, Biography, Nonfiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

I'm an author of two autobiographies and am a former Royal Marine Commando (7 years Service) I left in 1990. Recently, I have released my debut Novel, "Wasted Resource."

I currently work in the I.T. Industry in the UK as an IT Project Manager for Northern Rock Bank.

I am happily married and have been with my wife for 21 great years. We have two fabulous sons.

My hobbies are reading, writing, keeping myself fit (mainly Bodypump), Martial arts (Blackbelt in Ninjutsu) and playing and coaching table tennis competetively in my local town leagues.

I tend to read mainly non fiction books, but still dabble from time to time with fiction stories. Reading, I feel, is a great way to relax.

Steven Preece

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the author of this book. Its my first autobiography which is an inside story about the private life I experienced as a Royal Marine Commando in the 1980s. It is a no holds barred account of sex, violence and all kinds of antics that went on during that time. I finished basic training shortly after the Falklands War and experienced a very violent inception at my first commando unit. This changed my outlook on life and I made my mind up at that point that I would never allow that to happen to me again. Even in a very violent culture, I held my own.


I wrote this book to put my demons to rest and it really was part of the therapy I needed to do this. This first book will play with your emotions and will probably shock you a little. I wrote it when I was 28 years old and put it in the cupboard for 12 years before I looked for a publisher for it. If you read this, please read the sequal too (Always A Marine) as it does explain a lot of things including why I wrote this first book and how I managed to move on from the person I'd become during my military career.


Best Regards

Steven Preece

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing in Steven Preece's book is clear and the book reads quickly. Steven writes more about the troubles he gets into on his time off, then his duties as a marine. I get the impression that he did like the work of a marine and probably worked hard at it. It was the time off that he got himself into trouble, going into bars, drinking, picking up women. He had anger issues and got himself into a lot of fights. Much later in the book he draws on more about why he was so angry, and much of it had to do with his father's drinking problems. Earlier in the book, he claims that some of his anger was generated from his reception after returning from boot camp. The more experienced marines were quite cruel to him. Nonetheless, despite this, he seemed like a likable guy in many ways. The women seemed to like him and found him attractive. He had many friends in the marines and he wrote about how guys tried to stick up for each other. I recommend this book. I found out about Steve's book through this site, Goodreads, as Steve is a Goodreads member also.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love reading accounts of marines ,paras and sas and have read more than 300 books of this kind at first i didnt think the marines were like this but found myself enjoying it page after page i also seemed to immagine myself in this book with the author and many times throughout the book just burst out laughing at the antics they were getting upto i would personally recomend this book if your not easily offended and can immagine what army / marine life was like in the 80- 90s thouroughly good read thank you steven and will deffinately be getting myself more books by this author 5 star from me

[Ade Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! That is all I want to convet just now. Am straight into the follow up, 'Always a Marine' and will do review on both. The writer, Steven, has kindly offered to answer any questions I have, and I'd recommend anyone to read his stuff.

[Paulm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a great easy to read book, giving you a really good view of what service life was like on and off duty in the 80s in the Royal Marines. I could not put it down once a started reading it.

[Rob Aveyard · Rating 1 out of 5]

One star is excessive, I can't remember reading such a load of self-indulgent twaddle.
As a so called " writer " and I use that term loosely, you should be ashamed.
I also feel you have disrespected your regiment and the famous Green beret.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read, highly recommend.

[Luboš · Rating 3 out of 5]

Po přečtení inspirující knihy Corps Business: The 30 Management Principles of the U.S. Marines jsem měl chuť na ještě něco o mariňácích, ale tahle publikace je o britské námořní pěchotě. A hlavně z úplně jiného soudku: chlast, ženské, rvačky... Kdybych chtěl podobný žánr, tak raději sáhnu po Bukowském, literárně o několik kategorií výš. Tato kniha naplňuje představy stereotypu zelených mozků. Když už nic jiného, tak alespoň zajímavá sociologická sonda do Anglie 70. a 80. let a možná i happy-end, že i takový sígr může dospět.

[Exeterman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tries to shock.
As with all repeated shocks it wears a little thin after a while.

Probably the worst book I've ever read on the Royal Marines. I'm sure much of what is written went on, but it didn't even make a decent read.

One of only a few books I have failed to finish.

[Josh Oxley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I've ever read!