Gunner Flag McAndrew

Rising unemployment, a pregnant wife, and sleeping in a railway carriage in winter, Flag decides he must join the armed forces as quickly as possible. With National Service at an end, the forces are actively recruiting. He knows there’s something wrong with his chest, but manages to slip past an elderly GP. In basic training he cracks the skull of the barrack room bully, causes a change in standing orders, and generally leaves a trail of mayhem behind him, before nearly dying from pneumonia. A vivid description of life in the British army of 1960.