In "Baker's Dozen: a Fantasy Novel", I depicted the Canadian military (personified by Paul Baker Colson) in a very negative light. I would like to explain that that character was basically like what I consider I would have turned out to be if I had stayed in the Armed Forces for a 25 year stint. I was briefly, in the late 70s, a recruit private. I made it, though just barely, through Basic Training at CfB Cornwallis, Nova Scotia. I went out west for infantry training at Camp Greenwood. At that point, I decided that this was not the life for me and went AWOL This was followed by some very embarrassing and demeaning situations. The end result was an honourable discharge, which surprised me as I had lied when I joined up about my past mental health status. There followed two years in Calgary, where I had work most of the time but spent most of my money on drink. These two elements of my past gave me the character of Baker, because I had seen some members of the infantry, who had both rank and a problem with alcohol. I did not in any way, however, wish to paint all military men with the same brush. I have no right to...as I said above, I was never a warrior.
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Reviewed by johnny larue
11/15/2009
You have to respect someone who comes clean about some of the less savoury of his personality traits.
A book for every Muslim and everyone wishing to know about their way of life. The Diary of the Camp Manager at Mundihar following the South Asian Earthquake - October 2005. An account of life after the Earthquake in one of the largest of the 161 camp
This book has been eight years in the making. It is mostly a jumble of thoughts written down in old spiral notebooks and hidden in the bottom drawer underneath various manuals for software packages and hardware long since turned obsolete.
