Storming the Falklands

My War and After

By: Tony Banks

Narrated by: David Monteath

Tony Banks and his comrades of the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment were highly trained, but nothing could prepare them for the intensity and ferocity of fighting to liberate the Falkland Islands.

Plunged into a war of night attacks and vicious close-quarters combat, Banks and his fellow soldiers' fierce bravery and determination saw them through the bloodiest conflict British troops had faced in decades. Seventeen men died at Goose Green, a hard-fought battle the paras came close to losing.

After the Falklands, Banks suffered years of debilitating combat stress, a battle only recently won when he met his former enemies and laid the demons to rest.

©2012 Tony Banks (P)2013 Hachette Digital

Critic reviews

"[A] visceral, fast-paced, no-holds-barred autobiography . . . Strongly recommended" (Neil Faulkner, Military History Monthly)

"A vivid, thoughtful book" ( Herald magazine)

"A harrowing first-hand account" ( Daily Mirror)

Compelling memoir of the Falklands

Tony Banks goes into great detail describing his life as a sometimes troubled youth in Dundee, Scotland who makes the decision to join the elite 2 Para in the Royal Army. He goes into graphic description of the cold, wet conditions of fighting in the 1982 Falklands War, along with the terror of battle and the pain of losing mates during the war and some of the horrific sights he witnessed.

A good chunk of the book details his post Army life of battling the bottle, anger, and PTSD, all while becoming a very successful businessman. Over time, through the British TV series Secret Millionaire, he is confronted with facing the ghosts of his past, as well as a journey of redemption to go back to the Falklands and even to go to Argentina to meet Argentine veterans of the conflict.

It is a very, very compelling book.