The Boy Has Gone
How 16 Weeks of Training Changed Him Forever
by John J Green

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On the other hand, I was part of another family, one that was showing us that in times of conflict we could rely on each other without reservation—different brothers than those at home, but brothers none the less. As with any family we had our differences, but when push came to shove, we were together, and one day our lives might depend on it As a directionless eighteen-year-old in a mid sixties small village in England, John Green decides to join The Life Guards if only to defy his father, who once had a naval career. For sixteen weeks, John and his fellow recruits undergo punishing physical challenges, a grueling, daily routine of exhausting and meticulous cleaning and polishing, and endless inspections under the caustic eye of their never-pleased training officer. But as time goes on, this challenging training and the good humored camaraderie that arises between the recruits makes them capable of doing things they never dreamed of. With great humor, emotional insight, and a pride that has never left him, John Green makes the day-to-day life of young men in military training very, very real: from the insecurities; to the punishing physical challenges; to the daily, insulting criticisms of superiors; to the homesickness…and on into the bonding, maturing, and hard-won achievement that turns scared, homesick boys into soldiers and young men of distinction.

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Born in a small village in Lancashire, England, John Green lived in council housing with his siblings and his financially struggling parents, who had both served in the Royal Navy during WWII. Though he did well academically, John spent a number of his teenage years being a total pain in the arse, prompting his suspension from school and a dark prediction from his headmaster that he would do little in life. But at the age of eighteen, John joined the British Army, which set his path for the future. After his sixteen-week training, he would serve nine years with The Life Guards and then go on to serve twenty-seven years in the Greater Manchester Fire Service. In 1999 John was invited to a lunch where he met and talked with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and later with Prince Philip, which is still one of the highlights of his career. On retirement from the Fire Service in 2001, John emigrated with his wife Joan to Alberta, Canada, where he worked for fourteen years as a safety coordinator for a power-line company. He and Joan still live there to this day.

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John J Green