The list of British military personalities who have shaped the nation's cultural

zeitgeist is pretty long, there's Walter Raleigh, Erosha Nelson, Flashman and Middleton.

To that list, we might one day add another name, Joe Glent, my guest today, journalist

and author of a new book, Veteranhood Rage and Hope in British ex-military life, Joe.

Welcome to Downstream.

Thanks, mate.

Good to see you.

How does it sound to be in that, you know, a lot, placed alongside such prestigious

names as Aunt Middleton and Flashman?

I definitely Flashman.

I love Flashman and I love George McDonald Fraser, I think he's got a really interesting

critique of the military and empire, maybe less of Aunt Middleton, but I guess we'll get

to him.

More of him in a moment.

For people who aren't necessarily familiar with your story, you were in the army for

six years, you were court-martialed, so you have this interesting dynamic at play where

you actually serve for a really long time, but then you left under conditions which most

people would say, well, that's quite unusual, and it is, it's a very, very small number

of people who exit in that way.

Can you just explain in time the military why you joined up and why you left in such

a manner?

Definitely, yeah, I was definitely, I joined the ranks, I'm working class with my working

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