Rick Brindle

  Like the song says, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And so, it seems, it is with the Royal Navy. Diversity and equality, less discrimination, officially, but on the ground, it's still the same sexist, misogynistic boys' club. We're not quite there yet It's Not For Everyone Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard

Sister Alex, my next novel, is a post apocalyptic story about a trans woman surviving in a world where the gender wars of men versus women means she has nowhere to turn to. The book cover is under construction. Leave your comments and let me know which one you like. Sister Alex Berkshire, England, and it’s no longer the promised land. Ever since a species-wide illness wiped out nearly every human being, it’s become a gender-based battlefield. The women stick together as a single, cohesive community, but only as long as you’re a woman. And it’s the same for the men, although they haven’t quite got the same group thing going, choosing instead to range as lone threats, taking what they want. Sometimes they operate in ones and twos, but only as long as you’re a man. They’re separate tribes, and they hate each other on sight. Pick your gender, pick your side. And then there’s Alex, born as a man, identifies as a woman, and thanks to a stash of scavenged hormones, she’s stuck somew

  It's Not For Everyone,  a personal memoir of my time in the RAF Regiment, and a story of surviving abuse, us free to download from Amazon for a limited time. Get your free copy now. What do you do when your dream job turns into a nightmare? Rick Brindle was a third generation military child. His father and grandfather served their whole lives in the Army, and all he wanted to do was be a soldier. In 1989 he joined the RAF Regiment. But life in the Regiment was a world away from what he thought it would be, and it quickly became toxic. Facing a culture of bullying, beatings, verbal abuse and sexual harassment, the community he wanted to be a part of became more like a prison. Most people around him went along with the abuse. Some agreed with it, some joined in, while the chain of command routinely looked the other way. Set over thirty years ago, this is a story of surviving abuse that still resonates today. It's Not For Everyone  is essential reading for anyone considering a m

The British military has traditionally favoured quality over quantity. It introduced conscription from 1916 to 1920, and from 1939 to 1960. The 1916 introduction of conscription was a result of massive troop losses that weren’t made good with volunteers alone. World War 1 was the first industrial scale, modern war that Britain had been involved in, and the first time it needed more than volunteers to fill the gaps caused by dead and injured soldiers (as well as sailors and airmen). In 1939, it was the same thing, although the writing was on the wall and the call ups started before the shooting did. In World War 2, all of the belligerent nations relied on huge, massive, ginormous militaries, all of them fuelled with conscript forces. There was no way that warfare on that scale could have been waged any other way. Britain continued with conscription after World War 2 because it also had to police its colonies, many of which were agitating for freedom. Trouble was, conscription was also j

  Most times they hid them If we’re to confine ourselves to the Gold Age of Piracy, the Caribbean and West African coasts were very sparsely populated, and there were loads of deserted areas where a pirate ship could his out, only to sally forth when a ripe merchant vessel came by. They’d tend to avoid established government towns, unless they had a pirate-friendly government, like Tortuga or Grand Bahama, and sometimes Port Royal. Or they could even possy up at Madagascar, which for a time had its very own pirate haven. It wouldn’t last long, though, and the motto of a pirate’s life being a short ,but merry one, quickly came true. Soon, the pirate’s life was actually too short to ever be merry. And despite the fact that pirates were truly horrible people, they make great subject matter for fiction, even heavy metal fiction. Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard It's Not For Everyone

Sister Alex, my next book is nearly ready. It's a story about a trans woman who survives the apocalypse. It's going to proof read this month.   The cover design is under way. Fingers crossed for a 2024 publication. Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard It's Not For Everyone

  The Westland Whirlwind. I love this plane in a totally irrational way. I remember reading a comic book story about the Whirlwind, and that was me sold. Yes, it was unreliable, and yes, the engines were a nightmare, but when it was working it had sublime performance, and the four concentrated nose cannon was a serious package of firepower. According to the story book, the Whirlwind inspired the Mosquito, and was ultimately replaced by them. This actually isn’t true, they were replaced by Typhoons, but for years I thought that if only the Whirlwind had been developed and allowed to evolve, the Mosquito might never have happened. Oh, the misconceptions of youth. It's Not For Everyone Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard