Rick Brindle

Abuse victims speak out. Just don't for one second believe it doesn't happen everywhere else in the military. Take it from me, I know. It's Not For Everyone

  New kindle for Christmas, then hear this!  Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard , the third novel in the Cold Steel trilogy is free to download from Amazon for a limited time. Get your free copy now! Cold Steel are back! Their new album has just been released. Their previously cancelled Spanish tour dates have been rearranged, with the female trio and Spain’s biggest metal band, Damas Infernales, supporting. Cold Steel’s biggest asset though, is Johnny Faslane, their brutally talented manager. But even Johnny can’t fully eliminate Cold Steel’s innate ability to spectacularly destroy their prospects, and even before their second concert ends, the tour is scrapped after an ill-advised trip back to the eighties, and the band are put into creative deep freeze by their record company. Only an unprecedented event and a lot of money can possibly turn their fortunes around. Like a five hundred year old treasure hoard that a long dead pirate once offered in return for his life, tr...

Okay, for such a small scale war, it's still front and centre in the British psyche. And maybe it's because of the myths that surround the whole thing. Here's the top ten that I keep hearing.  Top of the tree, as said by others, that Rapier was in any way a decent system. It was shite, and its considerable shortcomings were kept very quiet in order to boost international sales. Having served on a Rapier squadron, I wholeheartedly agree. 2. The infallible SAS. Through sheer hubris, they nearly froze to death on Fortuna Glacier, which then caused the loss of two helicopters in an attempt to drag their sorry arses back aboard ship, as well as risking several other aircraft and crews at the same time. They also ambushed an SBS patrol and caused blue on blue fatalities, and the paras didn’t always trust them for sharing intelligence information. They also refused to take part in Op Mikado, although on that point, I would have as well. 3. That the Argentine soldiers were all usel...

  Well, it's that time of the year, so here's my favourite festive music video. I like irreverent, anti-hero stuff, so it’s Alice Cooper for me. Alice Cooper Christmas song And if Cold Steel ever did a Christmas single and video, I’d hope it was done in similar style. Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard It's Not For Everyone

 No, unless  they’re on jankers. A lot of the fitness stuff is a myth perpetuated to impress women. Most troops aren’t like, olympic athlete fit or built like Dwayne Johnson or lethal weapons like Riggs or Van Damme They’re just ordinary guys and girls with the will power to do extraordinary things, which is actually more impressive than any bullshit boasts about doing two hundred before breakfast. Although that’s not say that there aren’t a few absolute machines out there. It's Not For Everyone Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard

  Rainbow managed it. They never kept the same line-up from one album to the next, but they were still consistently good. From the start, though, it was always Ritchie Blackmore’s band, so it was never a problem for the fans. Black Sabbath did almost exactly the same thing after Ozzy left. As with Rainbow, only the guitarist, in this case, Tony Iommi, remained from the original line-up. Not all of the fans were on board with the changes though. The original band had stayed together for ten years, and after that time, after that success, they’d developed a definite identity. Personally, I like all of their incarnations, but opinions definitely vary. Accept are another band where there’s only one original member. Wolff Hoffmann remains the lynchpin of Accept, and yeah, I love their stuff. Maybe the moral of the story is replace everyone apart from the guitarist. Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard It's Not For Everyone

Back in the day, it definitely wasn't as sexy as it is now. My training started with six weeks at Swinderby, where I was trained to use the L1A1 Self Loading Rifle, known as the SLR. Then it was off to Catterick for Basic Gunner Training, where I learned to use the SA80. Including bayonet training. I also learned to use the Light Support Weapon, LSW. And also the 66mm Light Anti-Armour Weapon (LAW). This was for use purely against trenches and bunkers, a trick picked up in the Falklands War. By 1989–90, the 66mm would have bounced off any armoured vehicle, but it was an excellent anti-infantry weapon. I also learned to use hand grenades. And that was it. Not nearly as exciting or sexy as the kit that gets used now, but I guess that’s progress. It's Not For Everyone Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard

It's a process, and the trouble is that as well as all guitars sounding different, they also sound different once you get them home, and they also definitely don't sound the same as when your hero plays them . And that’s one of the reasons why people will keep on buying them, in that elusive quest for the perfect sound and tone. And that’s why talk of different pickups, as well as the demand for after-market pickups is also red hot. How do you know what kind of sound you want? Well, that’s down to you. What kind of music do you like? What kind of music do you want to play? So, how do you know that the guitar you buy will sound the way you want it to? Well, get that right first time and you’ll probably be in a worldwide minority of one. Getting your guitar right for you is a process, and as you change, your playing will change, and so will your equipment. Given all of that, don’t be surprised if your guitar changes as well. That all said, here’s a few things that might help. Get...

  The Argentine forces wore their own uniforms while invading the Falklands. Once they were there, though, some of them helped themselves to any British kit they found. Spoils of war, and legitimate. As far as I know, nothing happened to them as a result. Both sides did it. Most British troops deployed to the Falklands with the out of date and useless DMS boot. The Argentine boots were far superior to the British ones. Every chance the British had, they’d swap their boots over, sometimes taking them from dead Argentine soldiers, sometimes swapping them with prisoners of war. It was one of many wake-up calls for the British military, and some of their kit was improved as a result. Not all of it, though. It's Not For Everyone   Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard

They didn’t, but man, what a show that would have been! The rivalry between the two since Ronnie took over from Ozzy in Black Sabbath is probably one of the most written about and discussed pseudo/neo/never actually really happened spats in heavy metal history. Sure, Ozzy was pissed that Sabbath kicked him out, especially for being drunk and out of control, when to quite a large degree, they were all drunk and out of control. And yes, Ozzy was not, and is not some kind of singer by numbers. He is Ozzy, and more so than the Highlander, there really can be only one. Nobody can do it quite like he does. But then again… Ronnie was also utterly unique, as different to Ozzy as coal is to diamonds. And yes, Sabbath were in a tight spot in ‘79, and if it hadn’t worked with Ronnie, would Black Sabbath have folded there and then? Quite possibly. Whatever the what-ifs on that one, though, Ronnie took Black Sabbath into new territory, and to new heights. And yes, they both said things, did things...