Interview: Stephen Tyler

FINDING the time to sit down with a good book can be difficult for most people, but the problem is exacerbated for those in the military ranks.

The frantic pace of operations – whether it is training for them, serving on them or recovering afterwards – means that reading often has to take a back seat to more pressing matters.

The issue has been recognised by the Quick Reads scheme, a programme launched in 2005 to produce bite-size pieces of literature for people with busy lifestyles or low literacy levels.

Now celebrating its fifth anniversary, the initiative has enlisted the services of A-list authors including former squaddie Andy McNab to spread the word about the benefits of reading.

Speaking to Soldier ahead of the launch of this year’s Quick Reads programme on World Book Day on March 4, McNab said that he hoped British soldiers would use the opportunity to brush up on their literacy skills.

“I think it’s a good idea – anything that encourages reading has to be a positive move,” he added. “There has always been an issue with literacy and the average reading age of Infantry recruits has historically
been very low

“That doesn’t mean these guys are thick, it’s just that they are not educated. They are coming into the best place because the tri-Service educational set-up is the biggest one in Europe and it is getting these guysin and giving them a chance.

“I personally joined up with a low reading age, the same as lots of other recruits, and the educator said to me that although people might think I was thick, I wasn’t. That’s when it all changed for me.”

McNab’s contribution to Quick Reads’ anniversary line-up is Last Night Another Soldier..., a compelling tale of one day in the life of a rifleman serving at a forward operating base (FOB) in Afghanistan.

Rather than drawing entirely on his personal experiences of active service, the author used a visit to Op Herrick as the inspiration for the book and said that the main character is loosely based on a soldier he met in theatre.

As well as doing wonders for literacy levels, McNab hopes his latest title will also dispel a few myths about soldiers being deployed with substandard kit.

“I was there with a rifle company that had one lad who was dyslexic and had the reading age of an eight-year-old,” he explained. “The amazing thing was that he was trying to improve and would take his coursework out with him.

“The book is based on him and it’s really trying to change the way that people outside the Army view things. It’s a day-in-the-life of this guy in a FOB but it also tries to get across the fact that the kit is good and the morale is good. The idea that these guys’ boots are falling off and it’s all doom and gloom is a load of rubbish.”

While McNab’s book treads familiar ground for Service readers, the range of genres in the scheme’s nine other titles means there is something for everyone.

From romance to murder mystery and financial advice, McNab believes that the variety of Quick Reads publications will make the scheme an appealing proposition for regular and lapsed readers alike.

And the author, who is clearly proud of his own improved literacy levels, urged the current generation of Servicemen and women to ignore any stigma attached to having reading difficulties and make the most of one of the best educational set-ups anywhere in the world.

“I get invited up to Catterick a lot to give talks to recruits to encourage them to take advantage of the education facilities the Army has got. I say that if I can do it then so can anyone,” he said.

“If people are getting ribbed for reading I would say don’t listen to it because it’s rubbish. You can be the best soldier on the planet but if you don’t pass your education you will never get promoted.

“By reading you get a bigger vocabulary and you can communicate much
better. That’s part and parcel of being a soldier.”