afghanistan

‘Lots of writers I admire – Dostoyevsky, Orwell, Vonnegut – served in the military.’

DERMOT
Private First Class, French Foreign Legion

Tell us about yourself.
My name is Dermot, I’m 24 years old and I’m from Balbriggan. I didn’t always want to be a soldier. In fact, when I did my Leaving Cert in 2003, I wanted to study journalism in DIT. But I missed out by ten points.

So you decided to try something less cut throat instead?
I worked a while in insurance first. Then I did three and a half years at one of the state’s largest bank. But by 2008, my feet had started to get itchy. My friends were all heading out to party on Bondi Beach. I decided to do something completely different. Read the rest of this interview here.

OH YEAH… OH YEAH… OH REALLY… OH YEAH… BOOOOOOM!

The White House has confirmed that Barack Obama will announce an American exit strategy from Afghanistan (with short term troop increases, no it doesn’t make sense to me either) next Tuesday. I wonder will it be anything like this?

Road to Oslo paved with good intentions, apparently

The decision, announced within the last hour, to award Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is an utterly baffling one. In fact, I assumed it was a joke when I first heard about it. I like the guy. And I like what he’s trying to do. But he hasn’t accomplished any of it yet. So they’re honouring him for having good intentions. Hey, Nobel prize committee – I got good intentions! Where’s my award? Read the rest of this entry »

Published: Irish Times, October 2 2010

‘Lots of writers I admire – Dostoyevsky, Orwell, Vonnegut – served in the military.’

DERMOT
Private First Class, French Foreign Legion

Tell us about yourself.
My name is Dermot, I’m 24 years old and I’m from Balbriggan. I didn’t always want to be a soldier. In fact, when I did my Leaving Cert in 2003, I wanted to study journalism in DIT. But I missed out by ten points.

So you decided to try something less cut throat instead?
I worked a while in insurance first. Then I did three and a half years at one of the state’s largest bank. But by 2008, my feet had started to get itchy. My friends were all heading out to party on Bondi Beach. I decided to do something completely different.

Basically, you absconded from a cushy banking job in 2008 and joined the Foreign Legion… It wasn’t Anglo-Irish by any chance?
No, it wasn’t Anglo. To be honest, a love of literature influenced my decision as much as anything else. Lots of the writers I admired – Dostoyevsky, Orwell, Vonnegut – had served in the military. It was something men just did in those days. I wanted to experience what they’d gone through at first hand. Read the rest of this entry »