James Lettice was born in Wigan in 1940, a wartime baby. His cheery autobiography takes us through his short but eventful army career. A young man with a spectacular talent for getting into trouble, James' senior officers couldn't decide whether he was a leader or a follower and soon his name went before him as he made his mark on friends, colleagues and officers. His many escapades during his time as a 'bad soldier' make for lively reading, including numerous spells in jail, being ordered to 'thumb a lift' to Borneo, causing competitive bed-wetting and picking up ladyboys in Malaya. Eventually the army had enough of him and sent James and his drink problem home, where he met Jaci and started a family before reaching rock bottom. Much later in life, after a wake-up call, he began to write poems, some of which feature in this very enjoyable book.