Once A Marine Always A Marine

[Ste Preece]

I've recently received a couple of emails from an ex Royal who made me realise that the statement at the end of my second book wasn't quite what I meant.

If you've read it and these emails you may understand.

Here goes:

Steve Im an ex bootneck and have read your first book in 04 and loved it, I read that book 3 times. I related so much to what you say about the corp, although my experiences were similar and yet my path through the corp was different to yours (Condor, Hamworthy then across the water for a long stint) I can relate to all the people you talk about, i I know a person exactly like you describe in the other people in the book, especially the nobbers mate. I pissed myself when you talked about the bootneck corner in Warrior, and curling one in the ice bucket, f@#k hilarious mate, I spent the last 4 years of my career in NI on special duties and we had a corner in the det bar, and anyone who entered was subjected to the same shit. Funny though looking back. Im now tucking into your second book which I waited for weeks to come ( I live in Switzerland now) and have just got to the bit when you banged out the Legionaire, hoofing mate, love it. My wife said to me she has never heard or seen me curl up pissing myself on the sofa, or cry with laughter, though i didnt notice it as I was transported back in time to the good old days. I just wanted too say thanks for writing something that has been a good therapy for me, and made me realise the path I have been walking since gettin out in 02. My oppos i still keep in touch with love the read as well, and if your ever this way I'll get the lads down for a run ashore. Cheers Royal

I replied to him and this is what he sent me this morning:
Hi Steve

Thanks for the reply, I read your second book from cover to cover mate, took me 8 hours and 6 beers to get through it, and I loved every page. I was sad to read Taff had ripped you off, that is chad, people like that I just cant get me head around. I related alot to your second book as much as the first, definatly getting used to dealing with civis is still a problem I have. But your right about the last sentance mate, you'll always be a marine, no matter what. Its what we are, we can never change this, it will always be inside us till we go to the grave mate. We learn to adapt and improvise in our new enviroment and go on to live normal lives, but deep inside the green light stays on, flickering in the darkness waiting to be ignited.

I never tell anyone about the corp and only talk about it when I get together with the lads once or twice a year. Nobody understands what Im on about.

Interestingly my Mate got court martialled at Warrior and booted out the corp for assualt, basically the story goes he banged out another bootneck in self defence, but the Corp didnt quite see it that way and booted him out the corp as an example. my mate is in Iraq at the moment so when he gets back in Sept I'll tell him to get your book off amazon.

keep up the fizz and remember 'Pain is weakness leaving the body'

Lets us know when your next book comes out and I'll raid the piggy bank and order it!

Best regards


I was quite pleased with this and guess he was right.

Its a Fact: Once a Marine, Always A Marine.

Best Regards

Steve

[Sisyphus]

I've recently received a couple of emails from an ex Royal who made me realise that the statement at the end of my second book wasn't quite what I meant.

If you've read it and these emails you may understand.

Well, I haven't read it and have no idea of what the statement was so the post was completely incoherent: not least because the 'ex-Royal' never referred to it in any specific way. In fact, irresepective of that, the post was incoherent anyway

So what was the point of your post? (See below)

Mind you, I'm happy for anyone to point out to me my mistakes. Your 'fan' enjoyed his life in the corp. Well, what a waste of my life spending all that time in what I thought was a 'Corps'.

Pedantic? I don't think so!

Ah well.

I just don't like the idea of the forum being used as a marketing tool to increase sales (of anything) .

[Sisyphus]

I've recently received a couple of emails from an ex Royal who made me realise that the statement at the end of my second book wasn't quite what I meant.

If you've read it and these emails you may understand.

Well, I haven't read it and have no idea of what the statement was so the post was completely incoherent: not least because the 'ex-Royal' never referred to it in any specific way. In fact, irrespective of that, the post was incoherent anyway

So what was the point of your post? (See below)

Mind you, I'm happy for anyone to point out to me my mistakes. Your 'fan' enjoyed his life in the corp. Well, what a waste of my life spending all that time in what I thought was a 'Corps'.

Pedantic? I don't think so!

Ah well.

I just don't like the idea of the forum being used as a marketing tool to increase sales (of anything) .

[Ste Preece]

I have many like this. However, I wasn't banging on about my books I was merely sharing a fact that:

Once you're a Marine, You're Always A Marine.


As for the book stuff, nor you were wrong there. But your opinion in life is as important as everybody elses. The problem is, we're all different.

Best Regards

Steve

[terryrat]

hey Sisyphus
I havnt read it either and as there is no title included on here i dont think you can say its using the forum as a marketing tool do you i could write a story on my life in the Corps but its a personal thing nothing that needs to be bragged about because all those writers doing the books are just attention seekers

[Bungle]

Holy sh*t, Steven Preece?

I loved your first book, still reading it for a fifth time, and hopin' to pick up your second one about Civvy Street soon.

[terryrat]

No disrespect here but i know a chap and his missus who run a books stall on the sunday boot near mine well he had both books and said i could have them both for £1.04p didnt ask him how he got that price anyway ive read them and returned them and he gave me a quid back I do love a good read and that was NOT a good read i thought macnob and co could tell a good yarn usual bullshite but yours was dross i certainly wouldnt reccomend them to anyone

[Doc]

I went to wipe my arse with the contents page of your first book and my shit flew over the sink and my arse cheeks are still to get back together...thanks Steve.

[Ste Preece]

In reality I wrote my books to help me to move on with my life and they worked a treat. Putting my past inwriting really was a good therapy. In truth, the queens shilling never came into it as a reason to write them.

However, currently I'm 99.99% of the way through a novel that I'm working on. Its about bootnecks of course and will hopefully highlight the resources that go to waste when soldiers leave their military careers behind. They could be put to better use, fighting terrorists, drug barrons, organised crime etc. Highlighting this is the purpose of this book.

Doc..Your welcome mate.

Cheers

Steve

[GreyWing]

No disrespect here but i know a chap and his missus who run a books stall on the sunday boot near mine well he had both books and said i could have them both for £1.04p didnt ask him how he got that price anyway ive read them and returned them and he gave me a quid back I do love a good read and that was NOT a good read i thought macnob and co could tell a good yarn usual bullshite but yours was dross i certainly wouldnt reccomend them to anyone

No offence Terryrat, but perhaps you'd like to forward us your attempt at grammatical greatness, as your last few sentences haven't done you any favours. Hardly standing on a plinth of education are we.

[Mr_Kiwi]

No disrespect here but i know a chap and his missus who run a books stall on the sunday boot near mine well he had both books and said i could have them both for £1.04p didnt ask him how he got that price anyway ive read them and returned them and he gave me a quid back I do love a good read and that was NOT a good read i thought macnob and co could tell a good yarn usual bullshite but yours was dross i certainly wouldnt reccomend them to anyone

No offence Terryrat, but perhaps you'd like to forward us your attempt at grammatical greatness, as your last few sentences haven't done you any favours. Hardly standing on a plinth of education are we.

Ah, but he is good at using the smiley faces isnt he?

[Doc]

No worries Steve, its about time my cheeks turned to the other side

[Rotary Booty]

Terryrat

This is what Sisyphus was on about, and it doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out how the thread was advertising the books;

At the bottom of the initial post is:
Steven Preece
Author of Amongst The Marines and Always A Marine.

RB

[Ste Preece]

Derek,
its been a while since you've chipped in.

Where have you been hiding? have you had your wings clipped?

The signature wasn't intended that way. So, being a nice guy and all that. I've altered it.

Look at the date the thread was started? I was, like I've always done, standing by what I've wrote.

Please don't ask me to post all the emails, like the one at the start of this thread Opps as you'll need a few weeks to read them.

As for the thread. I'm not sure if you read my second book, although I did offer to send you a copy some time ago, but I actually walked away from being a bootneck. However, since then, through the high volume of positive emails and PMs I have received, being reunited with former oppos and also making a good number of new ones, I have resigned myself to the fact that part of me will always be a marine. I guess these days, in the gym and in the dojo that's quite apparent.

And that's what I meant when I wrote this thread in AUGUST last year.

Take care

Cheers

Steve

[anglo-saxon]

I don't know Steven Preece. Couldn't pick him out in a line-up. I haven't read his book/s and I'm probably not likely to. I don't know what he's like or how he conducts his life - quite franlkly, I couldn't give a toss.

What I do know is that on these forums he has been a calm poster and a gent, even in the face of many petty, infantile personal attacks. He's the only poster on here who hasn't responded in kind to such negativity. If that says anything about him, then it's all good as far as I'm concerned.

So he's flogging his book. Who cares FFS? People can post personal web sites on here that may or may not be flogging stuff. So what?

The slaggings issued on here say far more about the sender than the receiver!

Sum up and give the guy a break FFS!