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part of the country whatever the season, and in late December it was particularly austere; these hills are not used as the selection ground for the Special Forces for no reason, and only a matter of contours up Pen-y-Fan it soon became apparent that the slopes of South Wales’s highest mountain were an ill-advised terrain choice for breaking in my brand-new boots. So with blisters forming, we had to retreat back to the burger van and after a bacon sandwich and a shoe change, we managed a happy day in the hills but my primary aim still remained unachieved, as the boots remained in their box in the boot of my car.
    There are many theories on how best to break in new boots. The favourite and widely practised is to tape up your feet with medical tape, letting the tape take all the painful rubbing rather than tender skin; some wear two pairs of socks for the same reason, or socks over tights as one soldier once advised me, although I suspect this has more to do with the wearing of ladies’ hosiery than blister prevention. Alternatively there are those who try to soften the leather by standing in the bath or use leather conditioner, Dubbin, or urinate in them. The privileged few could ask their manservant to wear them in for them or alternatively, if the whole process is simply too painful, there is always the Navy, where they wear shoes.
     
    As my arrival date at Sandhurst grew closer and the career switch more of a reality, the complete transformation I was embarking on became increasingly apparent. Around me I saw life choices I would no longer be able to make. Doors shut on expensive beach holidays, Alpine chalets and the dream of owning a big countrypile. I would no longer be able to afford my shoe and handbag habit, as my spending would have to adjust. As I downsized my car and mortgage, I realized that money meant more than just the materialistic greed I despised in the City. It meant not being able to provide for my children as my parents had for me. No head start with a public school education. 6 No far-flung family holidays. No large home. Having been in a position where I could provide all this for my progeny, was I now being selfish in giving it up? I began to recognize the enormous gravity of what I was doing and, as the importance of this sank in, I had doubts.
    But if I didn’t go to Sandhurst now I knew I’d regret it for ever, so I packed up my Fulham flat and moved my worldly possessions into my parents’ attic (where far too much of it still lies), and, on the first Sunday of 2007, with boots broken in, countless cleaning products packed, City job resigned and my name removed from all social activity lists, I was as ready as I could be to drive to Sandhurst.
    And what lay in store for me was beyond even the wildest of my preconceptions.
    1 Mark 8:36.
    2 Officer Training Corps.
    3 The Army has since increased the maximum age limit for soldiers to thirty-three.
    4 Defence Recruitment & Retention in the Armed Forces , a study by the National Audit Office, November 2006.
    5 UK Armed Forces personnel are entitled to vote either in their hometown or the constituency in which they serve. Those deployed away on operations are encouraged to vote by post.
    6 The Army do provide financial support for boarding school education as a ‘continuity of education allowance’, which ensures that the education of forces children is not disturbed when their parents are continually posted and move. However, this expensive provision is increasingly under budgetary threat. 

3
THE SHOCK OF CAPTURE
    I woke shortly after five o’clock on my first morning at Sandhurst instantly regretting the folly of decisions that resulted in my being there. My alarm clock rang out a digitized bleep that couldn’t be ignored, so I crawled out of bed and the sheer enormity of what I’d done overwhelmed me like the January frost encrusting the parade square outside. Suddenly the prospect of ironing a work shirt, putting on a suit and enduring