A MAN from Patna who spent over 20 years in the Army Parachute Regiment has written a book about his experiences.

Gordon Muirhead, who was awarded a MBE in 2010, for his services in Afghanistan, joined The Parachute Regiment as a junior soldier in 1981 and left over twenty years later as a Major. 

He has now put together a collection of short stories about his life in the 'Paras' in his book 'Three Decades of Duty'. 

Speaking about his new material, Gordon said: "For me this book is a trip down memory lane about all the good times I had in the armed forces. I just started to scribble down notes and a year or two later I had a book.

"Sometimes I would start writing one story then stop and start writing another one. They are all true funny stories about the good times we had in combat situations as well as peaceful ones. 

"It is important to remember all the fun I had as the army took me all over the world as well as the UK. Even the bad times had elements of fun. But it is the group sense of humour that gets you through these situations."

Gordon has served in Northern Ireland, Iraq, Yugoslavia, the UN in Cyprus and Afghanistan. He has completed military exercised throughout most of Europe, the Arctic and America.

Since he left the Parachute Regiment six years ago, Gordon has been working at a Private Security Company in Baghdad.

He continued: "I belonged in the army. It is either for you or it's not. I had always wanted to join the Parachute Regiment since I was about eight years old.

"My grandfather was in the army and spent six years serving in WWII but he never talked about his experiences.

"We got up to mischief both off duty as well as on operations. This aim of this book is to show the public what life in the army is all about and to give ex-servicemen a trip down memory lane about all the fun times."

Gordon's book Three Decades of Duty is available to buy on Amazon as well as in stores on the high street.