Swinney is so right about Sinn Féin - I grew up in the Troubles, we need to move on |
For a period during the 1970s I used to pull back the curtains of my bedroom window and watch my father as he jumped over the low wall in front of our house, hop into the back of an army Land Rover and speed off into the darkness towards Belfast and the Black Mountain which overlooks the city.
His face and hands were covered in black camouflage and the army surplus knapsack he carried had been dyed black on our kitchen stove by my mother.
I'm not sure if he carried a gun but I do remember most nights wondering if he would arrive home the next morning.
My father was a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970 after the outbreak of the Troubles and would regularly go out on patrols and surveillance with it around Belfast and the surrrounding area.
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Its official role was the "defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage" and it was made up of overwhelmingly Protestant locals who served as part-time volunteers.
During the day dad worked as a civil servant and ran a small farm and at night he had this other life with the UDR.
He joined the force after serving in the RAF during the second world war - and I believe he joined the UDR to help save lives. He was older than most members and, perhaps usual among its members he was born in County Donegal, one of the three counties of Ulster not in Northern Ireland.
His UDR membership put his life........