Adnan Sarwar 
Adnan Sarwar is a former soldier who served for ten years in the British Army. He now writes, acts and lives in London. His interests are girls, guns and rum.
Cultural Caviar
Don”t Come for the WarJul 02 2015 I landed at Rafic Hariri Airport at five in the morning. Friends had asked if Beirut was dangerous. I wanted to see. Basra had surprised |
Cultural Caviar
Carry OnApr 24 2015 Three thousand miles from the fighting in Syria I was sat with Pakistanis who definitely wouldn’t be giving up their lives here in London for |
Cultural Caviar
Shorn of IndividualityJul 16 2012 In Basic Training, we were given a set of civilian clothes which had to be worn whenever we weren"t in uniform. It was another uniform |
Cultural Caviar
Moonlight Over BasraJul 09 2012 One of my sergeant majors was an airborne soldier and what he said was gospel to us. We young soldiers saw the wings on his |
Cultural Caviar
When the Towers FellJul 03 2012 September 11 happened as soon as I"d gotten to my first regiment. It was just after lunch and our full bellies were satisfied as they |
Cultural Caviar
The Futility of CleanlinessJun 25 2012 The Army was obsessed with cleanliness. We"d crane our necks around the bottoms of toilets and plumbing pipes until we could see our tired faces |
Cultural Caviar
In the Shadow of the YanksJun 18 2012 Everything was bigger with the Yanks: their soldiers, their food, and their imaginations. I was in the cookhouse with them in Kuwait before we tore |
Cultural Caviar
Building Bridges and Making SoldiersJun 11 2012 The Royal Engineers did anything the Army needed"from building bridges to crossing rivers, from building camps to clearing mines"so they needed to be tough soldiers. |
Politics
Ours Was Not to Reason WhyJun 04 2012 Tony Blair was interrupted at the Leveson Inquiry last week by a protestor calling him a war criminal. It seems the Iraq War won"t go |
Commerce
A Millionaire in the Danger ZoneMay 28 2012 Sunil* was a well-fed Indian shipping millionaire. I"d heard about him through people who worked for him. I was helping the British Army build a |
Cultural Caviar
The Bore WarMay 21 2012 War is supposed to be full of action. Men are supposed to dive over barbed wire and charge at the enemy while being shot. The |
Cultural Caviar
Last LettersMay 14 2012 "I want you to shoot me," he said. He must have been joking. It was a struggle to drive, never mind listen to rubbish like |
Cultural Caviar
Too Far From the Front Line to CareMay 07 2012 The Afghanistan war started over ten years ago. We"ve seen maps and graphics on the news, but without Googling it, can you name the capital? |
Cultural Caviar
Ground Rules for a Perfect SocietyApr 30 2012 If you were drawing up plans on how to run a private members" club, a larger society, or even a country, military life provides some |
Cultural Caviar
Spies Unlike MeApr 23 2012 Some soldiers are meant to join the elite forces, become spies, and swing through windows shouting and shooting. Some aren"t. That we"re all equal is |
Cultural Caviar
I Lost My Virginity in the British ArmyApr 16 2012 Sex and soldiers are the forces of life and death crashing into one another. It gets animalistic. It gets filmed. Luckily for me, the Ministry |
Politics
The Uniforms Came in One ColorApr 09 2012 "They"re racist and they"ll kick your head in," a white man named Paul warned me outside a convenience store in Burnley. He"d heard I was |
Politics
After the TraumaApr 03 2012 We used to joke about PTSD in the army. We used to call it the "new backache," meaning something doctors couldn"t prove but would get |
Cultural Caviar
The Elephant on the TubeMar 27 2012 He saw people stare, but he looked right through them. His mind was on something satisfying. A distant thought made him smile. The bands on |
Cultural Caviar
Many Are Called, But Few Are HeroesMar 21 2012 The word "hero" should not apply to every man and woman serving in the military. To blindly term everyone a hero takes away from those |
Bravery Hurts
The Value of the Guiding HandMar 12 2012 Leaning over the bar in London's Union Jack Club drinking rum, I stood on legs of flesh and bone. The soldier next to me stood |
Cultural Caviar
How a Soldier ThinksMar 06 2012 There are over seven thousand dead in Syria now. What are the Syrian soldiers thinking? The last post Marie Colvin made before her death tells |
SIGN UP
Daily updates with TM’s latest
