Glenn Bradley was born 1967 in West Belfast and grew up in the loyalist Woodvale area. He is a former soldier, one-time politician and a made-good businessman. Today, Glenn is Chair of Veterans For Peace Ireland and a Board Member of the Belfast Charitable Society. He remains an unapologetic Irish peace processor.

I was  eager pick Glenn's brain about what it was like to grow up surrounded by the violence of "the troubles" conflict that began when he was a small child and particularly about the years of his youth spent in the army before he became completely disillusioned with violence after experiencing it's futility firsthand. 

Glenn told me about his childhood in a staunchly loyalist area of Belfast during one of Ireland's bloodiest times including when he was injured by a no-warning IRA bomb at the age of 5. We also spoke about a particularly horrific incident during the Bobby Sands riots when his schoolbus was petrol-bombed by a republican mob. 

Glenn would eventually join the British Army, a time in his life that he has made sure not to let define him and I was fascinated to get his insight on the soldiering of N.I.
I asked about the daily realities of being a soldier during this period, what it feels like to be in a shootout with paramilitaries and how The British Army viewed the IRA and Loyalists. Glenn also explained the mindset of a trained soldier in terms of how they were trained to view their enemies/opponents.

PART 2 COMING SOON ( We discussed more of Glenn's military days and how he would eventually become  entirely disillusioned with violence.)

00:00 Intro & growing up in troubles-era Woodvale area
6:05 Injured by IRA bomb at 5 years old
13:25 How realistic was Irish reunification as a possibility in the minds of unionist people at the time?
17:45 View of the RUC in the area? 
20:35 How did Glen view British soldiers in the streets?
22:55 GLEN’S SCHOOLBUS PETROL-B*MBED (day of Bobby Sands death) 
26:16 How were loyalist paramilitaries viewed by the community in his area? 
32:35 Joining British Army instead of Loyalist paramilitaries 
43:00 Where was Glen 
46:50 Shoot-outs with the IRA
50:15 How competent did British troops consider the IRA 
53:35 Any clashes w/ Loyalists 
55:10 Soldiers from mainland UK- how good of an understanding did they have of the conflict in N.I