PART 2 OF 2

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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.

In the second half of our interview I asked Glenn about how he as an Irishman was viewed/treated in the British army and Glenn recalls an incident when he was asked to leave a pub in England because he was Irish despite being a serving British soldier. 

Glenn shared his thoughts on the degree to which collusion occurred between British security forces and why he is of the opinion that collusion could not have been as rife as it is often alleged to be. 

The most important aspect of Glenn’s story however is his eventual turning away from violence as a form of conflict resolution and complete disillusionment with violent means. Glenn talked us through the internal process of becoming a peace advocate and his work towards a peaceful Northern Ireland. 

Glenn describes his internal process of moving away from the mentality of military life and dealing with PTSD as a veteran of a bloody conflict. 

***TIMSETAMPS*** 

00:00 Soldiers from mainland UK- how good of an understanding did they have of the conflict in N.I 
8:30 Did the mainland UK soldiers consider N.I people to be British & how Irish soldiers were treated in the british 
13:15 British Army collusion w/ loyalists ??
19:00 When did Glen start to become disillusioned with violence (after his uncle’s horrific murder) 
34:10 Being an independent thinker in the army
38:10 Life post-Army
44:00 PTSD 
57:00 People’s reaction when Glenn tells them he’s a former soldier