Dick Rafferty commanded soldiers on the streets of 1970s west Belfast at the age of 19. He told Dan Keenanof life and loss under Operation Banner
"My first command was of a rifle troop in west Belfast. For me it was an exciting time. This was 1977, this was the point at which the police took primacy in terms of delivery of the operation. It was pivotal in that the military had opted out of having authority in terms of the delivery of the operation. I think police primacy was the point at which everybody recognised that normalisation could only be delivered by police primacy.
"It was hostile. I was a young troop or platoon commander. We were operating out of what was an old mill. We were confined to Mullhouse mill at that time and our role was effectively to dominate the ground and thus there was very high tempo of patrolling activity. Of course we had to protect the mill and there was a hefty guarding liability. You would do 24 hours patrolling, both foot and mobile. You would do 24 hours guard and when you were stood down from that second cycle you would administer yourself and then for the third 24 hours you would be on standby and available for commitment in support of wider operations at brigade and unit level.
"There was no social life per se because we were confined. What underpinned our capability to deliver was great good humour, which was a feature of the 1970s in Northern Ireland and a feature of Iraq and Afghanistan now.
"As a 19-year-old one has a slightly different perception [ of danger]. It was high octane stuff, I had command of soldiers, we were engaged in some exciting operations. There was risk associated with exiting the place and that added to the adrenaline rush that was operations in the 70s. I think we had gone from a shooting war to that which was a much more restricted operation and we did dominate the ground and we were subject to being fired upon.
"One of the frustrations was the lack of positive engagement of any engagement with the local population. It was soul destroying because we believed our role was not just to dominate the ground, [ but] to support the police and to engage with the local community and the frustration was that there was no engagement.
"There was very little tea-drinking [ with the local residents] by the time we arrived in west Belfast. I think the lines had been drawn by the mid 1970s and as it was no longer the mad hatter shooting war that marked the early 1970s. But what was created by the late 1970s were enclaves, hard republican or loyalist areas where there was no support for the military and that was both frustrating and disquieting. Little or nothing that we did was well received, there was little or no sympathy and that, not withstanding the excitement, the lack of engagement with the community tended to grind you down. One felt isolated and thus the import of this camaraderie behind the wire, this great good humour - without that we would have had difficulties.
"We lost soldiers - killed, seriously injured or maimed. But I think there is an acceptance in British army terms that that is part of the package. There is risk, there is danger. But part of the covenant is an acceptance that the army will seek to mitigate that risk and danger by thorough training and the increasing use of technology."