The Changing of the Guard is billed as an exposé of a class-bound British army failing to get to grips with the reality of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: think Stephen Fry’s General Melchett in Blackadder Goes Forth twitching his impressive moustache over a map of the Somme. Giving the book additional glamour, its appearance was delayed following two years of wrangles over its allegedly explosive content. It has now been released with a new publisher.
Like many writers on military affairs, Simon Akam has a relationship with the army. He joined in 2003, inspired by the enthusiasms of a teacher at his private school, undertaking a short service commission before leaving. It was this period of officer training, and the fact that schoolfriends of his stayed on, that motivated him to write this account of the army since 9/11.