This hilarious and heart-breaking tale of life in the British Army charts soldier Ashley Topham's progress from scrawny troublemaker to Regimental Sergeant Major, wearer of The Badge, feared and respected by all. From a comedy of errors resulting in his capture and interrogation by the KGB, to the triumph of his first operational combat, this absorbing story tells a soldier's life as it is, with all the unsavoury parts left in.