From a young age Ali knew she wanted to join the army, and was part of the new 1984 revolution of women that went straight to training at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy. Ali describes the developments in training, such as compulsory weapon exercises and more intensive physical fitness. She was posted to 10 Company Aldershot where she took on administrative roles in welfare and career management. Ali was then taken to the Royal Green Jackets, then the Light Division Depot at Winchester. She describes this as the point in which her ambition for a military career took over and she began to dedicate herself entirely to the army. From here she was posted to the NATO camp in Sennelager, the Grenadier Guards, and Hohne for gunnery training where she began to understand Soviet tactics in the Cold War. When the Gulf war broke out in 1990 Ali knew that the WRAC was coming to an end. She was initially told that as a member of the WRAC she could not go to the Gulf, but she was grateful that the orders changed. In her interview she gives an incredible description of her experiences on ground operation. Ali continued to serve with the Adjutant General Corps and left as a full Colonel responsible for training across the whole of the army.

Ronald Arnold joined the Home Guard in 1940 aged 16, before joining the regular army in 1942 (Middlesex Regiment) and serving in Normandy. As a wartime teenager, he felt a strong sense of duty and urgency, with most people somehow contributing to the war effort. He provides a fascinating insight into wartime Britain: working as a machinist by day, basic Home Guard training from First World War veterans, learning to use sticky bombs, standing guard at night and vigilance against German parachutists. His reminiscences on wartime Britain continue after he joined the army: the harshness of the conditions, training exercises across the countryside, navigating through Southern England a dispatch rider with minimal resources and relying on army units for fuel and food. His unit landed in Normandy later in June as a support unit for 43rd Wessex Brigade. He recalls the ever-present fear of enemy artillery and nebelwerfer rockets, which had a significant psychological impact. After being injured, he was evacuated for medical treatment and struggled with feelings of guilt for leaving his comrades.

Having experienced the loss of his parents at a young age, Dennis explains how this tragedy was in fact the making of him and led him to joining the national service with the support of his extended family. In 1952 Dennis Dymond joined the Royal Fusiliers at the Tower of London, and recalls how he thoroughly enjoyed his time there. When Dennis first joined the Royal Fusiliers he was not aware that he would be sent to Korea, and a year later he embarked on his journey to the far East. Remembering the war, Dennis reveals he could never fire a rifle but enjoyed working with a mortar when in battle. He humorously discloses that his only fears during the war were explosives, mines and worst of all, snakes. In reflecting on Korea, Dennis discusses the brutality of warfare and, although he hadn't been on the front line, the awful conditions and violence enveloped in the Korean war. His lasting memories are of watching small children fleeing from war-torn towns and the refugees who begged for rations among the soldiers. Dennis's interview provides an insightful and emotional account of his early life, time spent in Korea and his ever-lasting memories of battle.