From The Balkans To The Band.(Turning Point)

Byline: James Blunt; Blunt is an award-winning English singer and songwriter.is an award-winning English singer and songwriter.

One of Britain's top rockers on what he learned as a soldier serving with NATO forces in Kosovo.

My father was a colonel in the British Army Air Corps, so during my childhood we moved to a new country every two years. That's why I went to a boarding school--for stability. The Army helped pay, and after that I had to pay it back, so I joined the Army for four years, and ended up staying for two more. I started officer training at Sandhurst in 1996. After the freedom of university, it was the worst year of my life. But it was hysterical at the same time, and we laughed all the way through. If you're told to carry half your body weight up and down a mountain in Wales for a week, it's not fun. But if you do it with a group of people, you start crying with laughter because the whole experience is so bizarre, an exercise in trying to f--- with your mind.

The Army is a good education in world politics. As a soldier I worked with armies from all over Europe, Russia and the United States. I was always being sent to a new country, where I had to learn about different opinions and perspectives. Many people think the Army is just a group of people who follow orders. But it is not just that: you have to read a situation, assess and react appropriately. And you have to be flexible; soldiers have to switch, at one order from a commander, from being an aggressive force to peacekeepers. One is about forceful action, the other about hearts and minds. It's not surprising that I was able to become a musician after my military career, given that in the Army I learned how to change roles in an instant.

I was a reconnaissance officer in the Household Cavalry. It's a job with a lot of variety; the classic line is that you act as the eyes and ears of your commanders. I served in Kosovo before, during and after the conflict of 1999. When NATO ended the bombing campaign, we were told to get to Pristina and take hold of the airport--but the Russians beat us there. The head of NATO forces at the time, Gen. Wesley Clark, gave us the instruction to remove them from the airport--I remember the word "destroy" was involved. I think that gave British Gen. Sir Michael Jackson good reason to refuse and tell Clark, "I'm not going to start the third world war for you." I was the first British soldier to reach that airport, so I can confirm that Jackson really ...