Pigs’ Disco
From Para to Pill Head
By Dr Stuart Griffiths
Glory of War: Volume 1
Stuart Griffiths joined the Parachute Regiment in 1988, aged 16. While serving in Northern Ireland, armed with a disposable camera, he began to capture everyday moments in his fellow soldiers’ lives.
Pigs’ Disco is named after the monthly party at the barracks, in which locals girls were bussed in behind the wire for drinks, dancing and sex. The NAAFI party was arranged for security reasons because paras could not go to nightclubs in Belfast.
The story is a visceral journey into the heart of the British Army during the maelstrom of acid house, raves and violence that occupied the soldiers’ young lives against the backdrop of The Troubles.
Pigs’ Disco captures the brutal reality of life of a soldier in Northern Ireland in the early 90s as rave culture exploded, exploring drug use in the British Army through Griffiths’ own memories. He skilfully reflects the strange dichotomy, which sees soldiers as an impersonal collective unit on the one hand, and young, sometimes very fragile individuals on the other. Originally published as a limited edition of 500 copies in 2013, soon after its release, the Daily Mail ran a feature which immediately caused wide spread controversy, and very quickly sold out. Now, for the first time, you can read it here on Yellow Press.
Pigs’ Disco is the first instalment of Griffiths’ Glory of War trilogy. The book sits under Yellow Press‘ Big Story series, in which journalists write about the stories that made them.