Professionally, I was a firefighter, having joined Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service in 1975. I retired in 2007, having reached the dizzy heights of sub-officer :-) Once it was a wonderful vocation but that has long passed. Constant government interference has whittled away at the men's spirit and many of us long to be away from it now. 

Now spend my time either painting the local hotel as a part-time job, doing work around my house, or working at the local hospital as an out-of-hours doctor service driver and call handler doing evenings, weekends and nights.

Pet EBAY hate is sellers who remind you in their documentation to post feedback, and then dont bother for you, even when you send them a nudge or two some time later.

 GET A GRIP PEOPLE!!!!!!

Leisure-wise, I wargame World War 2 and have done since I was 13. My friend and I possess over 4000 models and 27,000 painted infantry, all contained in a huge garage where we conduct our battles. I enjoy playing and listening to music and love a good movie.

I play Red Orchestra and ARMA-II online with Blackwatch-UK Clan, the link to which is below. Feel free to visit their forum. I wont play Call of Duty:WAW as I think the game is unnecessarily brutal and corrupt and Im taking a moral stand against it.

My name comes from Ernst Barkmann, soldier extraordinaire, who fought with the Waffen-SS in WW2 as a tank commander in the 'Das Reich' division. An enemy for sure, but a fine man and a soldier beyond equal.