Editing Simon Raven (section)

===Army===
During his earlier [[Conscription in the United Kingdom#After 1945|National Service]], Raven had briefly served as an officer cadet in the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]], and in 1947 was on a posting in [[British India|India]], during the final months of British rule there. He was subsequently commissioned into the [[Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry]], before being seconded to the [[6th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery#Postwar|77th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment]], [[Royal Artillery]] at [[Rollestone]] Balloon Camp in [[Wiltshire]], where he saw out his service.<ref>''The Captain'', p93</ref> In 1953, after university, he secured a regular commission with the [[The King's Shropshire Light Infantry|King's Shropshire Light Infantry]] (KSLI), serving in [[West Germany]] and [[Kenya]], before receiving a home posting to [[Shrewsbury]]. It was during this period, when he was still married to Susan, that he sent his notorious telegram to her in response to her telegraphic plea for money: "Sorry no money, suggest eat baby". Such a callous response suggests that he cared nothing for his wife and child, although in fact he diligently provided for Adam's education and welfare. During his Shrewsbury posting he gambled heavily at local race meetings, and he was soon in severe financial straits following a "disastrous sequence of slow horses". Faced with the prospect of a court-martial for "conduct unbecoming" he was allowed to resign quietly, to avoid scandal in the regiment.<ref>Barber, Guardian obit; Hughes, Independent obit</ref> This episode he later described with candour in ''Shadows on the Grass''.