Isn't it amazing that so many of our fairly little group were touched by 'the troubles' in the 70s, and beyond?
I spent most of the 70s in RAF Germany where we had the Baader Meinhof and Red Army Faction, as well as the IRA, to contend with. I was lucky to have never been anywhere near anything, but those times certainly taught the UK (military and security services) how to deal with terrorism like no other country in Europe, probably the world.