Peter joined the British army in 1973. He spent two years training in weapons, tactics, camouflage, concealment and navigation, before being posted to the 3rd Battalion The Queens Regiment (3 Queens).

His first time on active service was when his battalion was posted to Belfast during the troubles in Northern Ireland. All the units were mortar-bombed at least once and many solders were shot at several times, some wounded. It was during this posting that Peter arrested 3 terrorists and gave evidence at the trial.

In 1977, the unit was posted to Belize. Shortly after arriving, Guatemala decided to try and invade Belize. They had been celebrating this for many years but decided to go for it this year. The British government managed to talk them out of it.

1979 saw his regiment posted to Crossmaglen, one of the most dangerous parts of Northern Ireland. His unit was able to deter terrorism for the duration of their posting, before returning to the UK.

In 1980, Peter transferred to the REME (Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers) and served with a tank regiment, the Engineers and various workshops, before leaving in 1993