"Get it published" is pretty general, but get it published where? That's why I wish people would be more specific.
You don't have enough there for a book, unless you want to use it as the basis for a novel and pad it out with sub plots, twists, etc, so I would go the newspaper article route.
As a former serving soldier in Northern Ireland, your memoirs are slowly gaining more and more currency. The war in N. Ireland is over, and newspapers will be interested in publishing articles from those who were involved on both sides. There will be a number of significant dates throughout this and subsequent years, dates which magazine editors will be looking to commemorate. I would certainly get your essay typed up, double spaced and ready to present to editors.
Maybe you could email a couple and offer your work as (part of) a feature idea, I'm sure a number would be interested.
