0:00:09 > 0:00:15GUNSHOTS
0:00:16 > 0:00:18This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23It was probably the insane slaughter of the Battle of the Somme
0:00:23 > 0:00:25which finally convinced the British that warfare
0:00:25 > 0:00:28need no longer be played to the rules of cricket.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Why run straight at the guns when you can infiltrate behind them?
0:00:32 > 0:00:36This strategic evolution produced some colourful new units.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39The Long Range Desert Group, Popski's Private Army,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42the Lovat Scouts, the Cockleshell Heroes and the SAS.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46There was little emphasis on burnished badges
0:00:46 > 0:00:47or glittering toecaps.
0:00:47 > 0:00:53The premiums were initiative, subterfuge, courage and survival.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57Such a unit is the Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre
0:00:57 > 0:00:58of the Royal Marines.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00It must be conceded that Captain John Lear's arrival
0:02:00 > 0:02:03at his office is hardly an exercise in stealth.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Since the Russians monitor all these military documentaries,
0:02:06 > 0:02:08they might as well know from the outset
0:02:08 > 0:02:13that he commands the training of the Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre
0:02:13 > 0:02:14and does not like desk work.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Sir!
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Equally, Sergeant Mac McLean's arrival,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31like some spin-off from the Tour de France,
0:02:31 > 0:02:36is evidence of the unit's informality rather than some gullible disguise.
0:02:36 > 0:02:37He hates desk work also.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44The headquarters in Plymouth is immediately opposite
0:02:44 > 0:02:45the intelligence section.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48There too there appears to be an expedient solution
0:02:48 > 0:02:50to the tedium of paperwork.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00All the stores are issued. They're ready to go.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03- The coaches are ordered for 08.30. - OK.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06The casualness, even eccentricity of it,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09should not dispose you to believe that what you will see
0:03:09 > 0:03:13in these programmes is some kind of situation comedy in khaki.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16They're planning the examination and possible recruitment
0:03:16 > 0:03:19of 25 men to an elite corps.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21Let's look forward to a good four days of good weather.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25- And stacks of oggies, eh? - Stacks of oggies, yeah.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Their initiation starts here, in a village near Land's End.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38For some, swiftly, it will also be journey's end.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41The standards are quite uncompromising,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44and there will be many days and nights when this command post,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47in retrospect, will seem like Claridge's.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49Thompson. No mail for you today.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Hicks.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04When we give you these press-ups, obviously it's not for being bitchy
0:04:04 > 0:04:07or anything like that. Just to build up your strength.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11Make a joke about because it needs to be because you do so many,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14it's no good being miserable. Laugh every time you do it.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17For the slightest little thing, I'll make you do press-ups.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19And you can make me. If you ever catch me
0:04:19 > 0:04:23with my hands in my pockets, you can give me press-ups.
0:04:23 > 0:04:2620 for catching me.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28That lets me give you 40.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33The perennial punishment for offences actual or invented is the press-up.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36It causes no resentment. All are volunteers,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39men and officers from every branch of the Royal Marines,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42from the Special Boat Squadron, the Dutch marines
0:04:42 > 0:04:44and from the Australian SAS.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49All rank among the candidates is suspended.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54In the eyes of God and Sergeant McLean, all applicants are equal.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57OK, we'll scoot around, I bet you're all corporals.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00No need to bother with it, just say, "Corporal", or what have you.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04We'll just go around, corporal, lance corporal, acting lieutenant. OK.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10If it's not how the Brigade of Guards would carry on,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12it's because the sole function of these men is to fight
0:05:12 > 0:05:15in pitiless terrain in appallingly low temperatures.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19There's our starting area.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Give us it. How do you read the code?
0:05:32 > 0:05:3420 press-ups for hesitating. What was it?
0:05:34 > 0:05:36- Sequencer. - That's right.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40He should have known it. He's been thinking about it all weekend.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47Both these men, as did 21 of the 22 British candidates,
0:05:47 > 0:05:49saw action in the Falklands.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51While here that experience now counts for nothing,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54there are certainly no rules about them being opinionated.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57There are times, not just...
0:05:57 > 0:06:00I won't just say places like Northern Ireland
0:06:00 > 0:06:04and the Falkland Islands, when you are dealing with people's lives,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07probably more so in this qualification we're going for now,
0:06:07 > 0:06:08the MAW course,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12you make the wrong decision and people can and will die.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14And I think it's...
0:06:14 > 0:06:19That doesn't come across to the average man on the street.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22He thinks a servicemen is someone who, as Digger said,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24has got all the creature comforts.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Every now and again, he goes and does his bit and most of the time
0:06:27 > 0:06:32he's a drunken lout who makes the most of the time he's got off.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38And is generally not a nice person to know. It's just not true.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Everybody has their part to play. It's a classic example.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47One minute you can be the most obnoxious bunch of cretins
0:06:47 > 0:06:51on God's earth and then an incident somewhere in the world blows up
0:06:51 > 0:06:55and you have to go and sort it out and you become hand-slapping,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57back-slapping, thigh-slapping,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00the best bunch of kiddies we could ever have.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03"Well done, boys. You've done your bit once again."
0:07:03 > 0:07:07We're proud to be British and all that. It rankles a bit sometimes.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10So when you come back, you become the brutal and licentious...
0:07:10 > 0:07:15That's right. Within weeks of coming back
0:07:15 > 0:07:18from Northern Ireland or the Falklands or anywhere,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21all it takes is one small incident in a garrison town
0:07:21 > 0:07:24such as Plymouth, Arbroath, Aldershot, anywhere,
0:07:24 > 0:07:27and once again, you're wrecking bars
0:07:27 > 0:07:30and pinching cars and punishing civilians
0:07:30 > 0:07:35and God knows what. The British public are great people
0:07:35 > 0:07:38but they have got hellish short memories.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45Your mascot. You've had a lot of bad luck with mascots.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50It started off, if I remember correctly,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53in the selection course...
0:07:53 > 0:07:58where I gave you a newt. In actual fact it was a Salamander.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02LAUGHTER
0:08:02 > 0:08:04And it mysteriously disappeared or died.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06I have yet to find out what happened to it.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Although, when the course finished it was perfectly OK,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13but then when we got back down here in September,
0:08:13 > 0:08:14it had died.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19That was the newt. Then I gave you a frog...
0:08:19 > 0:08:22which didn't even have a name because you only had it two hours
0:08:22 > 0:08:23and that died.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32Then we had a black beetle which I do believe last Saturday someone ate.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36I'm determined that you should have a mascot,
0:08:36 > 0:08:40so what I've done at great expense...
0:08:40 > 0:08:42is got you a peregrine falcon.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47The reason I got this type of bird is because it needs to be tough...
0:08:47 > 0:08:51because all the mascots in the past have died under your care.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54This one has been a fighting bird
0:08:54 > 0:08:57and will not die.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03Right, lads. A peregrine falcon.
0:09:03 > 0:09:04Steady.
0:09:04 > 0:09:05BIRD CHEEPS
0:09:05 > 0:09:07- Training manual. - OK.
0:09:07 > 0:09:08We have the training manual here.
0:09:08 > 0:09:14I want to see it sort of bringing down meat off the hoof in a week.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17OK? Who's due a student?
0:09:17 > 0:09:20BIRD SQUAWKS
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Obviously, that's the mating call of the falcon, so watch out, boys.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29Right, McClusky, it's all yours.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Remember, you need the glove, be careful,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37because you need your fingers and that for climbing.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41I don't want anyone seen off. It needs a name by 12 o'clock.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54- Are you happy with it? - Oh, yeah.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02The secret to order is a quick march and then by the left,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05if you're going left wheel, by the right, if you're going right wheel.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09By the right, cos the right hand files the front rank.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12What brand of men are they? Here's the head of training
0:10:12 > 0:10:15for the marine special forces, Major General Julian Thompson.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Well, I would think he was a rather special sort of chap.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21He may not be the sort of fellow who's standing in the front rank
0:10:21 > 0:10:24looking terribly smart, who catches everybody's eye.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27I think he's got to be, and I've always described it
0:10:27 > 0:10:31as rather like a badger, to have this ability to almost like an animal,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33and I don't mean it in any derogatory sense,
0:10:33 > 0:10:37suborn his personal feelings of discomfort
0:10:37 > 0:10:41and take no notice of them, almost switch off the feeling of discomfort.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43At the same time, not switch off his other senses
0:10:43 > 0:10:46so that he's dozing away and doesn't notice what's going on.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51And he must also be an absolutely first-class marine soldier.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Right, when I say go, I want to see the last man down to transport.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Standby, go. Right, all the way down.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17Catch them up.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20By definition, the Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre
0:11:20 > 0:11:24doesn't attract too many vertigo sufferers, but even so,
0:11:24 > 0:11:2723 of the 25 have never climbed before.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Their testing ground is here,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32the jagged promontories of Land's End.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35These may be mere nursery slopes compared with what lies ahead,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37but they still face an initiation test
0:11:37 > 0:11:41calculated to sort out the likes of you and me from the likes of them.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45What we're going to do this afternoon is the thing
0:11:45 > 0:11:48you've been psyched up for all week, the Land's End long jump.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51Really, there's nothing to it, nothing to get excited about.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53We used to do it as part of the clifftop run.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57Down from Logan's Rock, in kit and the first bloke across jumped it
0:11:57 > 0:12:00and everybody followed the leader. If you do by some chance miss,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04Sergeant Brown will catch you. That's what he's there for.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Because there's a strong wind blowing,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17don't think you've got to jump to the right to compensate.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19Just get down there, jump across.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21I'm just going to do a quick demonstration now.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24To prove how confident I am, I won't use any harness.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26All right? Just to show you how easy it is.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30But for you, cos you're students, you'll be roped on. OK.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35This is the start position. Stand on here, get your bottle in your hand,
0:12:35 > 0:12:38your heart in your mouth and just take a flying leap.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42That's all there is to it.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Aim to get your feet on about this pancake here.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47And you'll get on it quite easily.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49All right, any questions?
0:12:51 > 0:12:55I'll have you belayed here. Take the coils in your hand.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Now, a good positive movement when you go.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00When you're ready!
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Smaller coils than that.
0:13:02 > 0:13:03Aye-aye.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Go on. The longer you hang about, the harder it will be.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09As soon as you're ready, just go.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10Come on, go for it.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12Go for it!
0:13:13 > 0:13:14Go on!
0:13:29 > 0:13:31The deal is brutally frank.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33It is to establish nerve.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37They either leap the gap 270ft above the rocks
0:13:37 > 0:13:40or their new career stops right here.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Phase two is the first encounter with a rock face.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Many of these men are experienced parachutists,
0:14:50 > 0:14:53but the challenge here is entirely different.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Aye-aye.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58I remember getting halfway and freezing and thinking,
0:14:58 > 0:14:59"What am I doing here?"
0:14:59 > 0:15:03And I reached for this hold and I felt myself starting to go.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05And I just managed to get it.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07I vowed there, once I got to the top,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10that I would never sleep on a top bunk again.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15Like anybody else, you still get frightened up there on the rock.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17You talk to some of the more experienced MLs
0:15:17 > 0:15:21and they'll tell you, they still sometimes get frightened themselves.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33What did you think of the climbing? Any problems?
0:15:33 > 0:15:35- Yeah. - In what way?
0:15:35 > 0:15:37I fell off the demo route the first time.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39You fell off the demonstration route?
0:15:39 > 0:15:41- Yes, sir. - Not the demo route.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44That's something which you'll fall off at a later stage.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46What have you done this morning so far?
0:15:46 > 0:15:48The top half, sir, over there.
0:15:48 > 0:15:49What did you think of that?
0:15:49 > 0:15:52It was quite difficult on the actual overhang.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55- How did you feel about it? - Shit myself.
0:15:55 > 0:15:56You shit yourself? Oh!
0:15:57 > 0:15:59OK, good, I'll be talking to you some other time as well.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03I guarantee it, I'll be watching you a lot. All right?
0:16:03 > 0:16:05In fact, little more watching was necessary.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08There's no stigma about being returned to a unit for attempting
0:16:08 > 0:16:11what few sane people would attempt in the first place.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13The man failed honourably
0:16:13 > 0:16:17because he couldn't handle the challenge of a vertical rock face.
0:16:17 > 0:16:18He wasn't alone in that.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22Basically, because we're climbing all day up the Bosigran
0:16:22 > 0:16:25I felt uneasy the two climbs that I did up Bosigran.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28I didn't feel at all at ease on them.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30And we did Commando Ridge,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33and I started to get a bit terrified on Commando Ridge.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35I thought about it that night,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38well, the climbing wasn't for me and I didn't want to do it.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40So I've come up, I've seen Sergeant McLean in the morning
0:16:40 > 0:16:43and asked to be removed off the course.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46And then he told me, "No, think about it",
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and I thought about it more in the morning.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53The more I thought about it, the more I was scared to go back on the rock.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Then he took me away, he took me on to some problems,
0:16:56 > 0:17:01started me off on the problems, going back to square one again,
0:17:01 > 0:17:02just starting off.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04We come up on the problems.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06At the end of the day, I felt really great,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09got my confidence back in myself in climbing on the rock,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12so I decided to change my mind and stay on the course.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14I think I've done it now.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18I think that I'll be able to go and be able to climb the rock now.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20It takes a lot of courage to also admit that
0:17:20 > 0:17:22you don't want to do it.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26That was the biggest part, was admitting I didn't want to do it.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29I didn't want to do that, but I felt that I had to.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Next week, we'll put him with either myself or the sergeant major
0:17:33 > 0:17:35and we'll nurse him through,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38probably not quite so fast as the other people,
0:17:38 > 0:17:40until we think that that he's got his confidence.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44Towards the end of the week, we'll start giving him more exposure.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47And when his confidence comes, we'll know when it does or not,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50and I think probably he'll be OK, no problem at all.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54But there was a problem. He didn't make it either.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56The criteria at this stage are absolute.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59A harsh decision now can save lives later.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01On the 5th day, a third man failed -
0:18:01 > 0:18:04the candidate from the Australian SAS.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07A third person didn't attend the selection course.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10He's come from a faraway country.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15Once again, I think it's his major problem is his physical fitness,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18his medical fitness and his mental fitness,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20his mental attitude towards it.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23I think he could do it if he wanted to.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27And if he'd been a bit fitter, he'd have no problems at all.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30I don't know how much he's using his medical problems as an excuse
0:18:30 > 0:18:32to get off the course, but he has used it.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35He said he's got problems, so tomorrow, obviously,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38I'm going to have to make some rather quick telephone calls
0:18:38 > 0:18:41to some senior people and see what's to be done about him.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46At the end of the week, and each week thereafter
0:18:46 > 0:18:48throughout this preliminary nine-month course,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51senior members of the cadre assess each man's progress.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56It's perhaps as well that the candidates can't sue for slander.
0:18:56 > 0:18:57Craig.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04In the abseiling, he wanted me to allow him to take 20ft of slack,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08then he jumped from the chopper, cos he wasn't getting a good start.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12We're thinking of electing him the most ugly man of the ML2s course.
0:19:12 > 0:19:13LAUGHTER
0:19:17 > 0:19:19After a week at Land's End,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22abseiling 200ft out of a helicopter
0:19:22 > 0:19:24is regarded as a mere games afternoon.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36You're now trained to be an instructor,
0:19:36 > 0:19:40you'll have to show a better example. OK? 20.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Admonishments are frequent.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45The most punitive punishment remains the press-up.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48You should know this from being at Lympstone. 20 sit-ups.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55What's this?
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Legion...eh? That's not part of your uniform.
0:19:59 > 0:20:0020.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04There's no barrack-square bawling.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06It's all done with almost courteous restraint.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13You've all got your piece of rope in your pocket?
0:20:13 > 0:20:15- Yeah. - Right. Stand up, tie a knot!
0:20:17 > 0:20:20How many press-ups do you want if we haven't got our rope?!
0:20:20 > 0:20:22LAUGHTER
0:20:22 > 0:20:26Oh! I'll have 40 sit-ups from you.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34It seems unlikely that any of God's creatures
0:20:34 > 0:20:37would actually volunteer to become the cadre's mascot.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40However, promotion to the rank of falcon
0:20:40 > 0:20:43appears to have induced a sense of security.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45He was very noisy. He wasn't very popular.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48I think people were trying to strangle him,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51and flush him down the loo.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Now, you catch them secretly talking to him.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56When you come in, they pretend they weren't.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Penny Pool, at other times is a Cornish beauty spot,
0:21:07 > 0:21:09well-known to poets and artists.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12The only artistry demanded of a Marine Commando here
0:21:12 > 0:21:17is that he should traverse this Atlantic cauldron without falling in.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27At high tide, this neither arctic nor mountain challenge
0:21:27 > 0:21:28is easier said than done.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32For some, with heavy seas pounding through the gap,
0:21:32 > 0:21:34the limit of ambition is to hang on.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37I don't want anyone going in there.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Please don't clip that, somebody up there.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57For Cpl Grant, hanging on is both agonising and essential for survival.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00His right shoulder has been torn completely from its socket.
0:22:07 > 0:22:08What was he reaching for?
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Where's the doc?
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Can you get that rope, somebody?
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Argh!
0:22:54 > 0:22:58One man safe, but now his rescuers must save themselves.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01There are actually three men there somewhere in the water.
0:23:05 > 0:23:06Bring the stretcher down, will you?
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Where do you want it? Where do you want it?
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Last man out, and lucky.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35If that wave had been as massive as the last,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37his next stop could well have been
0:23:37 > 0:23:40in the neighbourhood of Boston, Massachusetts.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Probably quite fortunate I got the rope around that guy who was injured,
0:23:59 > 0:24:01and Chris and the other guys jumped in,
0:24:01 > 0:24:03which tended to jam the whole zawn up.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06I think if just the two of us had been swimming around,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09we might well have got swept out and off the ledge.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11Especially the guy with the injured arm,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13there was no way he would have got out.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29You thought your time had come, didn't you, there?
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Yeah, I did for a while in that cave.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35There didn't seem to be much happening
0:24:35 > 0:24:37in the way of getting me back out again!
0:24:37 > 0:24:39When was the last time you thought
0:24:39 > 0:24:42you weren't going to live to see the following day?
0:24:42 > 0:24:46I took a bullet through the chest, that was the last time.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50OK, still got another hour's work there.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55Don't worry about getting a little wet, carry on with the problem.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59"OK, you've got another hour's work left." There are no concessions.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01It isn't that sort of club.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03A bit unfortunate.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06The sea was running a little bit high, but Lance Cpl Grant
0:25:06 > 0:25:09unfortunately just happened to come up after he had done the problem.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11He came off, his hand was left in there.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13But as I say,
0:25:13 > 0:25:17it's all part of the actual character building of the ML2.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20You've got to have a person who when he is wet through,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23and perhaps freezing in Norway,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26is able to turn round to a half company or 30 men,
0:25:26 > 0:25:30and smile, and generate motivation within them.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35To do that, you have got to do these little foibles
0:25:35 > 0:25:37that have been in the course for years.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40They are part of the course. Everyone expects to do them.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Here are some more of the cadre's little foibles.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57- You all right? - Bloody hell. Rope trick!
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Everybody knows the rope trick!
0:26:00 > 0:26:03They're expected to climb anything set before them.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06In this case, a traverse of the sea wall at Sennen Cove.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13I don't want to see anybody dry!
0:26:23 > 0:26:27To the Queen's enemies, perhaps even to the Queen herself,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31the horseplay must seem dangerously close to anarchy.
0:26:31 > 0:26:32Get him!
0:26:32 > 0:26:35What military system is it
0:26:35 > 0:26:38which permits a sergeant to be roughhoused by his men?
0:26:51 > 0:26:53Your legs are getting tired!
0:26:53 > 0:26:55Your feet are slipping off!
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Next, they steal the keys of the instructor's transport.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26No-one escapes. Not even the director of this film!
0:27:35 > 0:27:37But the skylarking can be switched off in an instant.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Sunset heralds the next stage in the curriculum.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46After just one month on course, they take to scaling cliffs in darkness.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50What I want to do now is confirm with you again the climbs
0:27:50 > 0:27:53you are actually going to do.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57Cpl Dale, you are on Corner Climb. Cpl Mills, Staircase.
0:27:57 > 0:28:04Cpl Craig, Corner Climb. Lt Smyth, Banana Flakes.
0:28:04 > 0:28:05Cpl Nash, Main Faith.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Are you sure you're up to it, Nash? OK.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12On completion of this brief, what I want is no smoking, no talking,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15and no lights. Understood?
0:28:20 > 0:28:24The only illumination is from a pale moon and a distant lighthouse.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27What you're seeing here comes courtesy of science.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31It's being filmed through image intensifiers which give
0:28:31 > 0:28:33an accurate impression of what it's like
0:28:33 > 0:28:35to peer through the night sights of a rifle.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38The test piece rock face is 80 feet high.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50It's really scary up here, if you don't think about it.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57I'm still sweating now.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08Coming down this thing...
0:29:08 > 0:29:10You're on the rocks.
0:29:16 > 0:29:17Stopping there...
0:29:20 > 0:29:23It is in situations like these that you discover why
0:29:23 > 0:29:26the instructors never need to raise their voices.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30They earn respect and maintain authority by sheer example.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Climbing down a cliff face in darkness
0:29:33 > 0:29:35is even trickier than climbing up.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38Sgt Mac McLean sets off without ropes.
0:29:38 > 0:29:45See what it's like to reverse this diff climb on the left Banana Flakes.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51There is a way down that we use quite a lot.
0:29:52 > 0:29:53I know it very well.
0:30:00 > 0:30:01You just have to feel around...
0:30:03 > 0:30:06..and look with your hands...
0:30:06 > 0:30:08where my feet are going to go.
0:30:10 > 0:30:16Once I've found a foothold, I can then go back to it,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19knowing there's somewhere there nice and easy for my feet.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30It is a case of testing all the holes in the normal way.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34Bit of a stretch there, but...
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Lovely rock, it's great.
0:30:52 > 0:30:58What I have to do is make my way down the outside of this rib here.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07Stacks of handholds. No trouble.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13This is a smaller leap across.
0:31:14 > 0:31:15No good waiting.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18You might as well just do it. If you hesitate...
0:31:18 > 0:31:19Got it.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23I just caught my finger there.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29You can see the jump rope. I can't see any of the wall. Difficult.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36To alleviate the anxiety of next of kin,
0:31:36 > 0:31:38the trainees do have the benefit of ropes.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44Now just the ones on the P-line.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Get your other runners out.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53There was quite a big gap here.
0:31:53 > 0:32:00When you get to this part of the gulley.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04What you have to do is bridge it like so.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08It's quite easy coming down.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12But it's slippy with the waterfall coming down here.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18These are normal techniques.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Feeling around. Nice handhold.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27Feeling around for somewhere to put my feet.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31Just climb it as you would during the day, really.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37See if I can make that move down. Turn me around a bit.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Try not to scramble.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Gets the old adrenaline going a bit.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55When you do it at night,
0:32:55 > 0:32:58you get at one with what you are doing, I suppose.
0:33:01 > 0:33:07At the top. That's it.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10Grip Tight Gulley and Banana Flakes.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15Gives you a nice sensation when you've finished that.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22McLean is safely back up.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25And so, without a scratch, are all his pupils.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29But these are only the foothills of an Everest of training.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32From the cliffs of Cornwall, they now move on to an altogether
0:33:32 > 0:33:35different challenge in the bleak terrain of the Hebrides.
0:33:39 > 0:33:44There, they will set out to prove there can be life after Egon Ronay.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48It's about survival behind the lines, and it's not for the squeamish.