Part 2 How to Make a Royal Marines Officer

This programme contains some strong language.

Anyone attracted by the glamour of the Royal Marines

can find it on the Brecon Beacons any February afternoon.

These young officers can't speak too highly of the glamour(!)

There's no such thing as waterproof clothing garments.

They just don't exist Everything gets wet.

You put socks and gloves in your armpits or groin, to keep them dry.

It's not very pleasant, but you get a dry pair of socks,

which is severely good news in these conditions.

- Are you carrying little packages under your armpits?

I'll get out the goods here, if I can.

They've been in about half an hour and they're still damp,

but they're drying off. I won't bother with down there,

but I've got some more stuff! I've got a pair of gloves.

It tends to gets me down, if I think about home - warm things.

Frankly, I just switch off.

But switching off is not a popular concept in the Marines.

Switching off is what civilians do.

What worries me, at this stage, is that, first of all,

your personal standards, of patrolling and skills,

have fallen off the plot, as far as I'm concerned.

You must get a grip of your personal skills -

your patrolling skills, your individual skills.

If you don't, when you're troop commander,

the standards you reflect will very rapidly

be reflected in the blokes you command.

- Civilianship, in short, is a nasty habit to be renounced.

Yes, they have vestigial traces of the civilian still in them,

which is a bit disappointing at this stage.

I think they will transform over the next 10 to 14 weeks,

leading to their commando course and green beret.

They'll criticise me for this, but to me, at the moment,

it is a job, not a way of life. I've not become a military person.

At the weekends, I'm a civilian and I will be a civilian.

I'm my own person. They're not going to create

a military stereotype out of me. I won't become just a soldier.

I'm going to be ME first, then we'll see what happens.

For his three days on a mountainside,

Peter Cameron, a Cambridge graduate, has brought an appropriate book.

Brought a book called Hard Times, by Charles Dickens, so..!

The training is remorseless. If not marching or mountains, it's lectures.

Glasnost is not high on the agenda. Here they meet the enemy.

The object of our intellectual attentions today is this chap -

the Soviet soldier and the way in which he thinks.

On this picture, we see a senior sergeant

kissing the Soviet flag and the caption reads,

"They remain faithful to the heroic traditions

"of our army and of our people."

Is Afghan Army protects Afghanistan, not Soviet.

We conduct protection means, protect Socialism.

Socialism is, you know, an inevitable course.

It is progressive social structure,

by words of Lenin, words of Brezhnev and words of Marxism.

Socialism is an international inevitability.

Like exciting experience - lie back and enjoy it.

'I find the physical the most difficult part,

'especially with commando training coming up.

'The training drains your body all the time.'

It's 11pm. After an exhausting day,

Jim Trottman craves sleep, but there's homework to be done.

What, eventually, will he dream about?

Umm...home. Outside life, really.

Once you get under your duvet, it's a different world,

until the alarm goes off at quarter past six.

I'm so tired, my head hits the pillow

and next thing I know, it's quarter past six and off we go!

Right! Shut up! It's my turn to talk.

Now that you have completed part of your tactical training,

we'll have a small pause to consider what you have learned

and try and generate a new spirit for the rest of your training.

I'm referring to a generation from knowledge,

which we've been teaching up to now,

to the application of a bit of individual flair.

Each officer takes a turn commanding extremely realistic exercises.

I've got to get them up to the Section Commander...

Get the Section Commanders in and tell them where you want the men.

- You'll save a lot of drama. - Right, Sir.

Mr James!

There are tanks, fighters, live explosives and real CS gas.

Gas! Gas! Gas!

OK, mate? Move your section from 12 to four o'clock.

- No problems. - Good man! Get Mr Amos on me.

84mm, I want you at twelve o'clock on the road, covering the tanks.

Stay this side of the road.

- We should... - I've got it. I've got it.

Get round these blokes, checking their arcs.

Get all the ammo off them. Start there...

'I'm very pleased with how it went and I hope they are, too.

'It was the best bit so far, for me.'

I love it. It's great. It put me on such a high. Brilliant.

We're going to Grid 598682, which is an old mine.

- For others, the course has become too much.

- Colin Young enlisted from school, where he never came second.

Opting out requires courage, too. He's joining WH Smith.

At the end of December they said I wasn't good enough

and needed to improve a lot. During January, I gave 100%,

but they still didn't think I was there.

So I thought about it, rang a lot of friends, spoke to my parents

and decided that I wanted to do well at my career,

because I'd done well at school. A change of direction was needed,

so I saw Lt Darvel-Stone and I took a week's leave.

At the end of the week, I decided to resign.

If I'd had a year off and lived away from home,

I'd have been much better and had no problems.

Physically, I wasn't too bad. It was more the management side of it.

I was with people who were better than me, which I hadn't had before.

At school, I had no problems, but suddenly everyone was fitter

than me and better mentally and I had problems there.

Do you think the five and a half months has helped your new career?

Oh yeah! I grew from being a school kid to an adult. Definitely.

Some young men come before me and request to resign

and the Corps is very sad about it and wishes they would stay.

In other cases, they ask to resign and there's a mutual understanding

that that is a wise course.

And, in a few cases,

we ask a young man to leave because we don't believe he's suitable.

Some join after the Potential Officers Course,

the Admiralty Interview Board,

and visits, where they become aware of what the Corps is about.

They join and they get into it and they find that really

this military life is not for them. That is totally understandable.

There are many for whom the military life just does not suit.

There's good reason to pay close attention to these exercises

in peaceful Devon lanes. Six months from now,

it may be real, in Northern Ireland.

- Right. Where do you live? - In Exeter.

- You've come from there? - Yes.

If you could just drive along there, pull over and get out of the car.

Give another vehicle a chance to pass. Now, please.

Stop him!

RIFLE FIRE

Cease fire!

You've got to have a good think. If I attempt to shoot this bloke...

Stopping a vehicle - is it someone who doesn't want to stop

or is it two terrorists?

We spend a lot of our time here really teaching you

the disciplined application of extreme violence,

which is basically what we do.

It's strange to come to a package on counter-revolutionary warfare

where we actually have to say,

"Switch that off. That's not the game."

In this case, more force was used

and there is no doubt that it would have ended up in a court of law

and the person responsible would, undoubtedly,

have been punished in a civil court.

This provokes them to consider their work ethic - killing people.

I've given it a bit more thought in training,

but I think...I'll HAVE to do it, as a troop commander, one day.

You might regret it afterwards, but the responsibility

is to the men and the job.

I dread having taken somebody's life.

You automatically think, whoever it may be, Soviets or whatever,

it's somebody's son, isn't it?

Most weekends are free, but for a very good reason

they don't go dashing up to London.

You sleep for six or seven hours like a log and wake up tired again.

You have rings round your eyes.

It's an effort to lift off the bed and get going again.

We're run-down, so we're not repairing as well.

Getting all pusy, going septic.

The webbing burns don't heal!

This chap's got hideous webbing burns. You ought to see them.

Don't spoil my image too much!

Get a bit of skin off and you can put it in your pie!

Some are much worse than that. It's the constant rubbing.

It's just a burn.

I've always found fishing relaxing.

At the end of the week you're ready for a break,

to get away from the regular crowd to do something different.

It's ironic that we slog our guts out wading through Dartmoor bogs

and that's exactly what I come and do at the weekends, as well.

I still QUITE like Dartmoor.

In many ways, I'm unemployable, as your office-type worker.

Many people in the Batch are. I find many of the lectures very mundane

and some of them... I better watch what I'm saying here!

Do you ever think about what will happen shortly?

You could join a Commando Unit and go to Northern Ireland.

I do. I think a lot of people don't.

- I think about it quite a lot. - Along what lines?

Erm...how you'd cope in that situation,

because nobody knows just what they will do

the first time they run into trouble.

Nobody knows how they'll cope, what the men will think,

maybe you'll get the sack or shot. Whatever...

The change from civilian to soldier is taking place.

How do their friends regard them?

Sometimes with awe, sometimes suspicion,

because you're in an organisation which represents the Queen,

the country or whatever. They think, "Is he still okay?"

I didn't join for Queen and country.

I like the outdoor life and I wanted the responsibility.

Queen and country comes into it, but it wasn't my prominent reason.

I never get laughed at for it.

A couple of my friends wish they'd done the same thing, I think.

I probably treat THEM a bit differently.

They take me the same way, but I look at them -

and it's probably very pompous -

you automatically think, "They've not done what I have done."

For many this is the turning point.

Out there are the civvies, but you are a Royal Marine.

I saw my girlfriend and I was talking about the civvies

and she hit me and said, "I'm one!"

You see someone with pink hair and say, "Bloody civvy!"

It's a strange standard they put on you,

because you feel so much cleaner.

You dobie two or three times a day and wash your shirts each night.

You feel cleaner than everyone else around you.

I feel I've grown up a lot.

Coming from school, mixing with guys maybe six years older than me.

I've grown up fast and got more confidence, as well.

I've had to use that confidence to bridge the problems I've had,

the walls to climb before you get there.

The crucial Commando Tests are about to start

and Peter Ainsworth has a severe ankle sprain.

I'm sure with enough strapping and painkillers I'll get through.

I'll get through, somehow.

Stand by...go!

The Commando Tests separate the civilian from the Marine.

Five weeks of endurance and assault courses,

speed-marching and a 30-mile yomp,

all carrying 35lbs, against the clock.

One...two...

..three...four.

One...two...three...four.

Halt!

Well done! One of the better nine-mile speed marches I've seen.

Ainsworth vibrates with pain.

Another man decides it's no longer worth it.

He quits and walks from the Royal Marines forever.

This is the last place to discover a fear of heights.

Jim Morris did, so they sent him round again.

Come on, Jim! You're doing well!

CALLS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Left hand towards me.

Relax! Relax! Relax!

Bend your right leg up!

Left leg forward!

< Come on, Jimmy boy!

LOUDER ENCOURAGEMENT

Don't overstretch! Toes in!

Toes in! Use the block!

Don't lean back!

Toes in! That's it - all the way!

Don't overstretch. Don't overstretch, sir!

You're all right!

You made it! >

< Take it off, sir.

< Don't throw your weapon down or it'll be 20 press-ups!

< In the nose, out the mouth.

- Well done, Jim! > - Cheers, mate!

- You all right? - Yeah.

Well done, Jim.

- Did I get in? - Dunno. Did I or you?

Good effort, sir, but it was 11:45.

You'll get a re-run on Saturday and that 15 seconds should go.

OK, Staff.

You've got over your problem.

That was your first run. You've 15 seconds to knock off.

You can do it. Fall in with the rest.

One anxious week later, Morris ran again.

He beat the time by a remarkable 30 seconds.

Welcome to the 30-miler brief,

your last test of the Commando Course.

30 miles across the moor, from Okehampton down to Crossferses,

near Buckfastleigh. The whole thing to be completed in seven hours...

30 miles in seven hours, carrying one third of a hundredweight.

Nice big breakfast, sir. >

- Nice big breakfast. - Got any plates?

Everybody's nervous. Nobody slept last night. It's really hot.

It's going to be a combined effort. Stacks of...oomphah!

Some chaps shouldn't even be walking.

My ankle was in ice a few times yesterday, so it's well strapped up.

I can't move it very well. I hope it holds out.

I haven't walked 30 miles, yet alone run them, in my life!

I'm nervous. Nobody isn't.

What are you prepared to do in order to get through this?

Crawl on my hands and knees.

You look like you've done 30 miles before you start, Mr Ainsworth.

I'm always this ugly! I didn't get any sleep last night.

I don't feel too bad overall, apart from the old ankle,

but that's by the by.

You're looking forward to this, aren't you?

I've waited for this moment for a long time(!)

Then you've got ten seconds!

On your marks, get set...

- Straight to the table! - Get some of these fluids down.

<Sip it, sir. Don't gulp it.

I'm running out of painkillers. I've got about two left.

For those who make it in time, there awaits the green beret,

the symbol of graduation into one of the world's renowned fighting units.

In the Falklands War, this man, Brigadier Andrew Whitehead,

marched 45 Commando the length of West Falkland,

each carrying 120 lbs. Then they fought a battle.

Ainsworth hobbles on in that tradition.

They have a problem. They made a navigational error

which slowed them down.

They're also carrying a guy who we know is injured.

They've run for 4 hours 21 minutes and, to have a chance,

must finish this leg in the next 35 minutes.

- What happens if they don't make it? - They go round again. A re-run.

Top up your water bottles and eat the whole of the pie!

Take this. It may slow you down.

Get yourself a pasty.

Tea's on the left, orange and water in the centre.

I will speak to the instructor and probably pull back the one guy who,

by no fault of his own, is injured, to give them a fighting chance.

They can do it, but it'll be damn hard.

But Ainsworth refuses to pull out

and his colleagues wouldn't drop him, anyway.

- How long have they got? - Eight minutes.

- Come on, fellas, all the way! - Well done!

Well done, men. That's terrific!

Straight in the field.

Well done, guys!

Good effort!

Drop your kit where it is.

Well done, One Section.

You aged me twenty years, you buggers! Well done.

I'm fucked!

Good effort, sir! Well done.

(Shit!)

Well done, men!

Good effort, sir! Straight in!

Heads up!

What's it like being a young Troop Commander? Green hat on your head?

- Leading men, 30 of them? - Pretty good.

That's it, sir - guts, determination, effort.

They pulled it out of the bag. Surprised us all.

Absolutely.

- Worried the officers! - Beat the enemy - the clock.

Well, we've got another two still to go, sir.

Well done!

And the verdict is?

It's worth it. You get a nice pasty at the end.

# You'll never know, dear How much I love you

# Please don't take my sunshine away! #

- There was some nice fishing. - I saw a heron and buzzards!

We had a skylark, lapwing...

Hardest thing I've done in my life!

- What can you compare it with? - Nothing on earth.

Not bad, eh, Sarge? Still composed after 30 miles!

Andrew Coulson, who said he would crawl if necessary,

has missed the deadline by just ten minutes.

Don't worry, matey!

OK, give him some water and get a hot wet down him.

- How are you? - Great(!)

LAUGHTER

The following week Coulson did a remarkable thing.

He ran the 30 miles again, won his green beret

and resigned from the Marines the very next day.

Sit him in the shade. Good lad.

- What now? - Try standing to attention!

Arms up, sir.

Look left!

The award of the green berets to YO, September 1987.

Second Lieutenant Ainsworth!

Well done. Good effort.

APPLAUSE

- Well done, sir. - Second Lieutenant Amos!

That's it. Away you go. Well done.

This literally staggering feat means that of the 29 men to start

the course, 19 have passed.

The yomping is over for a while, but the learning goes on.

They put to sea with the Royal Navy.

HMS Intrepid can transport 400 men

with tanks, arms and equipment to any part of the world.

Welcome to a real fighting arm of the Royal Marines, HMS Intrepid.

Do enjoy a glass with us. It's our pleasure.

Have a nice break or whatever you're doing.

We'll get rain and snow tomorrow, but for now enjoy a quiet passage

down the West Coast and have a beer.

You WILL get wet.

Intrepid is no mere training ship.

It proved its value in the Falklands.

In their role as specialist amphibious infantry,

they will master a range of dangerous toys -

helicopters, landing craft and high-speed rigid raiders.

What they are attacking are deserted islands in the Hebrides.

DISTANT SHOUTS

RIFLE FIRE

Officers training alongside their men creates a strong bond.

An Officer Corps built on class would not be appreciated.

The type of officer the Corps is recruiting now

is quite different from seven or eight years ago.

They are now looking for the right qualities -

leadership, determination, courage, fitness...unselfishness.

All the real qualities of a leader,

rather than somebody from the right school with the right accent.

Now they're getting guys who, on the face of it,

you wouldn't think would be a Marines Officer,

but they're sometimes the best guys.

The recruits, the Marines, can identify with them.

They'll follow them anywhere.

In the next stage of their careers,

they have to sustain that rapport without undermining discipline.

John Ross takes his first inspection.

- Feeling OK? - Yes, sir.

'It's the first time I've done it and I'm not sure of the standards

'at which to set my ferocity

'for the level of dirt. How angry should you be for a piece of fluff?'

- Everything all right? - Fine, sir.

'I had this paranoid feeling that maybe I'm not quite perfect.

'Maybe I've a bit of fluff on me.

'You just have to overcome that and go for it, really.'

If a guy's up to standard then you let him know that.

The next guy may be below and you give him the same treatment.

You bollock him.

Authority comes from experience and the Royal Marines

have a theatrical way of teaching it.

Sir, I am PO12345 Mike, Corporal Bulmer!

Just stand a metre further back from my desk.

Start again and keep the noise down.

PO12345 Mike, Sergeant...wrong!

I'll never be a Sergeant at this rate, will I?

Corporal Bulmer. LAUGHTER

Right. What do you want?

Mind if I stand at ease, sir? Thank you.

Stand to attention. I'll tell you when.

About this report - what does "loud and exuberant" mean?

Dictionary fall open, sir?

It describes the manner in which you have just come in.

Keen, sir!

You think you know it all. What do they teach you now?

I'm qualified to write this

and the Company Commander has read and endorsed it.

He wouldn't endorse it if you hadn't writ it! >

Slagging me off, ruining my career! >

At the moment, your career deserves to be ruined. Understand?

- No, I don't! > - You're in serious trouble.

He's getting up to hit me, sir!

(Stand him over.)

Just as I'm getting to my next point! >

- Get outside. - That's very nice, innit(?)

All right, overplayed and overacted and, obviously, Sgt Bulmer

is in the wrong profession, but it still illustrates a number

of points. What's the first thing in that sort of interview?

- Take control. - Yes, take control.

You've got to hold the upper hand.

It's end of term at Lympstone.

The officers prepare for a ball, while awaiting their final reports.

Ten months ago, Jim Trottman was apprehensive about ever making it.

I was worried about how I would react under pressure,

especially in the field.

That's where the job is now, not so much on the parade square.

I was worried about how I'd cope with the field, basically,

with the pressures of leadership.

I'll read you your report.

"Trottman's consistent performance made him one of the top men.

"Affable, sincere and with some humility,

"Trottman's greatest asset is his personality..."

'I'm different. I work the military way.

'You don't feel part of civvy life.

My mother says she can see enormous problems adjusting back.

That's why I'm only doing a short service!

"One fault is that he might be taken advantage of.

"The Sword of Honour contest was fierce.

"He missed by a whisker. An excellent year for an able man..."

'You look down on civilians, because they haven't done what you've done.

'I try not to, because that's wrong.'

In some ways I find myself comparing

at a place with lots of other people, like a party.

Nightclubs, as well.

You go home and think, "Look at them! Knob-ends! Civvies!"

And then you think, "Hang on! I'm the odd one out here.

"It's me. I'M different."

I didn't used to think like that and I DID at Christmas.

In between, I'd joined the Marines!

BAND STRIKES UP

LAUGHTER AND CHATTER

It's been an unusual education,

compounded of fear, indignity, fatigue and pressure,

and it has produced 19 examples of what it was intended to produce -

officers with brains, courage, resilience and endurance.

They've even learned how to wash their socks!

Sergeant Major Williams returns for their passing-out parade.

He's now a paragon of civility.

I remember one Batch marched off with somebody's collar out here!

- Mr Wiltshire. - Sergeant Major.

- Congratulations. - Thank you.

- Where are you going? - Command ship.

Well, OK, I just hope it stops raining.

I'm a bit worried about your technique(!)

Sam Browne's looking gleaming.

- That's all right, is it? - Yeah, smashing. Good job.

Fine.No problems there.

- Well done! - Thanks very much.

You know and I know that I never thought you'd be here today!

You did it - and we all know it's not because your dad's a colonel.

- Where are you going? - Four Five.

- Good. Best of luck for your career. - Thank you.

I don't think of Queen and country or personal challenge,

it's "get the hell out of here"!

I was looking through my bookshelf at home

and I came across the POC recruiting magazine.

I read all the things about why you are training and it was rubbish!

It brought back the feelings I had before I joined,

not really knowing what was going to happen.

It glamorised the whole thing and that is one thing training is not.

Don't come here trying to clock up all the great Scout badges,

thinking you'll be a great canoeist or captain the First XV at rugby,

thinking you must be an all-singing, all-dancing,

lead from the front, sporty individual.

It's harsh. I think you've got to come here with an open mind

and keep it open while you're here. That's the important thing.

You can play the hard, slightly detached officer image

and lean on a little bit of unapproachability,

so the message won't come through to you that the Troop isn't

performing as well as it should. I hope I'll never let that happen.

Keep in touch with the blokes. They're very important.

If you're not in touch, heaven help you on the day of the race!

I'm patriotic, but I'm not doing the job for that reason.

As I said, I'm doing it to lead people, really.

We're not all right-wing thugs. People do try to encourage us

to think about the things we are doing.

Sometimes you have to do things that are wrong in the eyes of many,

but you do it because you're supposed to.

I perhaps have a slightly childish, I suppose,

idea of heroism and this sort of thing

and I think I'll also get some sort of kick out of it.

That makes me sound like a pervert,

but it all goes back to leading guys in action.

It's the worst possible situation and to be good at it,

I would personally feel that I'd done a pretty good job

and I've done something much harder than what other people do.

- I just hope it stops raining. - There's not much chance of that!

BAND STRIKES UP

Parade turn!

The Sword of Honour is presented by Lt Gen Sir Martin Garrett,

Commandant General of the Marines.

Sir! The Young Officer Batch of September 1987

is fallen in, in three ranks, and awaits your inspection.

Stand at ease!

The Royal Marines Sword of Honour, awarded by the Admiralty Board

and presented by Wilkinson Sword

to the most outstanding Young Officer of his Batch,

Acting Lieutenant Van der Horst.

APPLAUSE

'I don't think, myself, that I'm far and away the best.

'I'm one of the best, but it could have gone another way.'

- Congratulations. - Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much, sir.

By the left, quick march!

BAND PLAYS "A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE"