Basic Wales The Paras

Come on!

..two, three, four, five, six!

'In the first week of March, high on the Brecknock mountains

'the morale of 480 Training Platoon reached its lowest ebb.

'Sub-zero temperatures and rain biting like chips of flint,

'exposed weaknesses of body and resolve.

'And to cap it all, they faced the first ice cold

'appraisal of what impact the training had made.

'Who should go? Who stay?

'Parachuting, for those who survived, was still two months away.

'It was the seventh week of training, called Basic Wales.'

'Mostly, they were in the open.

'Occasionally, like the weather, they crept under the canvas flaps

'of their only shelter, sodden, disorientated.'

This is our position here, that white dot.

The white line's there,

at the two grid squares which we will be operating in.

This red square here is the objective.

'The object of Basic Wales, to apply in difficult terrain

'the first principles of infantry they'd been taught

'almost as games back in Aldershot.'

- As soon as you hear Corporal Lynam's whistle,

I want the first two pairs that are going to move into the ditch

ready to move.

'Concealed movement, the camouflage game.'

- I've got more elasticated bands on this.

- The enemy is 200 metres away,

so you can afford to move quickly, initially. Stand by.

- This is your rifle...

WHISTLE

- Come on, Butler.

Don't move together.

- Come on. Follow me. Go on.

'Private Butler edges forward from the east,

'Private Fleming from the West.

'If either thinks he's spotted the other, he fires a blank.'

GUNSHOT

- Direct me.

'Fleming must now justify his shot

'by directing Corporal Priestley to where he thinks Butler is.

- Eh? - Got it.

- Down a bit. - Eh?

- Turn right.

- Eh? - Just there.

Just here.

- Do you want to stand on the track?

- He's a bloody good shot, Corporal...

You're dead. Go and stand on the track.

Been seen.

He's dead.

Make sure that your safety catch is applied and stand up...

'Weapon training on the SLR, self-loading rifle.'

Test and adjust in the standing position.

Five rounds, bottom patch, in your own time, go on.

'The SLR is the infantryman's friend and constant companion.

'Paras must be familiar with other weapons but, with this, expert.'

GUNSHOT

GUNSHOT

GUNSHOTS

130.

No concentration at all, Robertson. Look at the size of that group.

What was up with getting that in there and fetching that a little bit?

You got three rounds here, got a group forming,

You could've fetched those a little bit. No concentration.

You see yourself changing your position out there? That will affect it drastically, O

K?

By the time all your muscles have got tense,

the end of your muzzle is going like that.

OK? Naturally that's going to cause a big group

at the target end, isn't it? So, relax.

Come up.

Incorporate your breathing, release the shot, then relax again.

You're staying there for the whole shoot like that.

'At close range, the noise is as penetrating as the ammunition.

'That the recruits are oblivious to the din is a measure

'of their increasing fatigue.'

GUNSHOTS

'The navigation game. Six containers,

'each bearing the name of a regimental battle honour,

'have been concealed. The recruits are given six sets of coordinates.

'This compass, they are not given.

'If they want it, they buy it.'

We're off in that direction.

'As so often, they compete in pairs or threes against each other

'and the clock.'

Normandy.

It says Grunewald.

G-R-U-N-E-W-A-L...

'Today an important if unexpected military lesson, namely,

'always expect the unexpected. The fifth container has been stolen by ch

ildren

'and Private Butler, the platoon's strongman and a judo champion

'again learns that there's more to this game than physical fitness.'

Read them, starting with checkpoint one and go through them.

- Normandy. - Yep.

- Grunewald... - Yep.

And we got lost at number five, sir.

Number five has disappeared.

We took the wrong bearing. We couldn't find it.

Right. Number six?

Number six, went up there somewhere near the tracks.

Missed that as well.

...Before it starts raining.

'At Basic Wales, the games were over

'and some of the players too had gone.

'Ten of the 41 starters had been discharged,

voluntarily or involuntarily.

'Four more, temporarily injured, had been back-squadded.

'That is, given another chance with the platoon behind.

'Now, the remaining 28, reinforced by back-squaddies

'from the platoons ahead, attempted to practise

all the lessons of Aldershot at one go

'in their first dummy section attacks.'

Now this is where I will give you a signal of an emergency RB.

I'll just do that on the palm of your hand.

That signal is to be passed back as you come through it.

No, wait.

Not until it gets to the back of the line, as you come through.

'The Paras are used as a spearhead force, advancing fast,

'and some say careless of cost,

'until the objective is achieved.'

Go forward!

Keep it in line with me.

To the brow of the hill, everybody fires,

and straight down into the gully.

'The Paras don't always go by the book, even in training.

'Initiative is encouraged

'and where staff or recruits have special expertise, it's exploited.

'In Wales, skills which might later

'have been used in the Falklands were available.

'Corporal Al Slater is an expert in survival.'

Is that nerves?

It is dead. This is just a nervous reaction.

'And this Private proved already qualified as a slaughterhouse man.'

Where that knife's going...

Give it some knife, Johnny baby.

Butcher bone.

Oh, it's leg has gone right stiff.

It's probably something to do with its throat getting cut.

The expert...

Gather that, take the fat off.

Pull that right across...

'In adverse conditions,

'Paras learn quickly to make full use of meagre resources.'

Obviously, if there's only a couple of you, you're not going to eat all of this in one

go.

It depends on the weather. In this sort of weather, it's cold,

food and meat and everything is going to last a few days.

When it gets hot, if you're in a tropical climate or whatever,

then you've got to find other ways.

Smoking the meat, as I said, is the best way of preserving it.

Remember, animals also carry diseases

and you're likely to pick it up off the blood.

If you're going to die if you don't eat that, you'll eat it anyway.

'There was one brief trip to the cookhouse in Brecon...'

Can I have some sausage?

'..for a relaxing meal.'

You haven't got time to blow it cool, Hooper.

If it's too hot, eat the other one and let out one cool down.

Use a little bit of common sense.

Not that side, idiot.

There, where the cook is, where the plates are.

Strike a light.

Come on. You have had three-quarters of an hour to have your breakfast.

Your spots won't go by eating the beans, disappear.

'As always, the urgency with which recruits are tempted

'to take energy in, was matched by the remorselessness of the staff

'in taking it out.'

Come on. You're holding everybody up...

'Not all the hazardous obstacles on Welsh mountains

'are designed by nature.'

Pull forward. Pull forward!

Push your arms out as far as they'll go.

Come on. You must get your legs up. Put your leg over!

You may as well drop down and get out.

Top speed!

Come on, get back out. Come on.

Come on, keep pushing. Don't stop.

Pull. Push with your left foot.

Good. Keep pushing now, keep pushing.

Come on, a couple more feet, a couple more feet. Good.

Keep pulling. Good.

Come on. Keep pulling now.

Just to me, to me, to me.

Good. Come on.

OK, drop down, drop down. Right, let's go.

'There was a cruel inevitability about who would be

'the assault course's principal victim.

'Private Andy Cunningham was once again the big man in big trouble.

'He'd already survived a conviction for negligently firing a rifle

'but would he, could he, survive this?'

Straight through.

Come on!

Get up. Get through it.

Get down.

Up you get. Stand up, come on.

Come on!

Straight up. Dig your heels in! Dig your heels in!

Come on. Stay up.

Stay up!

Stay up.

Right, run across the plank, jump across the space.

Go on, move.

Get up!

Get up!

Get up.

Right, run at it. Arm over arm.

One arm on that, one arm on the next. Go!

Go! Keep...

Keep going!

Straight through!

Come on. Keep coming.

You set off there, first to get to the front.

When you get to the front, you stay there.

You went straight to the back as soon as you got to that rope.

- No. - I want to see a big improvement

the rest of the week or you're for the bin. You understand?

Right. Off you go. Get dried off.

'With his future hanging precariously on overstretched sinews,

'it was scant consolation that tomorrow was another day.'

Right, the route we'll be following will be this blue route here.

Up to the first hill here, which is the one up there.

Along the railway which is on the left-hand side of the reservoir,

up the reservoir, to this point here where you'll have your lunch,

which will be a quick stew, a cup of tea.

Then we go up the Roman road here, go straight up Pen y Fan.

'Pretty as a picture postcard one moment,

'Pen y Fan has a reputation for flattering to deceive,

'to which it entirely lived up.'

'The SAS train here and in five years,

'the mountain has claimed four victims, dead of exposure.

'Just six days after 480 Platoon climbed it,

'an SAS trainee was lifted from this peak and blown to his death.'

Lean into the wind.

OK, let's go. Last bit.

Right, you get your Blue Peter badges when you get up here.

It's not like getting upstairs to bed.

- Did you enjoy coming up there? - Yeah, it's worth the view.

He still thinks there's a cafe up here.

There is, it'll be on top. Go for a cup of coffee now.

There's a cafe here?

Yes, granddad.

'On a day-trip from Aldershot,

'senior staff from the depot join recruits for the exercise.'

Who's got the brandy?

'Even the regimental Sergeant Major.'

How often do you do this one?

Not too often.

Don't have to at my age!

To set an example or just to keep in trim?

No, to let the soldiers know we can do it.

They know we can but it's nice to come out now and again.

Plus fresh-air is better than sitting in the office all day.

It's the first time since I've been in command.

When I was in Recruit Company, I used to be up front.

But it's good weather, this. Last time we had three feet of snow.

So, they're lucky.

A small amount of hail is nothing much?

Oh, no. A cool breeze, this is.

Two days ago we'd have been...

up here.

Nice to see you up here. I didn't expect it.

Thank you.

'Throughout training, the platoon corporal's had been noting carefully

'but unobtrusively the actions, reactions

'and attitudes of their recruits.'

I'm lost!

'From now on, recruits could expect to be failed not just

'for lack of motivation but for incompetence,

'as back in the barracks at Brecon

'the staff begin their first major assessment.'

Right, our judo expert, Butler.

He's worked hard, he's a fit lad.

But his personal admin, and all the rest of his stuff,,

he's not put enough into it as far as I'm concerned.

And for that, although his fitness is good, I give him an E.

OK, basically he's done just enough to get through but no more.

OK, our trumpeter, Clarke?

He's far too slow on everything.

Every time I've seen him do anything he's been last.

Lean back and swing!

Get him out!

I've got cramp!

I'd like to fail Clarke.

He shows a lack of aggression, a lack of drive as well.

He's uncoordinated in a lot of things

and I think he gets affected by the weather.

He's not really material for us.

I can't see him wearing the red beret.

Clarke strikes me as being an intelligent guy

but also an extremely sensitive and artistic type,

and not really cut out, one, to be a paratrooper and probably secondly,

to be in the army.

So fail?

Cunningham, sir.

He's...

He can take the thing in since he's been here.

He's got good intelligence. He's good at taking things in.

But his fitness, to me, he hasn't got any.

He's got nothing at all.

Lift your feet!

You've to drag him along all the time.

Pull your feet!

Get up!

Lift your feet!

Stand up straight! Stand up!

Push forward, come on.

Come on! Get up!

Get moving, come on!

Come on!

Basic Wales isn't just about fitness.

It's about learning all the lessons that we try to teach.

OK, to fail him purely on fitness

on something like Basic Wales I think is wrong

because he's got the guts and determination.

He tries as hard as he possibly can.

To my mind, that's the kind of guy deserves to be passed Basic Wales.

Hunt.

He's done well, he's taken everything in.

He's excelled on most things he's done.

He's a fit lad.

But he's a bit gobby and tries to impress other members

of the section with his gobbiness and they're getting bored of it.

Coming down the rope, the knot flicks up and smacks me in the face!

It caught me above the eye. I thought I was going to be unconscious.

If necessary, pull him in front of me and I'll talk to him.

OK, but from a soldiering side, he's OK.

OK.

Right, Boreland.

Boreland's mine.

Boreland, compared to what he was like in the barracks,

has improved 100%.

Drill, he's pathetic, virtually untrainable.

Boreland, you make me despair!

Left, right, left, right.

All the way through Basic Wales, he's done well.

He excels in the field rather than in the barracks.

He's willing to learn, asking questions.

He's done very well.

Anyone else with comments about Boreland?

Bearing in mind he was not particularly good in barracks

and therefore that's the reason we've given him

this trophy for the most improved recruit.

Congratulations, Boreland.

I'm sure you deserve this in everything you've done.

I'd like you to maintain these standards

that you've shown this week in the rest of your training.

Thank you, sir.

Rejoin.

Fall out!

'After the carrot, the stick.

'What the staff said behind their backs,

'Captain Baird will say to their faces.

'back at Aldershot, and recruits too can have their say.'

- I want to transfer, sir. - Why?

- Cos I'm not happy, sir. - Why aren't you happy?

Don't like the PE.

Don't like the aggressive attitude here, sir.

I think...

I want to stay in the army. I just want a transfer, sir.

OK. Let's get to the bottom of this. What in particular about...

You said your family wanted you to get out of the army.

What is it in particular?

Is it anything to do with your colour, for instance?

- No, sir. No, nothing like that. - Well, I'm glad to hear it.

I haven't got the determination, when you're cold and tired,

to get up and go. It just isn't there in me.

But you've got everything going for you on the physical side.

I'd understand it if you were weak, physically, but you're not.

But you still don't want to do it?

I still don't want to do it, sir.

OK, Ripley.

I'm sorry that you want to go. Really, I am.

I'm sorry you feel that way but it's not for everyone, I suppose.

'Later, Chris Ripley was ordered to continue training

'with unforeseen consequences.'

Shut the door, Stirling.

'Before joining the professionals,

'John Stirling had been a part-time soldier with the SAS.'

Stand to attention. That typifies your whole attitude, Stirling.

You're not doing enough. You're just coasting.

All right? You've been spotted.

Your section commanders and I have noticed.

And you've got very much a fly attitude to the whole business.

You could do a lot better.

- As I said, you're just coasting. - Sir.

We expect a great improvement over the next few weeks.

All right? Otherwise you will be out.

Go away now and I expect a lot better from you in the next few weeks.

Sir.

Stirling, come back. What have you forgotten to do, already?

All right. Get away.

OK, Price.

This interview is because you have failed Basic Wales.

The reasons you've failed it are because you failed to pick up

the majority of the information that was taught there.

You didn't get as much out of Basic Wales as you could have done.

I'm recommending that you be back-squadded.

- Sir. - To 482 Platoon.

- What have you got to say? - Nothing, sir.

- All right, Price? - Yes, sir.

Right, away you go.

'However forcibly expressed, Captain Baird's decision is not final.

'He'd over-ruled his corporals about Andy Cunningham

'but even when he and his staff agree, they can all be

'over-ruled by the officer in charge of training, Captain Max Gandell.'

Private Price.

What about him?

It certainly came out in Basic Wales that he hadn't really picked up

the stuff as much as he should have.

Mmm.

- Keen? - Oh, he's keen.

He's keen to go on.

It's just that his...mental capacity lets him down a little bit.

Right.

You must keep him, OK?

Do you find that satisfactory, as corporals,

that people who you have doubts about actually pass?

No, but I mean we're involved with training a section.

I suppose people above us

are training battalions and getting them up to strength

so that's just a thing we have to accept.

You know, it's our job to assess them while they're down here, using

all the various tests and everything,

and weed out the ones that can't do it.

Erm, unfortunately, sometimes, the odd one or two might get through

which we don't like or we don't want to get through.

Such is life.

What did you feel when you saw Captain Baird this morning

and he said he was recommending you for back-squadding?

- What was your reaction then? - I was going to leave.

I asked for a discharge but he said to carry on.

I didn't want to go back and do the eight weeks again.

Are you really keen to be a para, or aren't you?

Oh, yeah.

- But you were going to leave? - Yeah, I was.

I didn't want to do the eight weeks again. Go through that again.

But if you wanted to be a para,

wouldn't it be worth it to go through eight weeks?

It's a short time in your life.

Erm, I don't know really... It feels more like eight years!

But now you're not being back-squadded, you're carrying on.

How will it change your attitude to your work?

I think I'll have to try a lot harder.

Cos to get...

If you want to get out... Or I'll get back-squadded.

You know, he said I'll have to put a lot more effort in.

Stop doing stupid things.

'Two days later, Gary Price went absent without leave.

'He was on the run for nine months, gave himself up,

'served 28 days detention, and then continued training.'

Right, I'm afraid, Clarke, that you failed Basic Wales.

Sir.

The reasons you failed it because, one,

your attitude towards the rigours of army life. OK?

You haven't gone into it wholeheartedly enough.

You're too...sensitive about your person

and you haven't come up to the standard of the rest of the platoon.

So, I shall recommend you to be back-squadded

and you'll go in front of the OC either this afternoon or tomorrow.

Yes, sir.

I understood when I joined that I was only to do eight weeks

and then I would move into the band.

That's not for me to decide.

It will be for the officer commanding, Captain Gandell,

to decide.

You know that the band are medics and stretcher carriers?

Yes, sir.

When we go to war,

so life isn't going to be that much easier in the band. Is it?

No, sir.

You can't adopt an attitude where you think, well, you want to do something

and you'll do the minimum of work to achieve that aim, can you?

- No, sir. - No.

However, having said that, you are fairly bright.

I can see that. OK?

And I think at this particular time,

your best interest would be for you to go to a band as soon as possible.

It's really great.

I'm really surprised.

I thought I was going to be back-squadded.

And it's turned out to be just what I wanted so I'm really overjoyed.

I was worried that if I was back-squadded,

I would have to do the 12 weeks all over again.

Which would mean another 12 weeks away from playing my trumpet.

Erm, I'm just sort of amazed that it's come through just as I wanted.

It's like Father Christmas has come, isn't it?

- Yes, sir. - Good. Now get out of my sight!

'Lee Clarke never won his parachutist's wings.

'But as a first cornet in the band of the First Battalion,

'he kept his red beret.

'And that day in March, when he picked up his trumpet again,

'neither he nor anyone else could have perceived the irony

'of his choice of tune...'

HE PLAYS: "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"

..Still less could anyone have predicted that the Paras

would soon travel 8,000 miles to death and glory in a land of moor

and mountain, water, wind and sheep.

The very stuff of Basic Wales.

MUSIC: "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"