P Company The Paras

You look at other regiments, you know,

like they're not really soldiers and all that.

Cos what we've been through for the past three days,

no-one else goes through that, do they?

And you see other soldiers, you think,

Christ, they haven't done anything compared to what we've got to do.

'The three-day test which separates the Paras

'from the rest of the British Army is called P Company.

'After 11 weeks, only 20 of the 41 who started

'in 480 Training Platoon were left

'to face P Company, the test they feared most.

'If they didn't pass, they wouldn't parachute.

'If they didn't parachute, they couldn't stay in the regiment.'

- The first event this morning is the milling,

the rough and tumble version of boxing where opponents

demonstrate their controlled aggression and will to win.

BELL RINGS

- Stop. This is not Come Dancing, you are allowed to hit. Bell!

- Go on!

'What the regiment wants

'is men prepared to knock hell out of their closest mates.'

- The sort of thing that we do not want to see is somebody whimpering,

crying, turning his back on his opponent and refusing to fight.

'Those judged insufficiently aggressive

'are simply made to fight twice.'

- Go on, drill him!

Look at him, put it on him. Get him!

Get him! Kill him!

Punch him! Come on!

'For number five, Brian Bush, things began badly.

'And this was just a warm-up for the main event of the day.'

BELL RINGS

- Remember, one hour 45, ten points.

Good luck.

'In that one hour 45, they must complete a ten-mile battle march

'in full kit plus rifle and a 30-pound pack.

'Everyone had done it before, but not immediately after milling.

'To get them, going the company commander had simply quoted Monty.'

- Come on.

The men we are looking for will always be outnumbered by the enemy.

They must by physically fit and strong

to march quickly from the dropping zone into battle.

- Prepare to double!

- Their life expectancy is not high and to survive,

they must be highly skilled and thoroughly professional in their job.

'The platoon held together for just about a mile.

'A few yards later, the field began to thin out.

'That early April day,

'the temperature had rocketed to 70 degrees.'

- Off you go now. Come on.

'Among the stragglers, number five, Brian Bush.'

- Come on. Guts and drive. Guts and drive.

I'm only walking and I'm going faster than you. Now come on!

Get over to the left. Come on. Over to the left.

Now open your legs.

Open your legs!

There's no such word as can't in the Parachute Regiment.

Come on.

Come on.

Come on, show him what a bum he is.

Campbell's overtaking you.

You're letting a jock in front of you!

A jock!

Built a wall to keep them out! Now come on.

'Three miles, out into open country,

'then the first testing climb, Hungry Hill.'

- Come on.

- Come on, push up this hill.

- You've got to double the top to join the squad. Come on.

- You've got to double it as soon as you've got to the top.

Now come on. Come on. Double it.

Come on now, all the way.

- Come on, run! Run your legs twice as fast. Come on.

'With Corporal Danny Lyden now in attendance,

'Brian Bush had even less cause to love the jocks.'

- Keep going, keep going. Keep running.

Keep running. Come on. Keep up with me.

'He couldn't, and by the next checkpoint had fallen over and out.'

- Come on, you can't afford to walk.

We're behind the main group.

'Private Payne was one of half a dozen new faces

'who'd been back-squadded into the platoon.'

- You're leaning back.

Don't pull faces, it means nothing to me, I can't feel a thing.

You must drive forward.

'But because he'd passed P Company once already,

'he wasn't on trial, he'd just come for the exercise.'

- Come on, lean forward.

Right, sit up. Sit up. Sit.

- OK, I'll leave him with you. - OK.

Sip it, don't gulp it.

'Four miles. At Caesar's Camp, the heat fingered another victim.'

- Are you with us? What's you name, hmm?

- What's your name? - Day.

- Come on.

Sniff.

Come on. And again.

What's your number?

Yeah, I know. Day. Day.

What's your number?

He's not with it, is he? You want to go with him?

- Yeah.

'He didn't go much further.'

- See you at the road, yeah?

'With medical staff and radio operators also marching

'and ambulances within call,

'the staff were well prepared for drop-outs.'

- Up you get.

- I'll get on there, sir.

- Come on. Stop gibbering.

'The first real surprise, Scrumpy Barrett from Somerset.

'Quiet, wiry and highly rated by the staff.'

- If you're going to be sick, hang your head out the back.

That's looking good. Go on.

- I don't know what's going on here...

- Come on, shut up. Shut up gibbering, will you?

- It's only started recently, but we have an ambulance following us

and the weaker ones will try and bluff it,

try and put on a show that they're exhausted and all this.

Because no ambulance follows you around in the jungle or whatever,

wherever you are. We want blokes that can keep going.

That 10-mile test is a good test and if they can't hack it,

then they can go somewhere else and be in another regiment.

- Come on, you two. Ripley, get up here. Cover off.

'Five and a half miles. Phil Tatum is still hacking it well.

'Alongside him, the man who in Wales had won the trophy

'for the most improved recruit, Johnny Baland,

'and Chris Ripley, who could do it all right,

'but really wanted to be a clerk.'

- That's it. Good. Keep still.

'Then with only three miles to go,

'there was a rest point for those up to time.

'Johnny Baland was, but suddenly...'

- Give it over here. Drink.

That's good. Keep a hold of that now.

Keep your head up, son.

Control yourselves. Good.

Stand up straight. - Hang on.

- If you can get these round for maximum, OK?

- Yeah. Look at me. Look at me.

- OK? What's your name? - Baland.

- Eh?

HE GROANS

- Get him to the side. Hold the weapon.

You three, cover off, get your weapons sorted out.

Put your water bottles away. Water bottles away now.

- Sarge, it's his. - Is it?

- Come on, Johnny.

- Come on, Johnny, stand up straight now. Up straight.

- Come on, Johnny.

- Come on, you! >

- Get that off.

- Got any water there?

Gently, gently.

- Come on, have a drink of water.

Sit him up. Sit him up.

That's good.

- Ambulance.

'Eight men down.

'One pulled muscle, seven with heat exhaustion.

'Taking no further risks, the staff took Johnny Baland to hospital,

'bypassing the medical officer.'

- They're going to have to be able to fight in all weathers

from perhaps minus 20 centigrade up to 30 centigrade,

or perhaps above if they go into tropical areas

and we have to know who can cope with heat and who can't.

- Stand up. - Number three, Private Biddle, Sir.

- Cor, not even out of breath, are you?

Get away. - Private Ward, Sir.

- Stand at attention when you're speaking to me!

- Private Ward, Sir. - Private Ward.

And what is your bloody number? - 26, Sir.

- In two minutes time it will be...

'At the finishing line, the survivors were marked and timed.'

- Private Hooper, number 14, Sir.

- Private Hooper, number 14, Sir.

- First jock, eh? First jock in.

- Double over there. Move yourself sharply. Move yourself.

- Oi, what are you doing with that bloody water?

Don't pour it away! It might save your bloody life. Sit down.

- Great, isn't it? You get all this way to be shouted at.

- Bush.

- No. - Campbell.

- Yes, he's here. - Sir.

- Craddock. - Sergeant.

- Cunningham. 'Andy Cunningham hadn't started.

'His father had died and he'd been sent

'on compassionate leave, adding to the staff's problems.'

- Eight sick and Baland in hospital, Sir.

So, standing for 26.

- It's nine, 26, 17.

How many have you got left for tomorrow morning, John?

'Not enough recruits left standing for tomorrow's team events.

'Was it their fault? Had they pushed them too hard?

'Was P Company itself relevant or wise?

'What would the Colonel say?'

- I always question the situation myself.

I always come up with the final answer

that it is a critical stage in our training.

It's a very useful period where we can decide who is capable of going

on to advanced training, who is capable of jumping out of aircraft.

We are sorting out the men from the boys at that stage.

We've been doing it for 40 years and we haven't done too badly.

EXPLOSIONS AND SHOUTING

- Come on, get on it now. Go, go, go.

'Loyalty to your team is the Paras' central article of faith.

'If teams don't exist, they create them.

'The staff had solved their team numbers problem

'by persuading the medical officer to release three of the heat victims.'

- This stretcher race simulates a rapid withdrawal

from the exercise area, carrying casualties.

The route is over rugged terrain of approximately seven and a half miles

and must be completed in one hour and fifteen minutes.

You are marked out of ten and your scores are based on the amount of

leadership, determination, stamina and endurance individuals display.

If you fail to take up your position on the stretcher at any time,

you are marked accordingly.

If you fail to finish with your team, you will fail that particular test.

'All three of the released heat victims, including Brian Bush,

'finished with their teams. They'd been persuaded

'that despite having failed

'the ten mile march, scoring nought,

'they could still pass P Company if, from the other six events,

'they somehow acquired the minimum points needed overall.

'Two of them, Scrumpy Barrett and the ex-schoolboy Graham Robertson,

'remarkably achieved this target, then they were failed anyway.

'In similar events over the next 36 hours, they crossed and recrossed

'the pain barrier, but the crucial test was not of stamina but nerve.

'The trainasium, a climbing frame with a difference.'

- Standby.

Stand and control your descent now, control your descent. Good.

Out to the side now.

Up the ladder. Touch your toes.

Stand up.

Carry on. Next.

- Standby. Go!

- Stop mucking around! - Well done. Get back.

- Knees on the outside, Ward, feet on the inside.

Keep your arms locked at the elbow. Keep your feet off those poles.

- Standby. Go!

Good test. Come on. Off you go.

'An apparently simple jump, except to another of the recruits

'who had been back-squadded into 480 Platoon.'

- Standby. Go!

Stand still. Stand still. Day.

I will give you two words of command. Standby and go. You go on the go.

Stand up straight. Standby. Go.

Day. One more chance, then you are coming down.

There's 32 men behind you in an aircraft,

you've got no second chances. Standby.

Go! - Come on, Day. Come on.

- Day, climb down. Day, get down.

- You've done the most difficult test of them all.

- Sir. - You've done the shuffle wires.

- Sir. - So why not the standing jumps?

- I don't know, Sir.

- He's also done some parachute descents, Sir.

- You've done parachute descents? - Sir.

- Then you know what it's like jumping into a void, don't you?

Do you want to go back up there again? One more go?

'But then, high on the narrow catwalk,

'came the six-foot running jump.

'Much wider, especially to the tiny Shaun Day.

'And the aggressive encouragement

'seemed insensitively mistimed and unhelpful.'

- Go. Go on.

- You're there, Day, you're there. - Once more, Day.

- Standby. Go!

- Go on, Day. - Go on.

- Go, Day. - Go boy. Go.

- Come on, Day.

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

- Get down, Day. Get out.

'There was one other recruit who couldn't or wouldn't.'

- Standby. Go!

- Walk along that quickly. Show us you are a man. Come on.

- Come on. Walk it. - Walk along it.

Come on.

- Ripley, come on, go!

- Come down, Ripley.

'A month earlier, at his last interview

'with platoon commander John Baird,

'Chris Ripley had requested not to do P Company and not to be a Para.'

- Now why can't you do it? Why not? - I can't go, Sir.

- You've done it before though, haven't you?

- It scared me the first time, Sir.

- If you've done it once, you should overcome the fear.

- Standby. Number three. Go! - I mean, what...

There's nothing to it, really.

- There's something just telling me not to go, Sarge.

- I don't know what it is. - It's a defeatist attitude, Ripley.

All right. Fall out and wait over there.

- Into the Land Rover. Into the Land Rover.

Out of sight, out of mind.

- Didn't want to know. He froze, he completely froze.

- He's already seen me though, wanting a transfer,

so he's obviously working his ticket. Just doesn't want to go.

- The overall winners of the pennant competition

by three events to two were Squad 2.

CHEERING

'P Company was over and the winning team did not go unrewarded.'

- Well done. I've just got the energy to lift this, I hope you have.

- Yes, Sir. - Well done.

- Might drink a little bit too, Sir.

- I think you might be drinking that tonight.

- Definitely will, Sir. Thank you, Sir.

'But the carrot and stick principle still applied.'

- Decisions about your future will now be made over the next two hours.

I will then make a final decision after that.

'And this time, the stick was harder to bear.'

- Private Barrett.

Fail.

Private Bush. Fail.

Private Butler. - Sir.

- Fail.

Private Campbell. - Yes, Sir.

- Fail. Private Hooper.

- Yes, Sir.

- Fail.

- Private O'Hare. - Sir.

- Fail.

- Private Ripley. - Yes, Sir.

- Other than your hesitations on the confidence area,

you have done reasonably well.

I will see you tomorrow to discuss your future,

but you cannot pass P Company.

'Chris Ripley succeeded in getting his transfer

'as a clerk to the Royal Corps of Transport.

'Of the rest, almost two thirds failed P Company.'

- I've had a discussion with your company commander

about the results and of course, we all are disappointed.

Now, I think the mathematics states

that there are ten passes out of the 26 that started this week

and I have made a decision that has not been made before.

There will be another P Company in about four weeks' time.

Anyway, those people who passed this week, well done.

Those people who failed or had the unfortunate of being...

or the misfortune of being injured,

a vacancy for you is still in this regiment.

And if you might remember, 12 weeks ago, seems a long time,

I took this beret off the top of my head

and said that it doesn't cost very much,

in fact it's free from the quartermaster's store,

but to us, this red beret is priceless.

There we are, I wish you best for the immediate future

and I hope to see those people who had their bad luck this week

ready to come back and give it another go.

Thank you.

- You feel disappointed because of the amount of effort

you've put into the guys, you haven't got the goods back.

So consequently, the staff are a little bit numb

and a little bit shocked. I mean, it does hit them as well.

They've got these guys' careers in their hands and they realise that.

It's like kicking a brick wall with a dirty big toe.

'The successful recruits were quick to proclaim their new status.

'But as there weren't enough of them to continue training as a platoon,

'they were held back four weeks while their mates tried again.'

- I'm pleased we've passed, but disappointed about the rest.

- Disappointed about what? - The rest of your mates,

you know, not getting through and you've got to stay behind.

- When they were giving out the results, I was shaking like a leaf.

I mean, when he was saying people that's passed,

and I thought, I've got a good chance in here.

But when it came to O'Hare and he says you've failed,

I thought he'd done just as good as me.

And when he called my name, I was really shaking.

And he passed me and I'm glad.

I'm really chuffed.

- I can't explain how I feel. I just don't know.

Confused, I suppose.

You know, I know I can do everything there well within the times.

I didn't do it.

Had my chance and just messed it up.

'Further examination revealed the cause of Brian Bush's failure.

'Asthma. He'd had it since childhood, but not told the Army.'

- What's your brother going to think of you?

'His older brother was in 2 Para.

'Brian was discharged from 480 Platoon, the Paras and the Army

'under the heading Illegal Entry.'

MARCHING MUSIC PLAYS

'While Brian's former platoon embarked on re-training,

'his brother, with the Red Devils of 2 and 3 Para, went on a cruise.

'They'd never need to fight, said the appeasers in their wisdom,

'but the Paras in theirs remembered their motto, Utrinque Paratus,

'Ready For Anything. Even before they sailed,

'their silver cap badges were blacked out for war.

'Back at depot, Britain versus Argentina replaced World Cup fever

'as the consuming passion.

'Rarely can such a rich diet of esprit de corps have been fed

'to recruits who, P Company graduates or not,

'were still less than halfway through training. And it worked.'

- I joined this regiment because they are the best there is.

Like he said the other day, when you go into battle,

you are outnumbered, you are low on ammunition and all that,

so your life expectancy is about six hours,

but I don't know, it's a great regiment.

You're the best, sort of thing, that's what attracts you.

- But do you look forward to having a life expectancy of six hours?

- Well, I don't know.

You don't sort of give a damn after you've been here a few months.

You think, so what, you know, that's what you're here for.

WHISTLE BLOWS

'12 out of the 16 failures plus Andy Cunningham, now returned,

'were given a month in which to mend their muscles, or their ways.

'They were expected to train as single-mindedly

'as the away team, whose every more they watched like hawks.

'But even these men from 2 and 3 Para had never fought in a war.

'So, suddenly, not only they, but the staff back at Aldershot faced

'an agonising examination. Would the training they gave recruits

'stand the test of a modern infantry war,

'or was the familiar tone of aggressive gung-ho

'just so much old-fashioned flannel?'

- It's difficult, I know, for you not to worry about us,

but I can assure you, there is no need to at all.

We are well able to look after ourselves.

Listen to the news, both on the radio and television.

That will give you a very accurate picture of what is happening,

but don't believe half of what you read in the newspapers.

'The Paras believe in themselves and each other,

'everyone else is a crap hat.

'In the spring of 1982 in the South Atlantic and in Aldershot,

'the objectives were simple, the spirit and language identical.'

- It's now up to the staff

and the rest of the platoon there to get hold of them and

build them back and say, come on, fellas, you know, chin up.

They've failed you, go on, dig them in the teeth, spit in their eye

and show them you can do it, show them you can be a paratrooper.

'In the training, as in the war, the method paid off.

'Most survived and succeeded, but there were casualties.'

- Is it your ankle or is it your shin?

Have you got all the feeling in your foot?

- No. - None whatsoever?

Can you feel that?

- Now, pick him up. - Are you sure?

- More speed, more speed. That's the way.

'And in something, perhaps, of the spirit in which

'an exhausted 3 Para would scale and capture Mount Longdon,

'little Shaun Day made his last-ditch attempt at the six-foot gap.'

- You did it. - Yes.

- How did you do it? - I done it for Captain Baird.

- And what was it that Captain Baird did that made the difference,

that made you go that time?

- He just convinced me to stay in the Parachute Regiment, really.

I wanted to, but he just pointed out to me how, you know,

what a good regiment it was.

- Your job was on the line, in other words.

- That's right, yeah.

- I stayed with him, spent some time with him, talked to him.

But his was the final thing. He had to make the jump,

I couldn't actually push him or do the jump for him.

- Now, he did get shouted at a lot. Was that the way to get him through?

- No, I don't think so. Just quietly talk to him

and let him make up his own mind that he was going to do it

and eventually he did. I'm very pleased. Very pleased for him.

You could see the joy on his face once he'd done it the first time

and then the barrier was broken, and then he did that jump again

and went straight up on the catwalk, and did the other jump straight away.

- Now he's done it several times.

- He's done it several times and it holds no fear for him any more.

It was just that mental block, that barrier.

And once he'd done it once, that was it,

he could do it as many times as he had to.

- Do you think he'll jump out of an aeroplane?

- I think he will. Every confidence.

Having said that now, I hope he does!

'Reunited, 480 Platoon prepared for parachute training

'at RAF Brize Norton.

'In the event, one of them would refuse to jump.'