0:00:54 > 0:00:58Remember, keep your eyes open at all times, just squeeze the trigger.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Good shot, release, follow through.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03The first shots of the Falklands War,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06when British marines in South Georgia optimistically brought down
0:01:06 > 0:01:09a helicopter and holed an Argentinean warship,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13were fired with this, the 84mm anti-tank gun,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16one of the many weapons with which the recruits of 480 Platoon
0:01:16 > 0:01:19were now urgently required to feel at home.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25I'm going to screw you for that!
0:01:26 > 0:01:30They were on 24-hour standby for a war where the targets fired back.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35And what was left of training was being cut short.
0:01:35 > 0:01:36Like it or lump it,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40they'd have to observe the Paras motto, Ready For Anything.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48When the Falklands crisis came along we had to stand by extra soldiers
0:01:48 > 0:01:50in case they were needed,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53and it would be wrong for me to answer the telephone
0:01:53 > 0:01:55when Mrs Thatcher rang up and said,
0:01:55 > 0:01:57"Colonel Bruce, I need 30 more men,"
0:01:57 > 0:02:01and I said, "Sorry, madam, they won't be ready for another three weeks."
0:02:01 > 0:02:04And so we had to make a decision and be prepared.
0:02:07 > 0:02:08Before embarking,
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Falklands troops had come to these Welsh mountain ranges to sharpen up.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19A few weeks later, 480 Platoon arrived to start at square one.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23What we're after now is accurate shooting and good fieldcraft.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27When you do this quick reaction shooting that you've been shown,
0:02:27 > 0:02:30fire off two shots and then go quickly to ground.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33I don't want to see anybody waiting in the aim.
0:02:33 > 0:02:34Let's go. Come on.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45Look at the ground where you're going to go. Come on. Down! Down!
0:02:47 > 0:02:50Don't wave the rifle around like a flag, son.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52If you can't see him, he can't see you.
0:02:52 > 0:02:53If, at such close quarters,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56you haven't got time to muck about with your sights,
0:02:56 > 0:02:58shoot it shotgun-fashion even from the ground, OK?
0:02:58 > 0:03:01You're only talking about 20 metres.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Keep your weapon just a little higher, son.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07OK. Straighten that left arm.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20How many times did you drag your weapon
0:03:20 > 0:03:23when you were withdrawing back like this?
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Coming back out of cover you were there.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27All right, prepare to move.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29You were doing this. What's going to happen to your muzzle?
0:03:30 > 0:03:32- Fill with dirt. - Right. What's going to happen then?
0:03:32 > 0:03:34It's going to blow up in your face.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Both hands up.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39Back. It's there. If you've got two hands on your weapon
0:03:39 > 0:03:41you can use it again if need be, can't you?
0:03:41 > 0:03:43- Yeah. - OK. Good.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Stage two. Similar but unnatural ground.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49The tutor, Captain Dave Allen.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51What we're going to do now is an exercise in CQB,
0:03:52 > 0:03:53close quarter battle.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58I want you to imagine now that you are a member of a patrol
0:03:58 > 0:04:00which has been ambushed,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04and as far as you can judge there is only you left around.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Your problem is to get back from where you are
0:04:07 > 0:04:10to your company defensive position as quickly as you can,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12and there's nobody else there to assist you,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15so it's all down to you, you are on your own.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Not quite. Captain Allen and two staff go with them.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21One raises targets to pinpoint the enemy's position,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24another fires ahead to simulate enemy shots.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Right, just stop and look around you at what little cover there is.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36The bank of the stream affords more cover than does that grass.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39Get in it, behind it, now. Lower. Lower! Lower!
0:04:40 > 0:04:44When the enemy shows himself I want the weapon in the shoulder.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48All right. You'll hit nobody from down there. Carry on.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53He's there again, look. He's there again, look.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02Now look where you are now.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Isn't that a better fire position than where you were on the bank?
0:05:05 > 0:05:06Yes, Sir.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Right, I'm trying to save your life, son. Remember.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Well done. Stop, unload!
0:05:15 > 0:05:18This time the weapon is the sub-machine-gun,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20less effective than the rifle,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24but at short range, easier to use for clearance work.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26Shall we clear?
0:05:26 > 0:05:28All right, now,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31you must remember that lying on top
0:05:31 > 0:05:34or halfway round the side of a bit of cover
0:05:34 > 0:05:36is absolutely no use at all.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39All right, you've got to be right down there.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42All right? If possible fire from round the side.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45There's no point in lying on the top of cover like that,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48cos all you're doing is giving him a chance
0:05:48 > 0:05:51to get the medal that you're after. Understand?
0:05:51 > 0:05:52Yes, Sir.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56Fire and manoeuvre in pairs, a key lesson in communication.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58In battle it always is.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02In the Falklands, Para patrols fired on each other, inflicting casualties.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Go!
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Again, simulated enemy fire adds to the confusion.
0:06:15 > 0:06:16Go!
0:06:19 > 0:06:20Right, in cover. In cover.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22In cover! That's not cover.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28As soon as he starts firing, we move.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30You understand?
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Right, he's firing, now we go. Come on.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42Let's go.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Crack on, let's go.
0:06:49 > 0:06:50Stop there!
0:06:50 > 0:06:55Hey, don't you ever, ever fire on the run again.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00You haven't been taught it these last three days. Don't do it.
0:07:00 > 0:07:01- Yeah, see it? - Yes, Sir.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Get it engaged, then.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Now, better fire position than that, come on,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08slot back behind this... Not there, you lemon,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12behind this tree behind you, look.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14Keep low. Low silhouette.
0:07:17 > 0:07:18Let's go.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27Let's go. Come on, he's giving us covering fire.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31You see, really, you can carry on firing
0:07:31 > 0:07:34until he's right up on that target.
0:07:53 > 0:07:54Magazine!
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Drop down, get it fixed. Good. Good. Good.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00OK, more fire.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Get him in cover, man, get him in cover.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08Ammo!
0:08:08 > 0:08:11If you're out of ammunition, fix a bayonet, pick up a brick,
0:08:11 > 0:08:13take off your shovel, do something, OK?
0:08:13 > 0:08:15OK, that was good.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Just come back onto the other side of the river.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Momentum.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24You've got to maintain the momentum,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28otherwise the whole thing will grind to a halt.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31It's bad enough as it is at the moment, all right,
0:08:31 > 0:08:33because the cover has got to be found,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37you've got to engage the enemy and you're knackered.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40Next time you do it there'll be stuff coming this way as well,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42so it's going to be doubly difficult,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44and if you don't maintain that momentum,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46the whole thing will grind to a halt
0:08:46 > 0:08:49and someone is going to have to extricate you. OK?
0:08:49 > 0:08:51- Sir. - So you must keep it going. Right?
0:08:51 > 0:08:55When you get a stoppage or you have to change your magazine,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58shout the required word.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Magazine! That'll do. Yeah?
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Because there were times I knew you had a stoppage but he didn't.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07All right? And if you've got a stoppage
0:09:07 > 0:09:09and he starts to move, curtains.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13Right? Now, when you have to reload,
0:09:13 > 0:09:18cure a stoppage or whatever, make sure the next magazine is to hand.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21We want that magazine out and on the weapon straight away,
0:09:21 > 0:09:22and the weapon back in action.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Cos his life depends on it. Do you understand that?
0:09:25 > 0:09:27- Yes, Sir. You do understand that, don't you?
0:09:27 > 0:09:29We're not just playing a game.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Before you go out there you've got in your mind what you are going to do.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34You go out there and you forget it all.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37You're just running, you don't know what you're doing.
0:09:37 > 0:09:38I ran out of ammo at the very end,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40he said, "What are you going to do?"
0:09:40 > 0:09:42I said, "Ask me what I've got to do."
0:09:42 > 0:09:45I just remembered I put the bayonet on. You don't know what's going on.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47You've got it all planned out,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49then you go out there and just forget it all.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51You tend to forget how much you've got in your magazine.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54They tell you to count, but there's no way you can.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57We were doing this up the woods, the same thing,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00and I had a dead man's click, as it's called.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02You just pull the trigger and it goes "click,"
0:10:02 > 0:10:03and there's no rounds in it,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07and you've got that sort of feeling, "Urgghh," you know, you're dead.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11As you was looking for your target and someone's talking behind you,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14you can't hear what they're saying.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16Sometimes you can, but I just didn't.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19I was looking for the target and it's just going in and out.
0:10:19 > 0:10:20It just can't be helped.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24With me being left-handed I was going on the other side of the trees
0:10:24 > 0:10:27and I was lower, so when I looked all I could see was reeds and that,
0:10:27 > 0:10:28so I had to change cover all the time.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30I enjoy this because you're active all day,
0:10:30 > 0:10:32you feel you're achieving something.
0:10:32 > 0:10:33And it is all day.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37Yeah. Literally all day. About nine till ten at night, 11 at night.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39And what time do you get up in the morning?
0:10:39 > 0:10:40Six in the morning we get up, yeah.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44But whereas at Brize Norton we had loads of free time to ourselves...
0:10:44 > 0:10:45Loads of nappy breaks.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47But that's just it, you know. That's the difference.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56From attack to defence.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Exercise Long Watch.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00Working now as a platoon,
0:11:00 > 0:11:05they set up a defensive position on a singularly unyielding hilltop.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07Hard rock.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Picking away, we need a pneumatic drill.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16Outdated, old-fashioned soldiering, shades of 1918,
0:11:16 > 0:11:20yet in 1982, that very night, on Mount Longdon,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23some young boys from Captain Baird's previous platoon
0:11:23 > 0:11:26were also living in holes in the ground.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28And others were dying.
0:11:31 > 0:11:32Some went on digging
0:11:32 > 0:11:35for almost all the two days and nights they spent there,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39but not Tony Butler, the judo man.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10He alone slept secure in a completed trench on the first night,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12when the long watch began.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17The compressed timetable,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20with lectures crammed between battle exercises, often in the wrong order,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23meant that the recruits were unusually fatigued,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26and as we watched them through the camera's image intensifier,
0:12:26 > 0:12:28the nagging though recurred,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32if they went to war in a week could they be more than cannon fodder?
0:12:32 > 0:12:35In this realistic exercise testing their battle sense,
0:12:35 > 0:12:38they seemed green indeed in judgment.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44A sniper with a modern night-sight would have the same view.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Oddly, because of their camouflage,
0:12:50 > 0:12:52the more the dawn light filtered through,
0:12:52 > 0:12:57the less visible and vulnerable they seemed, and anxiety faded.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Just before 4am on the second night,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05after an attack by a mythical terrorist force,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08the platoon began to move back down the valley.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Was this a retreat?
0:13:10 > 0:13:14No, hissed Sergeant Riley, Paras never retreat, they withdraw.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27It was a withdrawal in contact with the enemy,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30and preferably with each other.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34And if proof were again needed that this exercise
0:13:34 > 0:13:37was as close as maybe to the real thing,
0:13:37 > 0:13:39it came one hour and three miles later.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Come on, hurry up.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44No-one was dead, but a number were certainly missing.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48What's happened now is because of the laziness
0:13:48 > 0:13:51of a particular person in this rifle group here,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55the gun team has been lost back on the withdrawal.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57We've been waiting here for a certain time.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00I've been back to the RV to check if I could find them.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02They're not there, we can't wait any longer.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05The rear elements of Six Platoon back up the road there
0:14:05 > 0:14:06say the enemy is pushing on,
0:14:06 > 0:14:11we've got to withdraw to a suitable area back over the ridgeline.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Which side of you was the gun group on?
0:14:22 > 0:14:25- Your left or right? - I don't know, Sir.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28I didn't actually see the gun group when I went to ground, Sir.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31So they came into the RV behind you?
0:14:31 > 0:14:32- Is that right? - Yes, Sir.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34It's my fault, Sir.
0:14:34 > 0:14:35No, no. I'm not blaming you,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38but you must be aware that there is a responsibility within the section
0:14:38 > 0:14:41for everybody to know where everybody is.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43Don't worry. We'll find them.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45Did you get a message from Butler?
0:14:45 > 0:14:47No. I was down, looking down the track,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50and I saw Butler on my right-hand side near that rock.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54Turned back. When I turned back again it had gone.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57- So he didn't give you any message? - I never heard any message.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59- Did you hear him move? - No.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Certain points come out from this.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Now, if the enemy had been following up there
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and you ain't got the message to pass back,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08I'm not saying it's your fault now, hearing your side of it,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Butler's admitted that he didn't tell you, OK,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14so 90% of the blame is his, but 10% is yours, Ward.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17You were the section 2IC for this particular phase,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19you should have been kept as a link man with the gun
0:15:19 > 0:15:23and the rest of the section. All right? All a bit tired, aren't we?
0:15:23 > 0:15:25- Eh? Ward? - Corporal.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Right, go back over there and carry on doing the defence stores.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31Once they're done, move back to your trench and start filling them in.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Remember, don't bury the kip sheets.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35OK? Quickly get away.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47FIBUA. Fighting in a built-up area.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Staring recruits in the face even in wild Wales were bleak reminders
0:15:53 > 0:15:57of a history of house clearing and street fighting by Paras.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03And if the Argentineans proved stubborn at Port Stanley,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06this special skill might yet be required.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10480 Platoon had one day to learn the rudiments.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13When the flash goes off, go forward.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Go! Come on, get in there quickly!
0:16:32 > 0:16:35Come on, get moving, get in there!
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Shit! Get out.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42Right in, go on!
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Right, attack and clear the landing instead.
0:16:59 > 0:17:00Third floor clear!
0:17:00 > 0:17:01Come on!
0:17:01 > 0:17:03There's too much banging around.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05Pull it down.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07If you're not involved, get out of the way.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11Fire!
0:17:16 > 0:17:18Stop!
0:17:18 > 0:17:20Breach left.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22I don't think I've ever seen a platoon
0:17:22 > 0:17:25be so professional at that stage of their training.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29And when I came back having seen all three sections through,
0:17:30 > 0:17:31I was a very proud man.
0:17:31 > 0:17:32So they, in the end,
0:17:32 > 0:17:36turned out to be above average in performance as well as in...
0:17:36 > 0:17:37Indeed, certainly.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39And, of course, the proof is in the pudding
0:17:40 > 0:17:43that they were actually in tactics using live ammunition.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46They would have been ready to go to the Falklands if called.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50They weren't. After all the fuss and the build-up,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53just as they completed their course and were poised
0:17:53 > 0:17:55on the edge of readiness, 480 Platoon
0:17:55 > 0:17:58learned that Port Stanley had been taken.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00The Paras were coming home.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04MILITARY MARCH PLAYS
0:18:13 > 0:18:15There he is!
0:18:15 > 0:18:18As Britain congratulated the returning heroes
0:18:18 > 0:18:21and 480 Platoon congratulated each other,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25the training staff could only reflect on what might have been.
0:18:25 > 0:18:26It's our regiment,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29and if people are out there getting killed and that, you know,
0:18:29 > 0:18:30for our regiment,
0:18:30 > 0:18:35then we want to be there as well instead of being stuck here.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38But there again, that's all water under the bridge now.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41And did you all try to go? Volunteer and bang on doors?
0:18:41 > 0:18:44Well, the 2 and 3 Para guys did, yeah.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46I went up to see the adjutant
0:18:46 > 0:18:50and asked if there were any more vacancies to go, like,
0:18:50 > 0:18:52you know, to get down there, and he said,
0:18:52 > 0:18:56"Well, you're about number 78 on the waiting list to go."
0:18:56 > 0:18:58- So it just dissolved me. - I phoned up 2 Para,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01went up to see Captain Woods, who got killed out there,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05and he said I could go out there, but it was stopped from this end
0:19:05 > 0:19:08because they'd let so many guys go already.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10You know, the line has got to be drawn somewhere.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13I think you'll find that the CO wanted to go as well,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15so, I mean, there'd be nobody left down here.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17All the sergeant-majors wanted to go, everybody.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19They could have closed this place
0:19:19 > 0:19:22and sent the recruits home for a couple of months and sent us all.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24The hardest thing is seeing the recruits
0:19:24 > 0:19:28that you've actually had in previous platoons and seeing them
0:19:28 > 0:19:31on the television or whatever coming back, and we've trained them here.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37You champion!
0:19:47 > 0:19:49While our boys were being press-ganged
0:19:49 > 0:19:51into displays of public emotion,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55our boys with nowhere to go got all dressed up.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Their passing-out parade, hitherto cancelled, was now on again.
0:19:59 > 0:20:0222 weeks I've had you and you still can't speak Queen's English.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05WESTCOUNTRY ACCENT: It's better than the Queen, Sergeant.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08It's what? Is it? Arrr!
0:20:08 > 0:20:11You'll be asking for a glass of cider next before we go on.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15There were still one or two loose ends.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17Tony Butler, because of a knee injury,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20had never completed his eight jumps during parachute training.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23Nor, because of an ear infection, had Phil Tatum.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Unprecedentedly, therefore, because of the Falklands,
0:20:26 > 0:20:30two men would pass out without wings on their shoulders.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33But the jumps would soon be made and everything neatly sewn up.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39MILITARY MARCH PLAYS
0:20:54 > 0:20:58It was Corporal Slater whose advice in the first week had been,
0:20:58 > 0:20:59"Don't get noticed."
0:20:59 > 0:21:02Over six months, one or two had almost achieved it.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Indeed, it was just before the end of training
0:21:06 > 0:21:10that Private Rod Stoner found himself the centre of attention
0:21:10 > 0:21:13after taking a day off to marry, in his mates' words, "a right cracker,"
0:21:13 > 0:21:19and she was there when he emerged for the second time as the dark horse.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23The champion recruit of 480 Platoon is Private Stoner.
0:21:26 > 0:21:27Stoner, well done.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29These are not given lightly,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32and you've done very, very well indeed to win that.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34And you're off to the Third Battalion very soon?
0:21:34 > 0:21:35Yes, Sir.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37Great stuff. Well done.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41The second award is for the platoon champion shot
0:21:41 > 0:21:45with a self-loading rifle, and this is Private Birrel.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49- Well done, Birrel. - Thank you, Sir.
0:21:49 > 0:21:50I hope you keep the shooting up.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53It's possibly the most important thing a soldier can do.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Had you shot before you came in the army?
0:21:55 > 0:21:56- No, Sir. - Well done, then.
0:21:56 > 0:21:57Thank you, Sir.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00The final award is for the platoon champion shot
0:22:00 > 0:22:05with a general-purpose machine gun, Private Butler.
0:22:05 > 0:22:06Well done, Butler.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08Had you done any shooting before the army?
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Hadn't been in the cadets or anything like that?
0:22:10 > 0:22:12- No, Sir. - Well done indeed.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16It was July 16th.
0:22:16 > 0:22:1726 weeks and five days earlier,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21Captain Baird had predicted that only about a third of those
0:22:21 > 0:22:24who started with the platoon would pass out with it.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28He was right. 16 out of 41.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Steven Birrel, champion rifle shot,
0:22:31 > 0:22:35whose ever-present effervescence kept up platoon moral.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39Spider Craddock, who won no prizes, but never lost a fight.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44Ewan Fleming, who said he'd give it a good hard try, and succeeded.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46Ali Melvin, the ex-territorial
0:22:46 > 0:22:49who learned to survive by keeping his mouth shut.
0:22:49 > 0:22:55Nick Moy, only 17, he surprised himself by always scraping through.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Rod Stoner, the impeccable soldier from Basingstoke,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00and the only southerner to make it.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04Phil Tatum, who couldn't wait to get to the front.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07Dean Ward, who took everything they threw at him,
0:23:07 > 0:23:09even the jokes about jungle warfare.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12Scrumpy Barrett, who once went down with the heat,
0:23:12 > 0:23:14but picked up a prize at Brize.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18Tony Butler, built like a bison and number one on the machine gun.
0:23:18 > 0:23:23Fraser Hooper, who got there slowly but somehow never dropped out.
0:23:24 > 0:23:29Mark Hunt, gobby taffy, whose mouth moved even faster than his fists.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34Peter O'Hare, who hated heights but almost made champion recruit.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Graham Robertson, the baby of the platoon,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40who came straight from school to become the pick of the parachutists.
0:23:40 > 0:23:46John Stirling, condemned as a coaster, he somehow rose above it.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48Lastly, Andy Cunningham, the lumbering Scot
0:23:48 > 0:23:50for whom everything went wrong.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52Twice charged with negligent gunfire,
0:23:52 > 0:23:54forever charged with unfitness,
0:23:54 > 0:23:58his was a triumph of determination over adversity.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Finally, and barely credibly, on passing out he surpassed himself
0:24:02 > 0:24:05in a manner which leant new meaning to the old military injunction,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07"show a leg."
0:24:09 > 0:24:11Turn around so they can all see it.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Come on, turn around so they can all see it.
0:24:14 > 0:24:15THEY LAUGH
0:24:15 > 0:24:18OK, Cunningham, fall in.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Can you be sure at the end of this course
0:24:20 > 0:24:23that you haven't made any mistakes?
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Um, I couldn't guarantee it, no.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29As far as possible I like to think that
0:24:29 > 0:24:33everyone we'll send to battalion straight away
0:24:33 > 0:24:37is worthy of going to battalion, is as trained, or as well-trained
0:24:37 > 0:24:42as he possibly could be, and he'll come up to expectations of battalion.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45You know, I think Cunningham would probably have to work,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48you know, 20 years at his fitness.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50But, you know, I mean, he's got the determination,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52it's there and it's slowly coming.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54So we don't knock him.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57But you didn't actually rate him at all?
0:24:57 > 0:25:01It would have been quite easy to fail him, let's put it that way.
0:25:01 > 0:25:02Well, put it this way,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05if there hadn't have been another P Company run,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08then there would have been a lot fewer on this parade.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13But to say that, you know, every single one of the recruits I pass
0:25:13 > 0:25:17will fulfil his expectations is perhaps being a bit naive.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20I mean, I'd like to think that was the case,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23but it's the real world and we're all human
0:25:23 > 0:25:25and we even sometimes make mistakes.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Newly-fledged, the platoon took at once to the air,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34showing off as Paras must. And as they head from the start,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37their families viewed it all with mixed emotions.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39Oh, my God!
0:25:39 > 0:25:41Mrs Ward, mother of Dean.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Are you happier now about him joining?
0:25:43 > 0:25:45Cos you weren't very pleased at the start, were you?
0:25:45 > 0:25:47- No, not at all. - Why not?
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Well, this Ireland business and that, you know.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53But he's told us he's supposed to be going over for a month.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55- To Ireland? - Yes.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56Just the thing you feared.
0:25:56 > 0:25:57Yes, it is.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02Did he defy you to join, or did you just advise him?
0:26:02 > 0:26:04I said I wouldn't sign the papers for him,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07and he said when he's 18 he'll do what he likes,
0:26:07 > 0:26:08and that's what he's doing.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Oh, isn't he clever!?
0:26:15 > 0:26:18Oh, God, don't you feel awful?
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Mr Hunt, father of Mark.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26He's not coming, he's chickened out.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31This will be the first time in his 19 years he hasn't said anything!
0:26:31 > 0:26:33But Mark has wished to prove something
0:26:33 > 0:26:34to a brother in the Welsh Guards,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37who also, it seemed, had a way with words.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39The youngest one said to the eldest one,
0:26:39 > 0:26:41"the only two things to come out of the sky
0:26:41 > 0:26:43"are bird shit and paratroopers."
0:26:48 > 0:26:49Oh, he's down.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Oh, God.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Mrs Birrel, mother of Steven.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58- Did you enjoy that? - Oh, I did.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Did you?
0:27:01 > 0:27:03I'm glad it's all over now!
0:27:03 > 0:27:06You feel better now he's down and all there.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09That's the first time you've seen him jump, of course.
0:27:09 > 0:27:10Yeah.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12Hope I've not spoiled my make-up.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15Have you seen any changes since he's been here?
0:27:15 > 0:27:17- Oh, yes, I have, a lot of changes. - Tell me about them.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22Well, the last visit he's become a lot quieter and he's grown up a lot,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25you know, and he just seems to take an interest in more things now.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30But this is what he's wanted and I think it'll be a good career for him.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32He's got what he wanted, he's worked hard for it.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34I feel ten feet tall.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37I'm only five foot, but I feel ten feet tall today.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39- Thank you. - Thank you.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48480 Platoon had been posted to 2 and 3 Para
0:27:48 > 0:27:51as replacements for some of the Falklands dead,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54but first a final and very different lesson,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57a spell with the 1st Battalion in Northern Ireland,
0:27:57 > 0:28:01where, over ten years, 39 Paras had also been killed.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04But it was goodbye at least to the depot,
0:28:04 > 0:28:06and goodbye at last to Sergeant Riley,
0:28:06 > 0:28:08who could now start on someone else.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12I'm quite pleased, because a lot of them deserved to get through.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14There is one or two I've still got my doubts about,
0:28:14 > 0:28:15I'm not fully happy about,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19but you've got to take into consideration that they're only kids.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21I mean, the bulk of them are under 20.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23But I think the biggest kick of all comes
0:28:23 > 0:28:27when you look at the numbers you've got left from what you started with,
0:28:27 > 0:28:28and, well, you know,
0:28:28 > 0:28:32if they're worth it then it's all well and good, the hours you put in.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35And I think the biggest pat on the back I've ever had
0:28:35 > 0:28:38is when the last platoon, one of the fathers came across and says,
0:28:38 > 0:28:40you know, "Thanks for making a man out of my son."
0:28:40 > 0:28:44Well, if that's what we're doing then you can't ask for any more.