Episode 2 in our four part mini-series following Parachute Regiment Recruits through Test Week, also know as P Company, at ITC Catterick in the United Kingdom. My channels: zez.am/mike.th...
And this ladies and gents is why the Parachute Regiment is one of the toughest fighting units in the world. Proper respect to any man who gets to wear the maroon beret.
@@1anre - you don't have to earn the Maroon beret, it's given to anyone who joins 16 Brigade so there are hundreds of females who've worn it. That said there is one female who has passed All Arms P-Coy, Captain Rosie Wild.
One did P Company in the mid 60s and I found the hardest part was convincing myself I could do this.These young lads trying out will be a credit to the unit.
Served in the Royal Air Force for 9 years, 88 until 97. These guys have balls of steel. Looking at the DS you wouldn’t want to piss them off and having guys like that take the fight to the enemy with real aggression has for some reason made me smile slightly. Glad they are on my side. Superb guys and respect. 🇬🇧
Thank you once again Brother for the content, it's a trip watching these. In the 80s it was get plenty of scoff make sure you get a Brew, and salt your food, 2020s it's use plenty of Electrolytes. 👌Love it. 'Men apart Every Man an Emperor'
Another very good bit of film, The log... It is what it is, you can wrap these guys in as much cotton wool as you like to help them, but the log doesn't care lol, Really enjoying this series.
Another excellent episode, a great insight into the airborne world,i'm familiar with P-company but it's always good to see how each new generation fairs.
It’s a little known fact but the trainasium is also going to be employed on the Ranger Cadre. At the top of the shuffle bars, rather than being made to shout out your name & number you will instead be required to shout out ‘I’m an absolute crap hat in a made-up Unit’ and the Superman jump will be used to replicate scaling the camp fence to go AWOL due to failing a CDT for the third time on the bounce 💩💩
There's no need to make 💩 up, we all know the Ranger Regt is going to be an absolute farce. After all it's not like someone from 4 Rifles doing the Ranger Cadre has just shot himself in the foot whilst holstering his Glock ... oh hold on, that's exactly what's happened!
The quality of the production in this video is astounding and It really allows us to see the determination, courage and effort of these soldiers. Kudos to each Joe and the DS and the film team. Great job.
That was brilliant to watch , good insight to see what my boy went through and to see what he’s now become 6 year down the line Another subscriber here 👍🏻
I've watched any number of docs on getting entry to the regiment.. So far this is by far the best...the filming is great.. You take us inside and its the least over dramatic I've seen.. Great work.. Thanks
Another great film. My overriding memory of the Tranezium is grabbing the cargo net, rather than punching through as instructed. I ended up flying off the net and cracking my helmet on the big bar at the bottom. A good lesson to me in following instructions!
P Company build up the week before was harder, most of the events were covered, but an extra distance added on. I was stiff all over and could hardly walk that weekend before, but as soon as stepped off on the 10 miler Monday morning all aches and pains were immediately forgotten about.
The RM own seems to be hosted on their official channel and looks like it’s heavily funded by then as well, Mike’s effort looks like he’s doing it out of passion to capture what these Joe’s experiences like, but the Para Regt should fund him and host his content on their official page too. It’s worthy of it.
thanks for sharing this. have read a lot about p company, but its great to see it presented like this in a video. what impressed me the most, was the professionalism of the staff, very high quality.
On relection, I seem to remember that we had wooden boards about 2m below us. Well, it was a long time ago. The worst bit was lifting the boot over the scaffolding connector about half way along at the top. The rest was fairly easy. We thought that we were going to wear plimsoles to stop us slipping, but as I said before, we wore ammo boots, & it was in the winter, with snow on the pipes. The 'death slide' was a doddle. One of our lads refused on the Fan, at Abingdon. He must have wanted to go home!
I was that soldier - the only difference was immediately after the log race the team had to hoist one of our log team members atop the log (they all had to hoist the log verically with a member spread eagle on the top) - I was the unfortunate member to be picked (I was the smallest at 5' 8"). I held on to the log as it was postioned on my stomach and let them raised me aloft whereby I did the dutiful thing and spread-eagled myself and called out my name rank and number - that was it - the team lowered the log. I can't be sure - or perhaps it's my imagination but the logs we used in my time seemed a lot longer. Please don't think I'm waffling about how it was harder in my time - I'm not. The hardest for me was the exertion of running with this abominable weight of hell. Can you ordinary people imagine the exhiaration and elation of passing this torture and knowing you're off to Abingdon for parachute training? Great video and kudos to all that have acheived the accolade of passing through this ordeal (In service 1966 - 1975 2 Para).
Hi Peter, I did the November intake in 1960. That training area of the confidence and assault course was always wet. The worst was the tunnels that always had a foot of water. That bloody log race up the hill and down was murder and as we had our toggle ropes wound around the pole and our wrists became an anchor when a bloke fell. As we were the last to come in we had to march back to camp caring the log. Thanks to to the PTI hitting me with his stick, I hated him so much I managed to channel my hate to keep going. Only six blokes finished from my intake to make it to 3 Para. I think that I am the only one left alive from that lot. Cheers mate. Harera
I made a pact to myself that there was no way I was coming off that log if I was alive. Nerves were insane. They say this is the hardest event on p company and it might just be. But I also think the stretcher was tough, particularly trying to stay with it when you weren’t carrying it oddly enough. It just seems to get away from you. Generally I find the fetishisation of p company makes me uncomfortable as I don’t think it’s that bad. But the log and stretcher do hurt. That said and it might be an age thing but I found p company a fair bit cheekier than the hills.
@@1anre milling was not something that I think kept many people up at night. It actually felt quite good to release and let go for that minute lol Milling was a great craic!
Personally I found the stretcher worse, maybe because of the distance. The log was almost out if body experience though! 4/8 of us finished on my log, and had to change position several times. Best advice before the log race, is to NEVER take your hand out of the rope.
Suprem leadership from the staff, just pick up the log and push as hard as the recruit. Show that being a para is something you do every day not just during P company.
No safety barrier round the top of the trainasium in Aldershot. Mindja, the ground was so waterlogged, if you fell, you'd just get back up there with no injuries. The log race is pure evil. A mile and half of sheer agony.
They have altered it, & made it easier. I'm sure that there was no safety net when I did it in the winter of 1954. Agreed, the log was the hardest. Do they still go up Gun hill with it? The instructors used to hit you with a toggle rope if you were slacking. Shouting & urging, all the time. Brutal.
Hi Jack Merritt, strange, reading the comments before yours I got a feeling of something being left out. I did my P Company six years after you and having already served in Africa and far east I found the physical training within my competence. The log race was the hardest as we tied our toggle ropes around what looked like the thick end of a telegraph pole, put the back of our hand on the knot, tied a knot, grasped the rope and then tied the rope to the wrist. There was no way of dropping off the log! Your comment on getting thrashed by the PTI’s is spot on, in fact I maintain that my hatred of the b……. hitting me was the motivation I used to complete the race! I have done 20 years in three armies and it is still the hardest training I have done. Cheers mate. Harera
Nice one remember being on the log back in the shot back in 87 going up hungry hill as a crow in 529 platoon brings the hairs up on my neck still Utrinque paratus
Done a few log runs in my life, none in P company mind, always looks easier than it actually is, especially when you then have to take it over an assault course at the end.
Makes me want to rejoin. Not the Grenadiers though. Remember doing a log race on HDPRCC. Good times made better by a motorcycle crash on he 1st weekend of the course. Cracked a couple of ribs and did my back in. Didn’t tell the DS, just a huge amount of ibuprofen every day with each meal and cracked(pun intended) on. No drama. 😎👍🏼
No. I was a guardsman in the Grenadier Guards. On a lance corporals course. HDPRCC standing for Househould Division Centralised Courses. Paras and guards go on the same corporals course. Yes I did pass and earned my chevrons. 😎👍🏼
I remember the log race when I done it in the 80s I watch in disbelief as most of the recruits didn't finish as a full section.How things have changed.
@Harry Orson No buddy he's right, back then it was driven into us you finish as a section, how can you fight as a section of Men if there is no section. If you Think about what the event simulates. I'm never going to get into what's easier or harder because these Lads deserve the same respect. I will say in the 80s pass rate was low so they moved P company back. 'Men apart Every Man an Emperor'
@@OGaiming maybe their diet and way of life back then wasn’t as sedentary as it is right now. They didn’t have video games to play all day or Mountain Dew and other energy drinks to take all day, they spent most of their free time outside, so had better stamina than the kids of today.
@@1anre Yep. That just about sums up the problem with fitness facing the Army and RM today. Years of bad diet ( ie fast & processed food) , a sedentary lifestyle and an almost clinical addiction to smartphones & social media. We live in a fat, flabby world these days. That said, credit to these lads for taking on the challenge. Me - All Arms P Coy 1971 Depot Para & Wales.
Step dad was in the paras, told just how difficult p company is. Respect to the lads who kept on trying and those who gave it a go 💪🏼. It's not a test of strength its a test of resilience and mental strength.
Log hahaha that's a match stick compared to the tree we had to carry at the Kings Div Depot in the 80's for 8miles. You also weren't allowed to carry it on your shoulder which is easier as you can run upright as opposed to on a lean.
I plan on joining the para reserves- I’m 16 at the moment- is this what I should expect and what is the best way I can prepare myself - any comments will be appreciated🙏
I remember 9 ppl on some logs 1 at the front I was the anchor at the back along with a figi n guy who bowater knocked clean out in the milling and he broke his ankle intact at Brize we were coming back from cartiton and bowater jumped on someone's back and he had to go back to depo without his wings I spent an xtra 6 weeks at depo waiting for the plt below us to catch up so we could make a plt for live attack week and dynamite mole
Who were the lucky lads who didn’t have to join the log race & were allowed to take a knee on the sidelines as if they were helping their coursemates mount security while they jogged on?
What are the chances of getting on okay as a 28 year old who'd be 29/30 before I could hope to enter training? Would they fob me off at the AFCO given my age, or do "grandads" bring value to these intakes provided their fitness is there? And would prior military experience, even non-combat REMF experience, be useful to lean upon, or would it be best to keep the mouth shut and head down? I certainly feel it's my duty to serve given the events unfolding in the world right now, and want to know if there's any chance for a gobshite blowhard! This awesome series has inspired me to do my bit in other words, and while the training looks savage, it rewarding and appropriate. Many thanks.
Tom, you're not to old mate, you've got till you're 35. Follow this link for more details and good luck! apply.army.mod.uk/roles/infantry/paratrooper?cid=refe6599327715
@@MikeThwaite Really appreciate it Mike. I've started grafting at work to regain focus and restrengthen the will, and I will start training to get back to fitness. I can't thank you enough for this production. You are an absolute legend, just like these recruits. 💪
a school kid could do that trainasium event , for the perceived best infantry unit in the world you would think they could devise a tougher exercise than that
Absolutely, it's got nothing to do with an individuals physical ability, tougness or age. Its designed to test mental sutability prior to a jumps course. That's why it's pass or fail. Saves sending someone up in an aircraft and them refusing in the door. No point being fit if you can't jump.
@@MikeThwaite ya I understand that it just seems incredibly outdated and not really task specific , jumping from a swinging rope onto a net 5 ft off the ground is preparing someone to jump into a war zone ?
@@jamesholland1006 No, as I said it test suitability to progress to para training. Learning to conduct any form of air manoeuvre warfare only takes place once you've been selected and joined a unit. That's the same in the majority of arms and services and isn't specific to the PARAS.
No one came off my log that's cause I drove the log as hard as I could ve r y back left we came in second and th we all arms beat us by only 60metres its funny watching wows and sgts drop out runs and us 17 year old passed them easy
No they havent it looks scarier than the one at Aldershot,.Thank my lucky stars when we went we weren't allowed to do that bit as we where only 16.Though they did give us a beasting,you had to run straight through anything in front of you or they said you weren't tired enough and took you round again,I loved it.
Much as I appreciate what the paras do,I just cant get past the ridiculous berets some are sporting.It looks naff its not the least stylish surely you can see that (It detracts form what you do). It reminds me of the people who had sewn in creases, or ironed one side of their trousers lightweights so one side was lighter all that sort of nonsense to stand out and be different. As for the tach give me a break,70s porn tach maybe in a retro way.But tally ho bandits one five,give me a break.This has been a public service announcement from a 70s BAOR BOF.
It’s Regimental History. Soldiers did it in the Radfan to block the sun from their eyes. In the days when berets were worn often in combat. Paras were the first and only ones to do it and are now copied because all other units want to be like The Paras. That speaks for itself. It’s worse seeing it on Non Para Reg units because it isn’t unit history and it’s nothing but walting.
@@noxcinematic6407 - that's total bollocks, a story that grew out of the supposed history of 'ally', 3 Para were in Radfan for barely over a month in Apr/May. There's are loads of photos of Paras out there and they aren't wearing bellend berets.