I actually joined the army from school,
of it for one reason or another.
Did a few things
an air cadet unit and learned a bit about
which looked kind of cool.
And I was sitting on the M25 one day,
it was hot and I just thought, I can't do
So I went to the careers office
I think because I'd been
I'd always wanted to be an infantryman,
a little bit different.
And I really liked the Air Force,
reasonably well, which indeed,
I went to Cranwell,
In those days if you had a degree,
I didn't have a degree, so I ended up as,
which was.
So as an officer I've done it the long
I took a huge pay cut,
But it turned out to be definitely
no question.
And yeah, so I went to Cranwell.
Then I went to RAF Catterick for officer
which was pretty brutal, if I'm
And my first Tour was at RAF Honnington in
The course was 18 weeks
at Sandhurst, it was remarkably
But then I went to Catterick and it
Started off in the blazing summer
Northumbria with frostbite and everything.
But we all got through, it was good.
And how long was the course
22 weeks.
And I remember every
So Cranwell just prepares you as general
whereas the
turns that into being able to at least
It doesn't turn you into an army regiment
gives you the foundation.
So you learn how to, firstly learn
Well, weapon handling,
And then they sort of train you
So you do things that maybe a corporal
And then by the end of the course,
a flight of 30 troops in a variety
wet, cold and no sleep.
But it puts you under
But I think that's right and proper
you're expected to be able to not just
and then lead them in conditions of,
because that is what the battlefield is.
But you're expected to do it when you're
and the world's against you.
And if you can do that,
then you can stand in front of a flight
at least understand that you've been
probably harder training than they have,
So, yeah, so I was, you know,
a load of blank faced troops who were
And you know, they turned out to be
And I learned a huge amount.
I learned a lot, especially from my very
who was magnificent.
I think that's probably a theme for the.
You learn from the people
But yeah, it was good.
I actually realised that
up above the water, actually.
It wasn't quite as impossible
