Commando: On the Front Line: Episode 8 - "Royal Marines To Your Duties"

after 30 weeks of training the remnants of nine to four troop launched themselves on the grueling commander tests those that pass will win their green berries and the right to serve on the frontline in Afghanistan already in Afghanistan his second left tenant Bertie Carr who after months of unrelenting fighting is having to come to terms with the tragic loss of one of his men it was during a big attack on an enemy position tom was the first into the attack and was killed very early on he died straightaway 94 troops started with 50 recruits 25 have been back trooped that is put into a more junior troop because of injury or not being up to standard and 19 have left altogether that means out of the original 50 only nine have survived the training to this point he got into law so many I think the truth is almost cursed I mean the amount of lads we've lost him from injury and illness is quite uncanny injury has followed upon injured but one recruit so far undamaged is James Williams who along with his fellow originals and a handful of extra battery for troops must now attempt to pass the four grueling commando tests to earn his Greenbury the first test is the punishing endurance run six miles of rough terrain and flooded tunnels wings if you walk you resign yourself to failure need to pass this will end get running shimmer [ __ ] posh Oh before joining up James had been a qualified plaster an electrician in civvy Street where's go Reeves but eight months ago he reckoned there was more to life than just doing up other people's houses if I'd died at 70 years old having a comfortable life here cracking on a bit money doing this and the most exciting thing I like to tell someone you know why'd the massive mention or plyo rendered a big house you know if I went it safer but I had a good life and you know I had stories to tell yeah definitely nice living in it I think is really good times really good for Jones yeah I mean when he said that he was going to do it I was some you know cause of Afghanistan and everything else obviously you went to children clothes don't you cool but when first mentioned I will be going to Afghanistan I have been told that what's really choked start don't rasa T did not I don't want you to go there what you mean you don't want me to go there you know I will be going there I can't worry but yeah I'm sure he'll be fine yeah my mom does anyway bullets bounce off come on though from the beginning James never doubted he would make it through training you enjoying yourself I am enjoyable sound sir why because I know in eight months time I'll be a commando let's go really yeah well done you now almost a commando James Brits his teeth the six torturous miles of the endurance run the next day he undergoes the nine mile speed march so unrelenting it claims three more originals hospitalized with exhaustion oh it's that now Datsun pickup I do okay the originals are now down to a mere six one of them is James Williams still hanging on in there three two and so two the third test the Tarzan assault course a body crunching set of obstacles tackled at height and a speed eight months ago the recruits would have found this impossible but can now boast the fitness levels of an international athlete connect that's three out of four done and passed but James must now face the final and most extreme of the commando tests after packing in the calories a back-breaking thirty mile route march across treacherous moorland this is for you the culmination of nine months training blood sweat and tears for every one of you only eight hours now stands between you and getting a green beret what you were joined men at the end of this is the biggest [ __ ] boys club in the world okay the biggest and the best if any time you feel that you want to give up do not take one more small step tell yourself you'll give up a mile later and a mile later thirty miles eight hours the recruits know that those who pass this and when the Green Beret could be sent to Afghanistan within days to replace battlefield casualties that have been mounting your gun team in second leftenant Bertie car has been in Afghanistan now for three months casualty in yeah I've been hitting the chest [ __ ] grim he has seen many injuries on the frontline he's also witnessed the death of one of his own men Tom curry was a massive marine known to everyone as vendors a fine rugby player Tom often doubled up as a sort of human battering ram business let out no good after lads but one week after I filmed him demolishing this wall he was dead it was during a big attack on an enemy position tom was the first into the attack and was killed very early on he died straightaway but uh as it was right at the beginning of the attack we still had the whole position to clear which guys did to their credit although they knew that they had lost their friend they'd seen him be killed they carried on carry on fighting I knew it was Tom straightaway I was shouting to the last like blood give him first aid then first aiders knew that he was dead but I didn't know instantly once we had retreated then back into the water with Tom on a stretcher that's when I broke down in tears and I couldn't carry him I couldn't I can't do enough I just had to stay on my own and my mate Ritchie was comforting me quite well sometimes it's been like a bad dream like it's not being nice watching the friends die around here like these young guys we should be growing old watching our friends die around us when we're old like not the same everyone will come out a train and come straight out here will be eager for action but they learn that it's not as nice as it may look everyone lost in a friend as a troop commander it was hard anyway but the fact that I'd lost the bloody good marine just meant that my troop was that much weaker Marines trained to be frontline soldiers always ready to step into the breach when needed dig deep like come on that's his sparked keep those dogs are doing strong so far strong F by Ron it wasn't long ago of course that Tom curry completed the 30-mile er to earn his own green berry you know you sound like him hello start chaos it here from or 2294 troop dig deep thirty miles is a long way across Dartmoor with 40 pounds of kit but a determination learnt over the last 30 weeks is a powerful fuel not gonna give up now come too far to give up lie still push this syndicate the final leg yeah this is it the humpback bridge is the finishing line of the 30-mile er and the thirty two weeks of the hardest military training in the world the Green Beret has been a long time coming yeah fine up that was fighting over that sir was it yes sir very sure yes sir so if we had to turn around now and do it again can you do it from one of them yourself with it on your head yes sir I'm a good lad right answer their forelimbs oh you say good of these six originals who've won their Green Berets and I will pass out as Royal Marine Commandos in a week's time to have been told that they'll be sent immediately to Afghanistan as urgent casualty replacement for Bertie cars unit one of them is Mark blight from Warrington the other is James Williams I knew I'll be going it was a bit of a shock how abrupt it would be but no once you come around there is nice cold and I'm actually gonna follow to it now you got to make no friends and there's gonna be new faces but yeah for a while I'll guess ah Donna other than I it's gonna be you know I've not done this before what's he gonna say what's the one thing at first she was a bit you know you could tell in her voice every time you spoke about it she just didn't want to talk about it you know and she phones me up I love a marine died I love rain died too but other than that what would you say how many people got run over today I'm really pleased a silent number you're proud of him really but big butt is ghost went to Afghanistan just lately and whenever I watch the news it is another maroon and that was one recently wasn't as well that died so it's spring Williams one else one time congratulations ladies good what did you find tougher a little bothered about going out there yeah I'm not under any illusions about here but you know she's sweet I joined up to be a woman Wing Commander and do this stuff spot mining concerns mom that is my only concern mum in my eyes are in my eyes I'm now a train woman come on though you know one of the Queen's soldiers really can't fight through clean yeah simple is that daily duty yeah but doing something that I love - you're cheating you vibrance to choose a career for James it wouldn't be a woman rain for me but I do know that he's loving him I said I'm actually doing something that I really really love he said so please don't worry up don't worry about me and it will be okay and if anything did happen then please remember that I wanted to do it so have to respect that a seven-hour flight separates James Williams from the war zone his 32 weeks of training has prepared him for camp price built in the desert of southern Afghanistan and a frequent target of Taliban mortar and rocket attack attached to us we have let's touch to us around for cynic that correct Bertie car breathes his men for a patrol into the nearby town of Koresh newly arrived as Marine James Williams a mail week out of training right the situation no change enemy force activity continues on the outskirts of karesh with checkpoints coming under sporadic attacks it reports the Jets enemy forces are intent on further attacks in the area it's my intent to conduct a foot patrol through the center aggression and patrol down through the south of the town we picked up four pilot vehicles to return to price be prepared to defeat any enemy encountered any questions macarthur feel set yeah you'll get to go put it yeah I'll just want to get some allegations this one should be easy to tell who might hear better sporadic gunfire in distance that shouldn't be on tour ever um nothing right no harder than what you've done before just astonished certain real bullets nowhere is safe from enemy attack so the convoy proceeds with caution the big threat to vehicle movements are roadside bombs so every gunner scans the desert around them knowing that the Taliban are indistinguishable from civilians who look on with suspicion and probably fear patrolling the streets of garage partly a deterrence to any Taliban in the area but it's also an opportunity to meet and greet the locals floppy hats are the order of the day less aggressive than helmets and as always those most willing to break the ice are the children who just want to shake hands but see this is justice our friendly presence is it huh yeah it is pretty much yeah just to give them a bit of reassurance okay it's been a bit of fighting on the outskirts there haven't been fighting in the center director quite a long time so hopefully they'll stay that way kids seem really friendly hopefully they'll go to you know they'll grab the same actions and that then you know they'll country will get on just for a minute every day the Marines go on patrol into the desert into the villages and into the poppy fields there has to be a constant show of strength both to deter the enemy as well as to reassure a frightened and often bewildered people you had that yeah all right cry here's the blues up here you really crack yeah yeah gunshot even in this seemingly benign environment someone's taken a potshot and run this is after all bandit country dangerous lawless most Afghan is just one piece and to get on with their lives but in Helmand especially few are ever far from battle these Gunners are firing on an enemy position some 12 miles away and James now a month into his deployment takes his turn on sentry duty at the Taliban are never far away and can strike without water it's waketh guys time last year was shivering on some buildings so fed up with bloody keeping an old cable to another joist and now when you're on probably about failure degrees in another country [ __ ] loaded weapon in a war zone it's weird isn't it life is pretty strange with James on sentry duty Bertie leaves with the rest of his troop for an outlying district they are heavily armed and as ever weary of enemy attack and their mission house again a school visit to meet the very people that the Taliban will want to start recruiting before they're too much older you know try it on this is a chance for the Royal Marines to commune with young Afghan ease and introduce them to a few of their own tribal rituals you're doing war pictures pictures of tanks shooting at other tanks and should be all being shot at by sinners by helicopters did you do this yeah tank Taliban oh yeah right I've got I've gotta go okay being a soldier in Afghanistan is as much about hearts and minds as it is about bullets and bombs either way it's an immense challenge being out here so I wanted to do and I mean I lied out I'll probably come out here and play mealtimes but um the worst bit for me yeah I just hope having my dear Mum sit at home worrying every day I hate her being like that because I'll just hide our high performance you know I'm worried every day she's such a special woman to me and and just a fault of her just don't be you know always constantly worrying and going through that it's worse bit by the same time I can't I can't give this up the war against the Taliban we are told could rage for the next 30 years future British soldiers who will have to fight in this conflict have yet to start training yet to leave school yet to be born but all who come out here will be eager to do their duty the LEDs have said I mean they're sick what they've gone through but I don't want to go through it again but I've yet to go through that it's wanting to be a real marine come on though you joined up full of that you know you want the action and I've not not got my fix out here yet they still woman still hungry yeah I want the delivery ops or what huh you know on the rounds coming past me baby when it all happens I'll be out some of the guys work in a crop saying nice enough for me now I'd like to think it hasn't changed us all too much I suppose I'd be very new at night I think it hasn't changed us at all the things that we've seen and the things that we've had to do I certainly can have an effect yeah but I like to think that the way we deal with it am i supporting each other and talking about it this reduces any negative effects that it may have there's a good system of looking after each other and that will continue when we get back and I'd like to think that if anything then it's just changed us for for the better he absolutely loved the Marines he couldn't believe that he'd get paid for doing something really loved he liked that camaraderie it's what he wanted to do and you I couldn't stop him we can't say you can't do this but I didn't think at the time that it would be such a difficult environment which he proved to be he was regarded as a perfect marine so I thought that you know he could cater for those situations but you can never cater for a random situation which is exactly how he was killed but you know you're a proud father someone who became a role marine and the best role marine on the day so yes very proud out of the 50 recruits who arrived to join nine to four troop 21 have now passed out as Royal Marine Commandos three are still in training Bertie car is now a troop commander at the commando training base in Linton and today November the 5th 2007 James Williams is back out in Afghanistan on his second tour of duty as a commando on the frontline you you

Channel: Royal Marines

Views: 1,718,003

Rating: 4.8498058 out of 5

Keywords: Royal, Marine, Marines, Commando, Commandos, On, the, Front, Line, Green, Beret, Berets, Military, Royal Navy (Armed Force), Royal Marines (Armed Force), Chris, Terrill

Id: sVcmbelHx8k

Length: 24min 1sec (1441 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 04 2012