British Paras

[fortuncookie5084]

Does anyone here have direct experience with, or served in the Parachute Regiment? I‘m hoping to understand them better. I am interested in quality of training, types of operations they are sent on, and quality of life as a member of that regiment. Any info appreciated.

 

[Gordon Angus Mackinlay]

Sir,

The Parachute Regiment (PARA Regt), has 3 regular battalions (1-3), and a Territorial Army battalion (4) this has training depots from London to Scotland.

Two regular bns belong to 16th Air Assault Brigade at Colchester, since 5th AIrborne Brigade was converted into a mechanized brigade. The other airborne units of the Bde were also transferred across, 7th (Para) Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, 9th Independent (Parachute) Sqn Royal Engineers, 23rd parachute Field Ambulance, et etc et etc.

This bde is the largest field force formation in the British Army, established for over 8,000 personnel (including 2 airmobile light inf bns, 3 Army Air Corps Regts etc), and requires the majority of the UK tactical helicopter force to support it. The majority of logical military thought believes that the intergration of what was basically a tank killing force, with what was the British Army‘s point of entry force to be a very very bad idea.

Problems are occurring in the tactical deployment of the ground element, there being a very big difference between airborne tactical operations and airmobile (air assualt), unfortunately the British Labor Goverment is well up there will illogical thought as the Canadian.

The third bn is is normally deployed in a non airborne role (usually in Ulster). Each bn is classified as a light infantry bn parachute, bn HQ, HQ coy with normal admin and logistical elements. Three rifle coys each 3 pls, of HQ pl comd, pl sgt, sig, No 1 and No 2 with a 51mm mortar, 3 rifle sections of 8 men organised into two 4 man fire teams (3 rifles, 1 Light Support Weapon), one section in each pl will carry a L7 7.62mm GPMG.
Fire support coy, with mort pl (9x81mm tubes), anti-armour pl with MILAN (the number of weapons depends upon the bn manning, 14 to 16 norm), sustained fire support pl (6 tripod mounted (C2 sight) GPMGs, or can man 4 12.7mm M2 HMGs).
Patrol coy, has signals pl, bn intelligence cell, bn sniper sect (8 men), patrol platoon with four 4 man patrols, recce pl with 6 Scorpion light recce vehicles or 6 Sabre vehicles (these 110 Landrovers with a special recce fitment, armed with L7, M2, and Mk 19 grenade launchers).

In it‘s 61 years of existence the PARA Regt (and all other airborne units) have developed an extreme esprit de corps, and the training for all airborne units stress the highest standards.

In recruit training PARA Regt soldiers receive a extra weeks training, this is due to the high level of physical fitness required of the airborne soldier. During infantry corps training the recruit attends ‘P‘ Coy (this is now called Pegasus Company, due to the removal of the Pegasus insignia from the combat dress of airborne soldiers by the Labor Party, here extreme physical fitness tests (with the team concept stressed) are performed, all must be passed in order to go on to parachute training. This is carried out at No 1 Parachute Training School under the juristiction of the Royal Air Force Parachute Jump Instructors.

Completion of this results in the awarding of parachute wings, and the recruit stops being a ‘crow‘ and becomes a "Tom‘.

Right this has been just an overview of PARA Regt, if you want more just ask.

From the age of 17 until I joined the Australian Regular Army 7 and half years later I served as a soldier of the Royal Army Medical Corps with the Guards Parachute Company and all three battalions (2, 1, 3) of 16th Independent Parachute Brigade, it was my lifes foundation. Today thirty odd years later it is still the way I live my life (12 years in the Aust Army and 18 in the RAAF). In each of the AUstralian States and NZ there are strong British Ex-Airborne Forces Association branches. On the ANZAC Day (25 April) March, in each of the capital cities you see them march. They all wear the Reb Beret, Blue blazer, white shirt and grey slacks with medals on their chests. The TV commentators always comment that they are the only ones that still look like soldiers, they march in step, with bags of swank. The average age 77 years!

If you want any more information do not hesitate to ask.

Yours,
Jock in Sydney who as you may have gathered is very proud to be an ex-Airborne Soldier.

 

[Infanteer]

with bags of swank

Cool...
What the hell is that???
Does the Canadian Army issue that, maybe I‘ll ask the RQ about it.

<img src="wink.gif" border="0" alt="" />

Infanteer, who has cousins in Sydney with that strange English!

 

[Gordon Angus Mackinlay]

Sir,

Bags of Swank : showing off ones swagger and bounce, the bluff ostentatiously smart soldier and proud of it. Head up, straight back, arms swung forward and back with thumbs pointing to the front, with the roll in your march, at 120 paces per minute.

When I was a RQMS you never issued it, you earned it.

Jock in Sydney who is at the time of life when one‘s bum and belly tend to retard the bags of swank!

 

[Garett]

A Cpl. in my pl. joined the British Army and did 3 months of training before returning to Canada. The type of people attracted to the Infantry and the Paras are a little different then the average Canadian soldier. Out of his whole company, not including officers, 3 people had a high school education or the equivalent. 2 candidates and the CSM. The candidates were encouraged to fight amongst themselves throughout the course. He decided to quit at the 3 month cut off date and return to Canada to go to university. He just didn‘t really fit in. Hes not a wimp or anything, he has his Canadian Jump course and the Para instructors left him alone because they knew his history.

My OC this summer on Phase 2 was a Brit Para Major and I was impressed by his toughness and professionalism. He had a good sense of humour too. He was a Falklands vet, the platoon commander of CQB author "Mike Curtis". 5 Platoon, B-Coy, 2 Para I think. It was cool to meet a guy I had read about in a book about a real war. The **** he had gone through was evident in his philosophy on training. Thats what happens when you lose men in battle as a platoon commander and get shot in the helmet yourself. His professionalism definitely restarted my interest in joining the Paras. My girlfriend on the other hand has had the opposite effect.

 

[Soldier of Fortune]

Does anybody know if a soldier who enlists in the CF can transfer to somewhere such as the British Para? I am a Canadian Citizen an wish to enlist in the CF however am wondering if the experience would be better if I join the British Para. I am also wondering if with the British Para if you are deployed on tours. Or are you just sent out on Spec Ops for a short peroid of time? The reason why I am asking this is that, so I‘ve heard, with Canada you are sent on tour after tour with little break inbetween and are stretched to the limit.

Thanks in advance.

 

[enfield]

They definatley have a reputation for being brawlers. They‘re also "The Most Operationally Deployed Unit in the Western World" at this point, I think....

SoF- If you think Canadian battalions spend a lot of time on tours, you aint seen nothing. The Brit battalions spend YEARS away from home. The Green Jackets battalion in Wainwright this summer had just finished a 2 year tour in Northern Ireland, gotten a week off, then strait to Canada for 2 months of training, then they were going to get 3 weeks off in the UK and then to Sierra Leone for a tour there. Their training and deployment schedules take them everywhere - Cyprus, Gibralter, Falklands, Brunei, Belize, Kosovo, Bosnia, USA, Canada, Germany, Sierra leone, Northern Ireland, Norway, Kenya, Oman... The Paras and Marines work a little differently because of their rapid reaction duties, but they still do tours like everyone else.

 

[Pikache]

Any citizen of Commonwealth that lived in UK for 5 years can join the British Army.

www.army.mod.uk

 

[enfield]

Close, Elemental.
There is officially a 5 year requirement for Officers. There is no requirement for NCM‘s. And the 5 years for officers is almost completley ignored now - they can give a "waiver" for qualified candidates. I‘ve inquired extensively about this with a variety of Brit recruiters and the liason staff in Ottawa, and they‘ve all assured me that joining as O is no problem if your qualified.

Try:
www.parachute-regiment.com

Also, don‘t hesitate to contact the Brit Army/Marine recruiters, they‘re amazingly helpful.

 

[Pikache]

Ah, I see <img src="smile.gif" border="0" alt="" />

Thank ye.

 

[portcullisguy]

Originally posted by Soldier of Fortune:
[qb]Does anybody know if a soldier who enlists in the CF can transfer to somewhere such as the British Para? I am a Canadian Citizen an wish to enlist in the CF however am wondering if the experience would be better if I join the British Para.
[/qb]

You cannot "transfer" per se. However, I have met several Canadians who had quit the CF to join the British armed forces (one RN, one I don‘t remember)... the Brits will allow anyone from a Commonwealth nation, and are particularly fond of their Canadian cousins. I‘ve heard that, based on CF service, you can be enrolled and granted Right of Abode in the UK within a very short period of time.

[qb]I am also wondering if with the British Para if you are deployed on tours. Or are you just sent out on Spec Ops for a short peroid of time? The reason why I am asking this is that, so I‘ve heard, with Canada you are sent on tour after tour with little break inbetween and are stretched to the limit.

Thanks in advance.[/qb]

As far as I am aware, they are deployed in rotations, just like every other unit. But I am far from an authority on that point.

 

[portcullisguy]

Originally posted by Enfield:
[qb]Try:
www.parachute-regiment.com
[/qb]

Thanks, I did! What a fantastic site. Most of the British Army official websites are quite a yawn, that one woke me up.

 

[Soldier of Fortune]

Yes I‘ve also thought about joining the Royal Marines, I found their site pretty good too,

http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/static/pages/141.html

 

[fortuncookie5084]

Your link is dead, though there‘s no shortage of Royal Marine stuff out there. Their trg program is the toughest I‘ve seen anywhere.

 

[Soldier of Fortune]

Ya, it seems my links are always dead...

 

[Gordon Angus Mackinlay]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Must apologise for not responding to this sooner, but, things have been somewhat hectic over the past three weeks.
Mr Hollman wrote on 12 Dec 2001 "A Cpl. in my pl. joined the British Army and did 3 months of training before returning to Canada. The type of people attracted to the Infantry and the Paras are a little different then the average Canadian soldier. Out of his whole company, not including officers, 3 people had a high school education or the equivalent. 2 candidates and the CSM. The candidates were encouraged to fight amongst themselves throughout the course. He decided to quit at the 3 month cut off date and return to Canada to go to university. He just didn‘t really fit in. Hes not a wimp or anything, he has his Canadian Jump course and the Para instructors left him alone because they knew his history."

Sir, I think the gentleman was as we say in AUstralia telling "porkies". You do not leave the army after 3 months, you are in the sixth week of recruit training allowed to take discharge without purchase, at the 12th week it would cost 500 pounds sterling (1400 C$) cash up front.

In Britain they can leave school at the age of 16 (having completed education since age 5), so they do not have to stay at school if they do not aptitute or inclination (in the dark and distant past I left school on my 14th birthday to join the merchant navy) to stay on and get a makebelive eduational qualification.

Infantry soldiers in the British Army are enlisted as being of SG2- intellectual standard, so they are up there with the norm of the population. Having spent two days at the Army Training Regiment, two years ago, I can tell you the PARA Regt soldiers are bright, intelligent and highly motivated, but, in line with modern society nowhere as fit as they were in the 1960‘s.

Soldiers are definately not encouraged to fight amongst themselves, if, recruits are caught fighting, they are down to the physical fitness centre (the gym was a much nicer term), into the ring under the supervision of a PTI, wearing 16oz gloves and training helmet, and do three 3 minute rounds of aggression. During recruit training soldiers, are given basic boxing training and put into the ring to spar. During P Coy Training it is much different, every potential Airborne soldier irrespective of rank, does the milling standard gloves, and you ‘tear‘ into your opponent, not boxing, but, fighting - it tests the aggression needed to succeed by the Airborne soldier.

Your Corporal would not have been allowed to wear Canadian Airborne wings (even Territorial Army soldier who qualified as a TA parachutist is not allowed to wear them, if he joins the Regular Army), and I can honestly inform you that would not have been left alone by the instructing staff, if anything men joining the Regular Army from any Reserve organisation, get "gripped" to wit they receive extra supervision!

To see the standard of the British soldier, may I suggest you try and trace through your local video store a British Sky TV production called "Battle Stripes" it is about the Senior Wales course of the Infantry Centre (Warminister) which follows the seven week Pl Sgt Battle Course. My sons both got it out from a video store in Victoria, on my recommendation. This shows you the standard expected by the British Army.

Yours,
Jock in a very hot and smoky Sydney

 

[Spr Earl]

Great program Jock , was on the teley here in Canada last year.
Having trained with the R.E. in the Brecon‘s in summer I can appreciate the misery the poor sod‘s went through, the weather change‘s so fast you wonder is this real.

 

[Garett]

All of my information is second hand. I‘m just presenting facts that I‘ve heard from others including the Cpl. in my platoon. I‘m not saying that the soldiers of the Parachute Regiment are dumb bags of **** or anything, we could use a few in the Canadian Army. I think that part of the reason the Cpl. in my platoon came back to Canada was because he didn‘t realise what he had gotten himself into until he was up to his neck in it. I‘m not saying that British soldiers are stupid, if anything many of the brightest soldiers who join the infantry probably go to the Para Reg. Theres a lot to learn in life that isn‘t taught at high school. My dad joined the Army in 1964 with a grade 10 education and had a good career. The British Army is obviously a great Army but there are differences between Canadian and British societies that create both advantages and disadvantages on both sides. I do think that in this Cpl.‘s case the level of education and his background would of had an effect on him fitting in with the other recruits.

I watched all the Battle Stripe shows and was impressed by some things and unimpressed by others. The format of the show was a bit unorganized, it didn‘t really give you a good look at the big picture. It was a hard go for sure, the terrain didn‘t make it any easier. I was just talking to a 2RCR Pte. the other day in the mall who just got back awhile ago from the Cambrian Patrol. I‘m glad I don‘t have to do Phase 3 in the same location.