HMForces

After phase one training you move on to your specialist training which is called phase two. For me my phase two was very quick as I got fast tracked to my regiment to be a gunner. I did however spend two weeks at ATR Bovvington learning how to drive a car and I did some advanced signals before I got called ...

Op BARRAS – 10th September 2000 On 25th August 2000 eleven members of the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR), travelling in WMIK ‘Gunship’ Land Rovers, and a liaison officer of the Sierra Leone Army, were taken prisoner by a ruthless armed rebel group led by ‘Brigadier’ Foday Kallay and known as the West Side Boys. Some confusion initially existed as to how ...

Op PALLISER – 7th May to 15th June 2000 Civil War started in Sierra Leone in March 1991 and within a few months over 100,000 refugees had fled the country. The Military Wing of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by Foday Sankoh, conducted a reign of terror over the next 11 years where mutilation and murder became the norm. Before ...

The 2003 Defence White Paper, titled Delivering Security in a Changing World described the future structure of the British military, and was preceded by the 1998 Strategic Defence Review (SDR) and the 2002 SDR New Chapter, that responded to the immediate challenges to security following the September 11 attacks. Modern Warfare: Its Sinister Face There is no denying that the nature ...

For more than a hundred years the British Armed Forces have recruited from all over the word - Indeed many regiments would not have survived without the influx of recruits from the Commonwealth and non Commonwealth countries, particularly from Fiji, Ireland, Jamaica, South Africa and Ghana - not to mention the old tradition of recruiting Gurkhas from Nepal. It was many ...

Though I was part of the Royal Navy I really did not serve with them and almost all my career was with the Royal Marines. Therefore the sea service was merely a transport system to us. Basically, the ships we travelled on tended to be the larger ships such as HMS Ark Royal, Bulwark, Hermes, Fearless and Intrepid. Of course there ...

Sapper Hill – 1st Bn Welsh Guards, 40 Cdo (A&C Coy’s) The 1st Bn The Welsh Guards, now consisting of one rifle company after the catastrophic losses at Fitzroy, were tasked with securing Sapper Hill. The battalion was reinforced with ‘A’ & ‘C’ Coy’s and Mortar Troops from 40 Cdo to bring it up to strength. After coming under air and ...

On 26th May 2 Para left Sussex Mountain to make the 8 mile approach march to Camilla Creek House in preparation for the assault on Goose Green. On the evening of the 26th May three 105 Field Guns from 8 Battery 29 Cdo Regt RA were flown in to support the assault. With naval gun fire support being provided by HMS ...

There have been 5 ships and one shore establishment named HMS Dauntless. The first vessel to bear the name of Dauntless was an 18 gun Combatant Class Sloop built at the William Gibson Shipyard in Hull. She was launched in 1804 and commissioned in March 1805. A shallow draught vessel Dauntless was ordered to sail up the Vistula River on 19th ...

Seven Royal Navy vessels, including the current Type 45 Destroyer, have borne the name Daring. The first HMS Daring was launched at Ipswich in October 1804 but after an inauspicious career was scuttled off the coast of Guinea, West Africa, on 27th January 1813. The second Daring was 12 gunned brig built at Portsmouth and commissioned in September 1844. Initially part ...

The Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines, formerly known as both Comacchio Company Royal Marines and Comacchio Group Royal Marines, was formed on 1st May 1980. At the time of formation, given the task it would undertake and was unlikely to deploy overseas, it was considered inappropriate to give ‘the Company’ Commando status. Given that 43 Commando RM had been disbanded after ...

To follow on from my previous article - Royal Navy and Royal Marines - My Career Was A Roller Coaster, about being rejected for the Navy because of my age and going through to start a new life - well, after all the funny business it was then that I met with the Royal Marines on the Commando Air Squadrons and ...

LANDING AND CONSOLIDATION PHASE • 21st May 1982: Landings at San Carlos Special Forces operations against Argentine positions on Fanning Head and at Darwin limited the threat of attacks on the approaching Task Force. During the early hours of 21st May the landings took place unopposed but not without delay and some confusion. 2 Para eventually landed and moved off to ...

I watched a documentary on BBC3 last night about alcoholism, and George Best's son Callum Best talked about his childhood and his Dad. It was quite moving and I felt sorry for the lad. But old George just couldn't stop himself. My parent were alcoholics so I sort of understood what Callum was saying - once you're hooked you just can't ...

PRELIMINARY OPERATIONS • 2nd May 1982: Sinking of ARA General Belgrano The Argentine Navy Cruiser ARA General Belgrano, accompanied by two Exocet Guided Missile Destroyers, was patrolling to the south of the Birdwood Bank, on the southern edge of the Total Exclusion Zone (TEZ), a zone imposed on 26th April 1982 by the British Government with a warning given that any ...

OPERATION BLACK BUCK PRELIMINARY OPERATIONS • 30th April/1st May 1982: Operation Black Buck Operation Black Buck consisted of 7 planned raids against Stanley Airfield and Argentine anti radar and troop positions. Two raids were cancelled due to meteorological and ‘In Flight’ refuelling problems. Black Buck 1, as the first of the series, was the high profile operation. Mounted from Ascension Island ...

GENERAL Operation CORPORATE was the codename given to the overall involvement of the British Armed Forces deployed to liberate the Falklands Islands after the Argentine invasion and occupation on 2nd April 1982. Poll: Argentina and Falklands - First it was Sovereignty, now it's Oil Argentina has claimed sovereignty of the Falkland Islands since the re-establishment of British rule in 1833. The ...

In November 1965, when I was seven years old, my mum and dad had occasion to attend a social event one Saturday evening. This was a rare event, and I have no memory of any details, not that it is at all relevant. As a result, I was sent for what would nowadays be called a ‘sleepover’ with my Auntie Janet. ...

*HMS Torbay* Five vessels named HMS Torbay have served the Royal Navy since 1693, two of them being submarines. The first Torbay was an 80 gun third rate ship of the line that gained the Battle Honours ‘Vigo Bay’ in 1702 and ‘Velez Malaga’ in 1704. After a proud record of service she was broken up in 1749. The second HMS ...

*HMS Talent* Three submarines named HMS Talent have served with the Royal Navy. The first Talent was launched in July 1943 but in November 1943 was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy and commissioned as the Zwaardvisch (Swordfish). The second submarine named Talent, originally named HMS Tasman, was launched in July 1945. HMS Talent escaped service during WWII but experienced two ...