Commando

By Robin Eggar

Hand-picked, superbly fit and highly trained – the Royal Marines is one of the finest fighting forces in the world.

On 4 September 1991 thirty-three young men entered the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone in Devon. Hand-picked, bright, superbly fit and highly motivated, they shared only one burning desire – to become Royal Marine Commando Officers. One in three would fail.

Royal Marine Officer training is the longest, most taxing military training in the world. Young men come off the street and fifteen months later leave as the élite of the élite, superbly trained commanders of one of the finest fighting forces in military history. Marine officers undergo more arduous and more sophisticated training than other ranks, for only then can they command the necessary respect from men who wear the Green Beret of the Commando. The result is a very special soldier who can mix brains with brawn, who has looked deep into his own soul and is content with what he has seen there.

Robin Eggar followed these young men through from their first to last day of training. His unique access enabled him to see beyond the spit and polish, past the military machine to the triumphs and tragedies of a wolf pack where things do not always turn out as expected. Under the intense, claustrophobic spotlight of training, young men, often with nothing in common, are forced to rely on each other to survive. It is a tale of shared hardship, of pain confronted and overcome, of being tested beyond the limits, of supporting and helping each other.