I laughed out loud at the vignette about Sennybridge training area being in "appalling conditions". Those are the conditions on Sennybridge, there are no others......!

Down to earth Geezer

I like this guy, he seems like a laid back cheerful chappy. Good luck mate

One of the best podcasts you’ve done. Everyone should start here. I’ve seen a few of your podcasts Gavin and like others dialled back to the start. You will be helping people and not all will reach out to you, however, remember the great work you are doing.

Crunchy

Love his style.... ; he's a good un

I did Gitmo Jan. '66 to April, then on leave, staging Bn. then RVN July '66-Aug. '67, back to Lejuene, Carib cruise, back to Lejeune, orders to Marine Barracks Gitmo, orders back to Lejuene, Feb. '69, early out April '69. 0311. They don't give dress blues to "soldiers", is this guy for real?

They get so much rest time now prior to AAP Coy.

Can't classify this lot as special forces ffs

56.32, never heard such a true word, I see so many that can't adjust and think civi street owes them.

23 SAS who the fk is that

Great loved to listen to this podcast as an ex soldier veteran great Job. I worked with 3RGJ in West Belfast

my OCD wanted to straighten that picture |!

Both parts great episodes what a legend to have lived through the mine strike and then return to duty.

Not heard a lot of the phrases he uses since seen the old comedy GET Some in.

Quick question....a |L/bombadier...would that be RTR or RA?

Thank you for you service Sir...its ridiculous that they could not keep you on their books until you reached yr 12 yr mark. Is disgusting the way they do not look after the soldiers...most cd still be employed within the unit on deskwork or similar. Its high time this was changed...no wonder re-recruitment is down. Good luck son you are a hero.

😂 uncle Albert. yep civvies and their selfish ways

Great listening to you Mike well done!!!

Fire Force is one of the best military memoirs I’ve ever read

Something tells me it was only serious injury that was gonna stop him passing selection, amazing mental attitude

I like what HR4K stands for that is primarily and undoubtedly set with military routs at it's core. However the branches of this tree spread out widely and is more than just military in mind. It welcomes all and that is what makes Ben and his business special. The mixture of people and experiences but all sharing a common ethos is an amazing and inspirational thing. Keep on doing what you're doing Ben.

What an eccentric, humble guy. I hope this gets the views it deserves.

Hilarious PTI impression! 😂

What a legend this guy is - Fair play to him

Very good interview with a very interesting person

Wow, my old mans boss. Often around our house when I was a kid. My old man was very good friends with Alex always spoke very highly of him. Fantastic interview, hope you're well Mr Gardiner Swift & Bold.

Sounds a decent bloke

Give these men everything we can and stop free loading in this country

Good interview on both sides and so much better than all the Walter Mitty, wet dream KZbin ejaculations about the RLI coming out of the rightist fantasists in the USA. How the heck did the RLI join the Waffen-SS in their pantheon of role models?

Listening to Ben is like going back in time for me from have a cnut of a training screw who took a dislike to me from day 1 to being in battalion and getting completely bored with Bn life,I oassed out on a friday and was in West Belfast on the monday,did 3 days training and i was put with a brick,that was my best time,I was 3RGJ

Was my OC in phase one training. Great guy.

I served with Ben in 2 PARA back in the day. He's a cracking guy and is doing great work with HR4K.

On Herrick 7, Sep 07 to May 08.. My Battalion 2YORKS(Green Howards) were the OMLT partnered with the ANA, but our recce and sniper platoons merged and joined 4/73 to become the Brigade Reconnaissance Force(BRF) which is like a knock off version of the Pathfinder platoon, hence why the cream of the crop of Battalion and 4/73 made it up for the Brigade, and 4/73 made an excellent impression on us infantry lads, and 3 of us applied to do selection after that tour, 2 Lance Jack's who both failed the hills, and I waited until after Herrick 11 to apply because like this bloke, I was less about a career going through the ranks and more about the job and doing it for real.. So I waited until after H11 when we were told that after 3 tours of Afghanistan, 2 of which were very naughty tours in Helmand that we weren't going again, 1YORKS and 3YORKS were doing the next ones and we were going to Cyprus for 2 years, which is when I applied, even tho I'd been in a while and knew 4/73 got the micky took out of them by Pathfinders and SF and even ordinary Marines and Paras and considered as glorified Artillery, I still remained impressed by them, but I was only going on selection to escape Cyprus and to do more tours, the wrong reasons really, and I could never have done away with my infantry cap badge, so I was really the wrong candidate at this time.. And my platoon commander kicked me off the course refusing to endorse my application because I beat someone up on morning PT and called me childish, they probably had a very lucky escape from me because I was a good soldier and very fit, I can say with confidence that I could have passed well, my CSM was ex 22 and used to encourage me to try for 22 instead when I calmed down, but I'd set my sites on 4/73.. I did try and apply again in 2015 but I was 30 then so more mature and contacted 4/73 directly for training information and a place on the insite course but the WO on the phone was very rude, refusing to give me any info which isn't what I expected from an elite unit, and I was too old to deal with such nonsense! So I never took it further and did P company instead, which got me nowhere to be honest.. Shame really, I'll always wonder what if I hadn't been a plank.

Nice to sit on a sandbag with a brew, and listen to a great podcast…

Crap hats 😅 hele barracks..... joe.....remember them days

It's unfortunate he didn't get his dream posting in the end, I was fortunate, what I asked for I tended to get. However at the end, my career ended at the 22 year point, probably due to me gripping a Major in Kandahar in 2009 in the middle of the theatre operations room for not passing important information to me. I was quickly extracted to the outside smoking area by a junior officer and was told he's apparently a dick and was ending his tour short for reasons I wasn't told. My altercation with him soon got around and back to my parent Regiment.

If the grenadiers were the first to get the warriors i think my battalion was the second in Hohne,1st battalion Scots guards.

You certainly stirred the memories, Ben ! When I joined depot in 1975 my instructor was ex sas , the first thing he taught us was take your shit 💩, literally !! What he taught me on and off the syllabus saved me more times I care to remember, one I still think about a lot about was in South Armagh, had a new Rupert join us in a long OP, brick out his ration pack, got out his hexy block, asked him what the fk was he doing, got a stupid reply, so I moved well away, well away !! 1hr later hit by 3 mortars from over the border, he never heated his scoff ever again…I have the privilege to still be best friends with my ex sas man. Thanks for your service. Firm..

What an amazing honest bloke 👍

Excellent podcast and content. What stood out for me is how he tried to minimise civilian casualities, compared to the IDF in Gaza, who don't give a flying shit who'd what they annihilate. Clearly, we have proper military.

My story is quite similar to josh's.my dad was also ex army and he was a provo which is basically just the regiments police man. 😂 i wanted to join the marines or paras too but my dad always said get a trade so you have skills you can use once you leave the army which was a brilliant bit of advice. i ended up being a pioneer as part of 23 pioneer regiment which is basically the same job Josh done except we had to go through infantry training too as we worked closely with the infantry units so we needed to understand the tactics. I also know how it feels waking up in the hospital a month after getting there and you are so drugged up you don't know what is going on i don't remember ever asking anyone why I was in hospital i just went with the flow lay in bed hallucinating and Josh is right about the dreams wow it was crazy. i actually remember trying to pull this tube out my wee man 😂 i was proper pulling at it and a nurse walked in and seen what I was doing she turned white 😂😂😂 turns out it was a cathater and you can't pull it out without doing major damage to yourself as it has a balloon type thing that inflates inside your urethra well thats whar I recall being told atleast. another stupid move i made was trying to pull all the stitches out my chest im a bad patient even when I'm badly injured .😂 i would like to thank all the great surgeons,doctors,nurses,physios and psychiatrists who help all of us wounded they don't get enough recognition for the hard work they do so thank you so much for everything we are lucky to have such skilled and compassionate people looking after us servicemen and women ❤.i joined in Dec 99 and it was the best decision I ever made i miss my army family and the banter anyway godbless you all thanks for another great interview guys keep up the good work ❤🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Never and i mean never trust a bunch of paras in your home unsupervised especially when alcohol is involved you will return to a pile of bricks and a bunch of sleeping paras 😂

I hated being one of the shortest lads in my regiment i was always carrying a gimpy and a law,Milan,mortar the Milan was the worst because it was just an awkward shape and heavy as hell even when it was just the legs you carried and i didn't really like it as a weapon it was a weird system to operate i loved the mortar and law though anyway thanks for a great interview guys keep up the good work ❤🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Great listen Ben, well done mate👍

I done two tours as a Japanese kamakasi flying zeros , two crash landings great career I joined in 44 in Japanese airforce Japanese on my father's side he served to in China

Born in '71. My mum is Irish. My dad was a Captain in the Green Jackets. I have a number of mementos but my favorite is a British Army issue Kukri that I still have (light infantry working with Gurkhas, who would have figured). Anyway, most importantly, thank you, very much, for your service.

The interviewer asks: So for the jungle phase? For the listeners, where is the jungle phase of selection held? Ben G: "Launches into a full description of selection from beginning to end, without ever answering the question of where jungle selection is held" For those who wanted to know the answer to that question, the jungle part of selection is held in Brunei or Belize.. Depending on certain circumstances.

He is very light - different reflection to what I would expect on Northern Ireland, esp 70s, served in Scots div myself, they referred to Green Jackets+ Light infantry aka light Div as " falling plates". Like targets on range. V good interview. Interesting character.

Also, I went through ITC a decade after Garwood and it was still the same for everyone, we had certain members who were section commanders in these training platoons that were nasty bastards, ours was Cpl Clarkson! A pure nightmare who would come up to the recruit platoon accommodation drunk or under the influence of something, and he'd smack about some of the small lads and completely big time it to the rest, he was definitely there because Battalion hated him, whenever there was a punishment to be handed out he took control of it, he loved it, and at the end of training every recruit was ordered to give out £10 to each section commander(4 in each recruit platoon) and on or two demanded a set of webbing of their choice from John Bulls army shop at the White Shops in Catterick as a personal gift from their own section.. A lot of the media have labelled this a bullying but bullying is targeted, this was never targeted, the whole platoon received the same treatment until training ended. Side note. Cpl Clarkson was kicked out for failing a drugs test, he was found in a heroin sleep in a Catterick pub with a heroin needle hanging out of his penis where he obviously injected to hide the needle marks.. Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.