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Today in Portsmouth

I watch those scenes of troops arriving and disembarking with wonder and awe, not sure I would have been so courageous.
 
The paras that went take Pegasus had to be single men.
Says a lot about what the top brass thought of their chances.
 
Bart said:
I watch those scenes of troops arriving and disembarking with wonder and awe, not sure I would have been so courageous.
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One of the chaps -who was 19 at the time- said that they were all so naive, he'd not had a girlfriend yet and didn't know enough about the world to be scared!

Which kind of puts it into perspective, we view it all with 75 years worth of war history books, TV programmes, Films etc. so it looks like monumental bravery, the truth is most of them probably didn't even know what they were getting into and just didn't want to let down their mates. Either way, amazing people.
 
Bart said:
I watch those scenes of troops arriving and disembarking with wonder and awe, not sure I would have been so courageous.
Click to expand...
Not having a choice is like that. Also you can't remain afraid when faced by a constant threat. The threat has to escalate or you become inured to it. I've thought I was going to die in the mountains, it was an epic that went on for hours and hours while the mountain fell apart around us and after a while the fear receded to the point hwere I just felt profoundly pissed off. It was a salutory experience.

matt j said:
One of the chaps -who was 19 at the time- said that they were all so naive, he'd not had a girlfriend yet and didn't know enough about the world to be scared!... didn't even know what they were getting into and just didn't want to let down their mates.
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Not letting down your mates is what the Army feeds on. Invincibility of youth is why they favour young men.
 
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