Where does the bravery come from? Are they naturally brave people or is something inspired by extraordinary times?
I don’t think anybody’s naturally brave. We’ve been brought up on black and white second world war films, but this idea of ‘queen and country’ doesn’t exist – it’s a load of crap. Most of the lads who join do it because there’s not much else going on for them and they want to have a couple of years away. The guys who are joining now are well aware there are two wars but they want to have a good couple of years. The reason they do thing is cliched but it’s true, it’s for their mates. Nothing else really matters most of the time. Even with experience of frightening situations, and with your length service, are you always scared? Everyone’s scared, it’s crap if people say they’re not. It’s about just getting on with it. If you’re not scared, you’re a liar or you’re mentally deficient. Getting scared is good because it brings everything to a realistic level, so people perform better. But you don’t get immune to it. The best way, I found, was to think you’re dead anyway and then everything
