Mt Longdon

[Jobag]

Iv just finished reading "Green Eyed Boys", about 3 Para and the battle for Mount Longdon in the Falklands war. Its a brilliant collection of accounts from soldiers who were there, and it gives the reader a full on description on the culture of 3 Para at the time, as well as obviously a deep and bloody account of the battle itself.

My favourite bit is where a tom describes what happened when a visiting unit of French paratroopers went on the piss with them. The Paras decided to have a boat race, and the first person would use 2 fingers to throw up, and then pass the contents of his mouth to the person behind who would then add to the mix with his own sick, and so on until the last person in the line had received the goods. Made me laugh.

The battle itself went on for hours and hours, and included some of the most brutal fighting of the war. It was all very close combat and even a company commander had to use his bayonet at one stage.

I have the greatest respect for these soldiers, because it took such courage, aggression and determination to win the battle. These quotes illustrate such acts of courage...

"Laying there, knowing that we were now laying in a f*cking minefield didn’t make me feel too happy. The thing going through my mind was, 'what do we do now?' It was no good getting our bayonets out an probing for mines...I don't know who gave the orders to go forwards, i suppose Mike Argue must have done, but we just upped and ran like f@#k for the nearest cover"

"I was trying to dig myself into the rocks. We were under very, very heavy fire. I knew that if i so much as farted i was a goner. Suddenly, ahead of us, there was Scouse, standing up on a rock, tracer everywhere, shouting: 'Come on lads, I'm f*cking bulletproof, follow me!' And we did. We followed him. On that mountain he was an inspiration to us all. He found his hour."

I would really recommend this book to anyone wanting to join the regiment, and anyone who has any military interest, but especially to anyone wanting to join the regiment, because it really shows what sort of men it takes to serve in the Airborne forces. I feel indebted to these heroes, and may God look over those who fell during the battle. We will remember them.

A quote from the book, its the RSM talking about his brief to B Company 3 Para who then go on the make the main assault of Longdon...

"I gave them a pep talk, the facts of f*cking life. Now I'm not a religious man by any means but i told them, 'If any of you f*ckin' want to pray, then here's your chance now to really f*cking talk to the man up there, because you'll need him throughout the night.' Then I told them to fix bayonets..."

[the skeavster]

Sounds awesome mate, i might just have to buy that

Cheers

Skeav

[big_al]

Same here, sounds really good.

[Sarastro]

My favourite bit is where a tom describes what happened when a visiting unit of French paratroopers went on the piss with them. The Paras decided to have a boat race, and the first person would use 2 fingers to throw up, and then pass the contents of his mouth to the person behind who would then add to the mix with his own sick, and so on until the last person in the line had received the goods.

Your favourite bit? Interesting fetish you have there Jobag! Anyone who tried chucking into my mouth would find two fingers being used differently...

[Jobag]

I dont know how many people know about 'Scouse' McLaughlin and others of 5 platoon, B-company who cut ears off the Argentinian dead (some still alive), and stored them in their webbing pouches, but if it wasnt for the ear cutting, McLaughlin would have recieved a posthumous Victoria Cross.