You join the Paras as an infantry man, or you join another unit like signals and put in for the Para's and pass the P Course

Been there done that, fitness is every thing in the Para's

Hyerlithe.....Are you suggesting that he operates heavy machinery while having fainting fits.....[Grin]

Duty pilots stood by to take of quickly while other members ate and did what they had do, so they would be near the aircraft but not sitting in them

There was a lot of people killed why training to fly, but I would not be close to those that died in combat. My father was with the Empire Flying Schools in Canada and helped set them up from 1940 and also worked as an instructor from the end of 1940 to late 1946 and he still got home.

When I was lad we were much fitter than they are now, There was no TV, No Computer games so you went out and played sports

On your P Course any weakness would show up and you would be shown the door. A rifleman's lot is not always a happy one as you still have to do a lot of physical exercise, so look for some thing with less stress to it.

What branch of the army did you hope to join ???????

A lot of the time you will be in short sleeves.....If the tattoo is not offensive you should be okay

Hopefully the TA will be a bit easier, the regulars have to be a bit more careful in case any thing happened while you were there. If it goes well in the TA you could always ask the unit that you are with if they would accept you as a regular, you never know.

I don't think you would get any where with an appeal. Soldiers carry heavy loads in the field and if you had a back problem things could easily go from bad to worse

If you know his Army No then apply for his military Record. Once you have got that contact the museum of the people that he served with and see what they come up with

It took about 55 years after I left before they issued a badge

Around the edge of the medal it should give you the name No and Regiment that the person served in and it should have a GSM Ribbon with a broad purple band on the centre and two thinner green ones down each side. The pther one is for donating blood

We had some very tall lads when I was in and it did not seem to be a problem then