thought, and a retarded one at that

[drummerja]

for most, this would seem like a stupid question, but my grandad served as a para from 1951 till 1966ish. he is confused as that when he was a para, there was no para devision where you trained coreley as a para if you get me. ie, signing up as a para and doing 28 weeks as a para and doing the pcompany. now doing some research, this is neither clear or anything.
do you go to the careers center and ask to join the paras, do a fitness etc and then go into your 28 weeks with other potential recruits and then progress to p company. or do you do your 28 weeks as a standard infantry soldier and the after that, do your 2 weeks p company!
i have no idea, and my grandad is even more confusing me! he also said that there wasnt really an infantry reg, that his regiment was part of anything and everything. there is a pic of him in a maroon beret with a differnt cap badge, he cant remember what regiment it was, but it certaily wasnt wings!!
cheers for any info. i look forward to my insight course on the 29th of august!! but i sure as hell cant do 2.4km in 9:13!!! i will have to run along side everyone else so it dosnt look as im doing so bad

[CardSharpe]

Things have changed some over the years, I believe that your grandad is right, that previously, the parachute regiment was not something that you could join from civi street.

Like I said though, things have changed, and now you can join the parachute regiment straight off. You go to your recruiter and tell him you want to be in the parachute regiment - he'll normally tell you about how you can be a para in any part of the army, and so on, but if you tell him you want to join the parachute regiment, then you can go in.

You do RSC and have harder targets to meet than anyone else - 9 minutes 14 seconds on the 1.5 mile run etc.

Assuming you pass RSC, you will eventually get a date for Catterick, which is the main training, you go for around 26 weeks (I believe, someone else may beable to tell you whether its a few weeks either side of that).

At week 6 at Catterick you reach the first milestone and get your cherry beret with green backing, then you do various other tests between then and P company, which is around week 21 (again, might be slightly off with the exact week number, its not far off though). Assuming you pass that you go through a final exercise and then its off to RAF Brize Norton for parachute training.

From there you are then a member of the parachute regiment, and go to your battalion.

You'll be told all of this and more at the insight course though, plus you'll beable to talk to the instructors and ask them any questions you might have.

[DJSOLUTION]

Hey drummerja,

whats your 1.5mile run time at the moment my PB is only 9:30! so im just working on cardio untill the course as im more than happy with my strengh.
Also I got my Insight course the weekend after yours and havent received any information or a confirmation yet either, thought they would give you a bit more notice.

[CardSharpe]

Maybe you should do a bit of actual research before posting and less of the cherry berry

I've done a fair bit of actual research Sandy, I did state in my post that I wasnt 100% certain of the week dates, however I had originally thought that what I had said was vaguely correct.

The RSC time is what I was told on several different occassions, from both on this forum and from what I have been told on the insight courses.

I was under the impression that in the past, the Parachute regiment used to only offer entry to currently serving members of the Forces? I also thought that this had since changed?

I'm sorry if I've posted incorrect information, and I do not profess to be an expert at this - I'm only at the early stages of the recruitment process myself, but I really did believe that what I had said was more or less correct.

Could you point out where I'm wrong? I'm honestly interested to know where I've messed up.

[got1]

Drummerja,I can't tell when direct enlistement started but I joined in the Parachute Regiment in 1960 and enlisted straight in.
I was given a 2nd and 3rd choice but I told them I was Parachute Regiment or nothing (I have my enlistment papers to prove it ).
Tab will probably be able to enliten your more.
My Regimental history is not what it should be but I don't think you could enlist straight in in 1951, so your grandfather is right in that respect.
ps. Who did he serve with?

[CardSharpe]

its 28 weeks, and its not just a final exercise after p company theres 6 weeks including the mole and you can be back squadded at any time a lot of people are under the impression that once you pass p coy you are in. Not so loads get back squadded after it.

And you are more than likely to go to battalion first and then to brize norton too do the jumps course.

Heres one too make people think, even though P Coy is physically and mentally very hard, it is still possibly one of the easist weeks you will have at the depot.

Fair enough - I stand corrected, I was lead to believe that P Coy would be on of the harder weeks at depot.

[drummerja]

i have done alot of research as my heart is set on the paras. i can get the 1.5miler in time on the runner, but as far as on concrete goes, im not sure how long a 1.5miler is..... unless i got me mam to drive around in car, but im sure she wouldnt be to ammused.
i hope the "do more reseach before you post" wasnt aimed at me, i was mearly asking questions that i had, that i couldnt find about the internet! its good to hear advice from everyone, especially though who have owned there very own maroon beret.
thanks for the advice again
im not actually 100% sure what reg my granddad was in, he isnt very clear. what he did happen to mention was that his reg was merged with special devision side. im sure he mentiond that the unit was disbanded and then made into something else? might be him smoking to much herbs and age, not to sure. though it always is interesting to hear the storys he has. example, leaving the corpses of the turks in a pile in the center of a nearby town, telling any family memeber to collect their dead. if they failed to collect them, they were burnt. he claims it was a good demoraliser for the invading turks in the hills, but who knows. perhaps somethings are better left untold.
again. my fintess is ok. i know that most of the required fitness is pumled into during your training anyways, but i know i need to be of reasonable fitness otherwise ill get back squaded

question!!!
during your PRC, do you do your 9:13 on your bill? or do you run with 5 or so other members?! because if you do, im sure it will be easier keeping up with somebody, than running on your own, guessing how fast you have to run etc etc..

again, random questions just nervous i guess

[CardSharpe]

At the risk of being shouted at again (:D) I'll try to answer your post as best I can drummerja (the research bit was rightfully aimed at me - I was off on a few of the things I posted).

From what I've heard of the RSC, you do an 800m warmup jog/walk as a group, and then do your 1.5 miles best effort individually.

As for the route, try downloading Google Earth and finding where you live, and then use the path feature to plan out an area just over 1.5 miles where you can run - I say just over because even though I'm pretty sure the measuring system is accurate (I double checked it on my motorbike's mileometer), it never hurts to add a bit on and run that bit faster

[Alfa]

though it always is interesting to hear the storys he has. example, leaving the corpses of the turks in a pile in the center of a nearby town, telling any family memeber to collect their dead. if they failed to collect them, they were burnt. he claims it was a good demoraliser for the invading turks in the hills, but who knows. perhaps somethings are better left untold.

Turks, in WWII? I think someone is getting their World Wars mixed up

[drummerja]

alfa, i was on about the cyprus conflicts, where the turks invaded cyprus though i can get side tracked.

[Alfa]

Ok fair one, however, considering our forces never joined in that shooting war and simply stayed in the Sovereign Base Areas I still don't see where the "piles of Turk bodies" would have come from especially since they had a very easy victory over the Greek Cypriots.