Royal Marines carried logs through water obstacles and wallowed in mud to fly the flag for next month’s Armed Forces Day.
Men from the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone completed the base’s infamous log and mud runs to raise awareness of the June 30 event.
Pictures: PO(Phot) Emz Nolan, CTCRM
THERE are ordinary ways of raising the profile of next month’s Armed Forces Day…
…and then there are Royal Marines ways…
Covered in gunk and slime are 40 members of 139 Troop – one of the latest batches of would-be green berets – having just completed the infamous ‘mud run’ (which features plenty of the former, but not much of the latter – more slither, crawl, slide, trudge…).
The run through the mud of the River Exe, which flows past the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, near Exeter, is one of the staple diets for men hoping to join the elite band of brothers that is the Corps.
139 Troop are roughly at the half-way point of the 32-week course which turns civilians into commandos – it’s generally regarded as the toughest training of its kind in any of the world’s armed forces, but it means that the ‘finished products’ can deploy immediately upon completion (and earning their coveted green berets).
Just to prove that qualified Royal Marines weren’t above getting mucky to promote the Saturday June 30 events, commandos on the Junior Command Course compete in a timed log run – which involves hauling said log around the endurance course on the Woodbury Common training area.
Oddly enough in both events, the Armed Forces Day flag was flown by instructors, not the lads themselves, who were strangely rather less muddy and wet…
As for AFD, although it’s a nationwide event, the focal point for the national celebrations and commemorations will be Plymouth.
Junior Command Course marines on the log run
The event programme includes the chance to visit HMS Argyll at anchor in the Sound, a drumhead service on the Hoe, a parade of Armed Forces personnel past and present, an air show including an RAF Typhoon and historic flights, a steam past by Royal Navy warships in Plymouth Sound and will conclude with a display from the spectacular Red Arrows.
There will also be a programme of music and entertainment including performances from the Military Wives Choir, a cadet band competition and highlights from the ever-popular Music of the Night event.
More details about events in Plymouth and the rest of the UK can be found at www.armedforcesday.org.uk