An enjoyable post @Al59. Has the response changed how you think about what happened and why it happened? Are you still digging?
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Hello.
The responses tend to say forget and move on. I have moved on but part of me is a logical thinker. This means in most cases there must be a ‘why’ something happened and if you know a cause you know how to mitigate.
Its more of a nice to know rather than a must know. If something came to light it would help. But if not tomorrow is another day.
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Hello @Peter25,
Did you train with 2 Para, to the extent of jumping with them?
Regrds,
Bob Isle.
No, I never jumped but as a “civilian liason officer” I did a bit of shooting with them, went on a couple of fieldcraft days and, when they returned from the Falklands wheeled some of the amputees around the Aldershot pubs and to see the parade. Rather a sobering experience if I’m honest.
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Hello @peter25,
Very interesting, and thank you for such a quick response!
My own Para experience was joining 4 Para as a new recruit on my 27th. birthday ! Far too old of course (all my fellow recruits were almost a decade younger than me but I had the life experience they lacked) so I did not pass my recruit cadre first time - I was re-coursed, so did it all again, 'cos I wanted the cherry beret ! Pride, I suppose! The second recruit cadre was not a very good quality one, which made me stand out a bit and in no time at all I had my lance-jack chevron! Then one day the CSM said “Isle the CO wants to see you” Oh shit, I said, what have I done?,He did not answer but marched me in to CO’s office. He said, "sit down Robert "(no-one called me Robert except my Mum) and proceeded to explain that he wanted me to go to RMAS and it was agreed. Sandhurst was tough but I enjoyed it. I got to fire the (then new) Wire Guided Anti-tank Rocket (I’ve forgotten its designation) and it hit the ground a hundred yards short of the target; that was when the Range WOII slapped me on the shoulder and said " that, Sir, is why they call you Rupert!"That cut me down to size.!
Soon afterwards, my civilian employer (General Accident Insurance) posted me to Malaysia so I had to resign my Commission, very sadly, because I was enjoying myself so much and on my way UPWARDS (from lowly beginnings) but my Malaysia posting very nearly got me to the Falklands via a strange route. I had quite close links to the British High Commission and the Deputy High Commissioner and I became quite close friends. We met at the Flying Club in K.L. and he was about to become Our Man in Falklands - Sir Rex Hunt!. He had bought a new Cessna 172 with extended range tanks, and he needed someone to ferry -fly it from Buenos Aires to Port Stanley, I already had a holiday booked
All the bestbin Argentina and we were in close discussion about the ferry flight, when the proverbial hit the fan ! So it never happened, but I could have been the first British casualty, shot down by an Argentinian Skyhawk !!
All the best,
Bob Isle
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Thanks for the reply and, without wanting to sound too sentimental, thank for your service.
I come from what we used to call an “Army family” and I was the first male member for many generations who never joined up. Maybe I should have, I don’t know but as I’ve always had rather poor eyesight I doubt very much if the Para’s would have accepted me!
Anyway it’s good to talk to you and at least despite our strokes we both still have our wits about us.
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Same, my family have been referred to as a fighting family, strangely, most of them either in the military or the church. My father, grandfather and two great uncles all in the RAF but I never joined up either.
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Thank you Peter; I think my army experience in the Paras has helped my stroke recovery in a strange way: it developed my DETERMINATION TO SUCCEED and NEVER GIVE UP and STRENGTH and BALANCE and CONFIDENCE . Oh, and SENSE OF HUMOUR TOO (all essential to stroke survivors).
I , also grew up with dreadful eyesight, but no-one at home or school, ever had my eyes tested - until I was 11 years old and had to wear specs for the first time ! So I had never played ball games at school ( because the ball would always hit me before I saw it coming!) so I was seen as a bit of a wimp. The Paras soon changed that ! When I was promoted to Manager for Malaysia by my civvy employer, I was on the verge of transferring to the Regular Army so I had a very difficult decision to make: a change of career at almost 30 years of age!I’d worked in insurance for 14 years, so went with that in the end. I had no family links with military at all.
All the best,
Bob Isle.
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Hello Pete,
Thank you.
So, which route did your career take ? I assume you are now retired?
Regards,
Bob Isle.
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Oh I had a major career change after the period we talked about. When I was a civilian liason officer (not as grand as the title makes it sound!) appointed to the Para depot in Aldershot I worked for Nat West bank. Some of the younger paras got themselves into the most awful mess financially and I was supposed to help them out of it. But then I got transferred to other, less rewarding, duties and when the chance to take voluntary redundancy came I grabbed it! Still took me over a year to get out though but I had always enjoyed car and motor cycle repairs and, towards the end of my time in the bank, I was working evenings and weekends doing that, and earning fair money at it. So when I got out my wife and I bought a small garage business in Devon. That was in 1994 after I had spent around 1 1/2 years working in a friends business in Gloucestershire. It was tough at first, even with my banking experience we were lied to by the previous owner (on reflection I was too trusting), but with a lot of hard work and some hard times we made a go of it. I retired in late 2023 at age 73 because although I was still the “local wizard” for anything electronic lifting gearboxes and so on wasn’t getting any easier! And then after taking a celebratory holiday to India two days after arriving home I had my stroke. I’ve lost all my right hand peripheral vision, in fact I’ve lost my awareness of anything to my right, I have to keep reminding myself that there is a world there. But, still, it could have been so much worse. Losing my driving licence (quite rightly) hurts the most. And if it had happened while I was still working it would have been catastrophic. As it was we had already leased the business so everything was in place.
Anyway that’s my story. Yes, I am retired but if I’m honest I miss working.
But how about yourself? What did you do after the Paras?
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Hello Peter,
Sorry; I have only just found your reply. This forum has a few holes in it and I fell through one, as I am completely hopeless with tech stuff! And my eyesight is awful to:God knows how I managed to pass medicals for the Paras and my pilot’s licence and work as a magazine Editor and proof reader!!.After my posting to Malaysia, General Accident posted me to DUBAI -just in time to avoid the Gulf Wars ! I left Dubai in 1989 and drove back to UK in my Range Rover (3 weeks and 13,000 kms.and 13 countries, but a truly great experience !). Stayed with General Accident until I could wangle early retirement on 2/3rds. final salary at age 51 And that is when I got my modelling job with Leeds College of Art. When I reached 65, they retired me (with a pension !) and I was still modelling freelance when my stroke hit me during Covid in 2021 ! And I too miss working - and being able to work !
I’d like to stay in touch with you.(you can get my email address from my Profile on this site- which won’t allow me to give it to you directly !)
Warmest regards,
Bob.
Bob Isle
I meant to ask you before Bob but, as I know next to nothing about such things, you mentioned 4 Para. Are the physical requirements for that as strenous as for the regular Parachute battalions? Back when I was working with them there were a good number who only got in on their second attempt. I’m not sure if they allowed a third try? As you said you had poor eyesight then, and please forgive me if this sounds cheeky, I wondered if 4 Para were perhaps slightly more lenient about such things?