BritinBritain
Per Ardua Ad Astra
A few years ago I was at the Queens Division Training Depot at Bassingbourne on a course. It trained not only adult soldiers but also the Junior Leaders, boys straight from school to train them to become future NCO's in their chosen regiments.
I remember walking into a hanger fitted out as an assault course, the boys were like ants going over the course with the typical enthusiasm of boys of their age. Part of the course was way up in the rafters of the hanger. I stood there completely astonished at what seemed their total lack of fear or trepidation. A PT Instructor came up to me saw my expression and said, “The boys love it, they would spend all day and all night on the course if I let them.” Many of the boys were orphans and had no family whatsoever, came from abusive families or broken homes. The PT Instructor said the Junior Leaders gave them a purpose in life, otherwise they could have ended up as drug addicts or criminals ending up in jail.
Down the road from the main gate was a cracking little pub, I still remember they served a really good pint of best bitter.
As an aside, part of the movie Full Metal Jacket was filmed at Bassingbourne.
I remember walking into a hanger fitted out as an assault course, the boys were like ants going over the course with the typical enthusiasm of boys of their age. Part of the course was way up in the rafters of the hanger. I stood there completely astonished at what seemed their total lack of fear or trepidation. A PT Instructor came up to me saw my expression and said, “The boys love it, they would spend all day and all night on the course if I let them.” Many of the boys were orphans and had no family whatsoever, came from abusive families or broken homes. The PT Instructor said the Junior Leaders gave them a purpose in life, otherwise they could have ended up as drug addicts or criminals ending up in jail.
Down the road from the main gate was a cracking little pub, I still remember they served a really good pint of best bitter.
As an aside, part of the movie Full Metal Jacket was filmed at Bassingbourne.
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