A very good evening aspirants, I welcome you all to the Hindu Daily News Analysis brought to you by Shankar Ayes Academy. Today, I am going to cover important news articles from the Hindu newspaper dated 21st of February 2023. Displayed here are list of news articles that we will be discussing today. You can go through it.  Do subscribe and hit the bell icon button to get regular notifications regarding our content videos. Now let's get into our first news article discussion. Now look at this article from the text and context page. It talks about the role of gut microbiome in ASD that is autism spectrum disorder. Now before continuing the discussion, I emphasize on the disclaimer given by the authors. See no part of this article should be interpreted as a medical advice. So now in this discussion, we will see about what is autism spectrum disorder. So the contents given in this article is also quite interesting. So we will discuss that as well once we understood about autism spectrum disorder. Okay, now let's start with autism spectrum disorder. See basically autism spectrum disorder, which is shortly known as ASD is the term that is used to refer a group of neurodevelopmental disorders. So autism spectrum disorder is a group of disorder which includes a wide range of symptoms with differing severity. Autism, Asperger's syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder are some disorders under the autism spectrum disorder. And according to the World Health Organization, autism spectrum disorder affects 1 in 100 children. So what happens when someone gets this disorder? See it usually impacts how a person pursues and socializes with others. So it causes problems in social interaction and communication. Even with autism spectrum disorder also exhibit limited and repetitive patterns of behavior. They also lack verbal and non-verbal communication skills. These characteristics can adversely affect once cognitive abilities and over time their quality of life gets affected. If you have seen the Bollywood movie Barfi, Priyanka Chopra would have played the role of an autistic girl. Now coming back, autism spectrum disorder begins in early childhood and eventually causes problems functioning in society. Often children shows symptoms of autism within the first year itself. Now talking about the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, see the persons with autism spectrum disorder have developmental learning delays. For example, they may have difficulty in learning basic skill concepts such as personal hygiene. As I already said, they find it difficult to have social conversations because they have repetitive behaviors. So these are all the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. Now these symptoms may severely affect the cognitive ability of a person and they suffer from this for a lifetime. So what are the causes of this disorder? See autism spectrum disorder has no single known cause. Researchers are yet to fully understand the etiology of autism spectrum disorder. Here etiology means the study of factors that causes a condition or disease. So know that there is no cure for autism spectrum disorder. But intensive and early treatment can make a big difference in the lives of many children. This is all about autism spectrum disorder. Now as I mentioned earlier, you will see what the article says. For better understanding, first you should understand what is a gut microbiome. See the gut microbiome refers to all of the microbes in our intestines. These microbes perform different functions particularly it aids in digestion and absorption. Interestingly the food you eat affects the diversity of your gut bacteria. Scientists believe that there is a connection between gut and brain. The research also suggests that the gut microbiome may also affect the central nervous system. Here the central nervous system only controls our brain function. See the news article highlights one quote that is fix your gut, fix your brain. So fixing the gut in children with autism spectrum disorder can reduce the burden. This is because some research found that there is an imbalance in the gut microbiome of children with autism spectrum disorder. So fixing the gut in the children with autism spectrum disorder can reduce the burden of the disease. Also there is an under representation of certain microbes that produce salt-chain fatty acids such as fissile bacterium and rosbaria in children with autism spectrum disorder. So a low level of salt-chain fatty acids in autism spectrum disorder could lead to an imbalance in brain function and behavior. So the article says that a healthy gut microbiome is although not a solution but it may be able to help improve the quality of life of individuals with various diseases. So I conclude this discussion with the note eat healthy, feel healthy. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about what is autism spectrum disorder, then we saw about the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, then we saw about the effects of the disorder and finally we saw about the role of gut microbiome in improving the quality of life of persons with autism spectrum disorder. Now with these key points in mind let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this article from the text and context page. It talks about the issue of Chinese incursions in and around the islands present in the South China Sea. See this is not a new article. This article was first published on 18th of July 2020 and it has been republished today in the Hindu. This is because of a recent dispute between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. As you can see from the image provided here there is an aggressive laser usage by a coast guard ship belonging to China near the coastal waters of the Philippines. This made the Philippines to protest against China over its assertive South China Sea policy. This is why the article relating to China's South China Sea policy has been republished today. Now in this discussion we will try to see the important points provided in this article. Now before getting into discussion the syllabus relevant to this topic is given here. You can go through it. Now let's start with South China Sea. See this map now. Here you can see the location of South China Sea. It is located in the west part of the Pacific Ocean bordering the eastern part of South East Asia and the south eastern part of East Asia. Major countries located adjacent to South China Sea are Vietnam, China, Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia. Here note that Indonesia also lies near the outer borders of South China Sea. So this is all about the location of South China Sea and the countries present adjacent to it. As you can see from the image, the pink colored area of South China Sea which is highlighted here is claimed by China citing historical reasons. But if you pay close attention, you can see that the area claimed by China nearly includes all the territorial waters of countries like Vietnam and Philippines. This is where the problem arises. Apart from this, the uninhabited islands of parcel and spatly are also claimed by China. Here note that China calls the border of South China Sea as 9' line and it is also claiming the 9' line. The blue colored line which is displayed here is the 9' line according to China. Now coming to the issue, the Philippines had previously approached the permanent court of arbitration challenging the excessive claims of China in South China Sea. The Chinese claims were challenged by the Philippines as they were in violation to the provisions of UN Convention on Laws on the Seas. The permanent court of arbitration has ruled that China's claims of historical rights over South China Sea has no legal basis. The permanent court of arbitration also said that Beijing had no historic rights to resources present in the waters of the South China Sea. But China dismissed the judgment as null and void. This is about the judgment pronounced by the permanent court of arbitration and the subsequent reaction of China. Now talking about the significance of South China Sea, here note that South China Sea is not just important for the littoral countries present near South China Sea and it is also crucial for the maritime trade. See, South China Sea has been a transit point for trade since early medieval times. South China Sea also contains abundantly rich fisheries. Apart from this, South China Sea has huge repository of mineral deposits and hydrocarbon reserves. All this denotes the economic significance of South China Sea. Now moving on to see about the stand of different countries present near South China Sea. See even though China didn't obey the permanent court of arbitration's order on South China Sea, majority of countries which were located in South China Sea didn't raise their voice against China. According to the article, the reason for the adoption of restraint by these countries against China was due to the deep economic linkages of these countries with China. Now if you take the Philippines, the Philippines did not press for enforcement of the permanent court of arbitration's award and accommodated itself to the status quo. In return, China adopted a peace-metal strategy here. See, China is trying to resolve the boundary disputes bilaterally and it is also working on a code of conduct with the Asian countries with whom China is having disputes. As I said earlier, the countries present near South China Sea are not explicitly opposing China. But now, these aggrieved countries have begun to strengthen their respective navies. The author quotes some examples here. That is, the Vietnam is buying advanced submarines from Russia. Then the Philippines is buying the Brahmos missile from India. So this shows the growing discontent among the Southeast Asian nations who have border disputes with China. While the countries are avoiding direct military confrontation with China, they are at the same time strengthening their navies and deepening their military relationships with the United States. This is all about the current strategy envisaged by the countries to confront any future incursions by China inside their territorial waters. Now moving on to see about India's specific information relating to South China Sea. See India has trade links with the countries which are located in the South China Sea. According to the article, India must continue to actively pursue its defence diplomacy outreach in the Indo-Pacific region to safeguard India's interests there. Then India's defence diplomacy must focus on the areas like bilateral military exercises, then extending humanitarian assistance to the countries in need, and shared patrolling of Malacastrite with the help of littoral nations present there. Apart from this, partnerships like the comprehensive strategic partnerships that India has concluded with Australia, Japan, Indonesia, the United States, and Vietnam could also be extended to Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore. This would help India to extend its foothold over the South China Sea region. Other than this, India must also try to increase its military capacity of the tri-service Andaman-Nikobar Command. Then the extensive geostatic value of Andaman-Nikobar Lens should be used to its fullest potential as the islands work the world's most important sea land. And particularly in the time of China's assertiveness all across the world, India cannot afford to continue undervaluing the strategic importance of Andaman-Nikobar Islands. So infrastructure development to operationalize a big contingent of Indian Navy on Andaman-Nikobar Island should become a top priority for India. Okay, now with this, we have come to the end of this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the location of the South China Sea, then the significance of the South China Sea, then we saw about China's assertive policy with respect to the South China Sea, then about the permanent court of arbitration's verdict on the issue, then we moved on to see about current strategy employed by the Southeast Asian nations to deal with China. And finally, we ended our discussion by seeing how India can extend its influence in both Indian and Pacific oceans. Now with these key points in mind, let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now see this article here, it says that two elephants got stuck in an elephant-proof trench near Mudumalai Tiger Reserv and the forest department officials have rescued them. Now in this context, we will use this opportunity to learn about Mudumalai Tiger Reserv. See Mudumalai Tiger Reserv is located in the Neelgris district of Tamil Nadu. Note that Mudumalai Tiger Reserv is situated near the tri-junction of three states including Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Mudumalai Tiger Reserv is also a part of Neelgris Biospera Reserv. Note that Neelgris Biospera Reserv is the first biospera reserv in India, declared in 1986. Now see this image here, Mudumalai Tiger Reserv has a common boundary with Vayanad wildlife sanctuary of Kerala on the west, then Bandipur Tiger Reserv of Karnataka on the north, then the Neelgris north division on the south and east, and Gudurur forest division on the southwest. This is all about the location of Mudumalai Tiger Reserv. Now talking about the forest cover of Mudumalai Tiger Reserv, see the assessment of 2009 forest survey of India says that the Mudumalai Tiger Reserv has 47.05 square kilometer of very dense forest, then 214.98 kilometer square of moderately dense forest and 56.16 kilometer square of open forest. So we can say that Mudumalai Tiger Reserv has all three major types of forests. Okay, this is all about forest cover of Mudumalai Tiger Reserv. Now talking about the climate of Mudumalai Tiger Reserv, see the climate of Mudumalai is moderate. Mudumalai Tiger Reserv experiences cold weather during the month of December or the beginning of January and hot weather is experienced during the month of March and April. This is all about climate. Now talking about the flora and fauna, the Mudumalai Tiger Reserv has tall grasses which is commonly referred to as elephant grass. Then a bamboo of the gaint variety also grow there. Apart from this valuable timber species like deek, rosewood and so on are also seen in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserv. Now coming to the fauna, Mudumalai Tiger Reserv is inhabited by a variety of animals which include tiger, elephant, indian gar, panther, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, mouse deer, common langur, malabar jain squirrel, wild dog, mongoose, jungle cat, hyena, etc. Apart from these animals, the important bird species like malabar, whistling thrush, peacock and jungle fowl are also found in Mudumalai Tiger Reserv. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about the location of Mudumalai Tiger Reserv. Then we saw about the forest cover and climate of the reserve. Then we moved on to see about the floor on fauna present in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserv. See this topic is very much important for your Trillium's exam. So make note of each and every points that we discussed. Now with these key points in mind let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this snippet displayed here. It reports about the training provided to the Filipino officers by the indian navy to operate Brahmos supersonic missile systems. See the training was offered to the Filipino officers as a part of 374.96 million US dollar deal for Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles signed between indian filipines. This is what is given in this article. Now in this context let us learn about Brahmos missile system in Pillium's perspective. First of all know that Brahmos is a supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by different research and development organization that is DRDO and the Russian government. Know that the name Brahmos is a combination of the names of two rivers that is the Brahmabutra of India and the Moscow of Russia. Now coming to the technical theories of the missile as I already said Brahmos is a supersonic cruise missile. Know that Brahmos is a two-stage missile system. The first stage is fueled by a solid propellant based booster engine. This stage brings the missile to supersonic speed. Then the second stage is a liquid ramjet stage. This stage takes the missile closer to the speed of Mach 3. Here note that if the speed of the missile is said to be more than Mach 1 then the missile is called as supersonic missile. As I already said the Brahmos missile can travel up to a speed of Mach 3 and this is why Brahmos is also called as supersonic missile. Now coming to the operation of Brahmos missile the Brahmos missile operates by the fire and further principle. It means that once the missile is launched it can hit the designated target even without the launcher not being in line of sight of the target. This fire and further principle is incorporated in Brahmos using the advanced software systems that are embedded in the missile. And know that the destructive power of the missile is due to its large kinetic energy generated by the missile on impact. Also know that Brahmos can be launched from air, land, sea and also from underwater using the submarines. Here note that the range of Brahmos missile system is 290 kilometer. Other than this the Brahmos missile system has a very low radar signature. This means that due to its lightning speed the probability of enemy radar catching hold of the path of the missile is very low. Apart from this accuracy is also high for the Brahmos missile system in compared with other cruise missile systems across the world. This is all about the Brahmos missile system. Now before ending our discussion we will see a few points relating to Brahmos 2 missile system. See just like Brahmos 1 India and Russia are now developing a new generation of Brahmos called the Brahmos 2. Brahmos 2 would have a speed of more than Mach 7. Since the speed of Brahmos 2 is higher than the speed of Mach 5 it is called as hypersonic missile. Here note that the missiles which travel over the speed of Mach 5 are called hypersonic missiles. If you recall Brahmos 1 this having a speed of only Mach 3. So from this we can say that Brahmos 2 would travel nearly at double the speed of its older counterpart that is none other than Brahmos 1. And also note that Brahmos 2 would have a range of 1000 kilometer and it would be powered using a scramjet engine. This is all about Brahmos 2. Now with this we have come to the end of this discussion and this discussion we saw about Brahmos missile systems. Then we saw about the technical details of the Brahmos missile and finally we saw some facts regarding Brahmos 2. Now with these key points in mind let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this editorial here. This editorial article is written in response to the recent allegations of sexual harassment raised by some of India's wrestling sportswoman. In view of the sensitivity of the issue the union sports minister has constituted an oversight committee to investigate the charges raised against the president of the wrestling Federation of India. The committee is headed by a lady Olympic medal holder. See this incident is clearly an example of challenges faced by women in workplace. Here the author of the article suggests some of the measures to overcome these challenges. Now in this discussion we will learn the points provided in this article. Now before getting into discussion the syllabus relevant to this topic is given here you can just go through it. Now let's start with the challenges faced by women in workplace. The first and foremost challenges the lack of economic development. See the periodic labor force surveys annual report for 2020-21 says that the participation of women in the total labor force has grown. According to the report labor force participation rate has gradually increased from 17.5 percentage in 2017-18 to 25.1 percentage in 2020-21. And the worker population ratio has also increased from 16.5 percentage in 2017-18 to 24.2 percentage in 2020-21. Here know that labor force participation rate is calculated by dividing the labor force with the total working age population. Here the working age population refers to the people aged between 15 to 64 so it includes both employed and unemployed. On the other hand worker population ratio is the percentage of persons employed among the persons in population. As we saw just now the participation of women in the total labor force has grown but the issue here is it is still much less when compared to men. So this is the first issue. Secondly even if women participate in labor force they are under represented in senior managerial position and over represented in low paying jobs. The main reason for both these challenges is the patriarchal social structures and mindsets. This includes the societal prejudices where people think women cannot balance private family and political life. There is also another reason called internalized patriarchy. See it is a phenomenon where women themselves consider that it is their duty to pre-artist family and household. Therefore the women don't think about participating in labor force and this is becoming a cycle again and again. Apart from this gender pay gap, job security, problem of transport, lack of basic facilities like toilets, restrooms etc. Then the dual responsibility that is the family and work. See these are all some of the reasons which hinders one participation in the labor force. Then the third and most important issue faced by the women in workplace is safety issues. See according to the editorial the violence in the form of sexual harassment at the workplace is both direct and structural. On one hand we can see a gradual improvement in environment for reporting direct violence. On the other hand indirect violence remains poorly addressed. This is mainly because of the fact that they are embedded deep in our social and economic structures. See indirect violence happens when men at the workplace take undue advantage of the historical fact that the society is still patriarchal. Then women also fearing to report such violence because again they have to report it to a male higher official who might be a friend of the offender. Even if women report to that male higher officer the allegations largely fall under section 509 of the IPC that is to insult the modesty of a woman. See there is a specific offense relating to sexual harassment under section 354 A of the IPC but the allegations taken under section 509 of the IPC by the male higher officer. In most of the cases when the women report such indirect violence the offender is projected as the victim and the responsibility to prove that the offender is guilty is placed upon the woman who is the actual victim. So this also becomes the problem to the woman. So the author of the article says this powerful phrase which says when it comes to power emerging from the majority numbers matter. So the author encourages women to participate in workforce especially in the leadership positions. See when the number of women in leadership positions are not enough to generate confidence in subordinates women in lower positions will feel reluctant to voice their grievances. See these are all some of the challenges faced by the woman in workforce. And the author suggests some of the goals to improve the workplace environment for women. Now we'll see them one by one. Firstly the short-term goals. See the short-term goals may include establishing the necessary woman-friendly infrastructure then forming internal complaint committees and spreading awareness about grievance letters law and procedure. Secondly the medium-term goals. See the medium-term goals may include the increase of female participation in the labor force then improvement of two-thru-tail ratio and providing incentives to prevent draw ports like paid maternity leave, paid menstrual leave etc. Here two-thru-tail ratio expresses the relationship between the forces employed to perform the core missions and the resources or infrastructure used to manage and support those forces. The improvement of two-thru-tail ratio will create job vacancies. This is all about medium-term goals and finally the long-term goals. See in the long run it is essential to address the deep-rooted structural and cultural violence which puts women in a disadvantageous position. So to conclude unless society as a whole works tirelessly to bring out the necessary changes in the existing socio-cultural and economic structures to eliminate indirect violence against women the status quo against women may not change. And that's all regarding this discussion. This discussion we saw about what are all the challenges faced by women in the workforce and the workplace. Then we saw about the goals to improve the workplace environment for women. Now with these key points in mind let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now see this article here it says that yesterday the cabinet committee on appointments has appointed former union commerce secretary and retired civil servant BVR Subramaniam as the chief executive officer of Nitiayog. Now in this context we will use this chance to make a quick revision on Nitiayog. See Nitiayog is the premier policy think tank of government of India. It provides directional and policy inputs to the government. So Nitiayog basically designs strategic and long-term policies and programs for the government of India. Apart from this Nitiayog also provides relevant technical advice to the center states and union territories. Now remember that Nitiayog is neither a constitutional body nor a statutory body but it was an outcome of an executive resolution. See Nitiayog has two hubs. The first one is team India hub. This hub works in coordination for the involvement of Indian states with the central government. Then the second hub is knowledge and innovation hub. This hub enlarges the capabilities of institutions think tank. Okay this is a brief about Nitiayog. Now talking about the objectives of Nitiayog see the Nitiayog was set up with broad set of objectives. Now we will see them one by one. Firstly national development is a top priority of Nitiayog and therefore Nitiayog aims to evolve a shared vision on this line. When it says shared vision it means that it includes all constituents of the country which are nothing but the states. Secondly Nitiayog aims to foster cooperative federalism through supportive initiatives. Thirdly Nitiayog makes mechanism for plans at the village levels. Fourthly Nitiayog pays attention to national security while making developmental plans across the borders. Fifthly Nitiayog also tries to ensure the progress of vulnerable sections in the country. And finally Nitiayog receives feedback on the policies and then make improvements on the shortcomings. Okay this is all about objectives of the Nitiayog. Now talking about its composition Nitiayog comprises of the prime minister as the chairperson then there is a governing council composed of chief ministers of all the states and union territories with the legislatures and in the case of union territories without legislatures the governing council would include the left-wing and governors of union territories. Then there are regional councils composed of chief ministers of states and left-wing governors of union territories to address specific issues in the particular state or a region. Apart from this Nitiayog also has full-time organizational framework which is composed of a vice-chairperson four full-time members two part-time members from the leading universities or research organizations then four ex-officio members of the union council of ministers and a chief executive officer. Here the chief executive officer is having the rank of security to the government of India. Apart from all these experts and specialists in various fields are also incorporated in Nitiayog. This is all about the composition of Nitiayog. Now in the exam point of view I am going to give you an additional fact regarding the indices released by Nitiayog. Just remember the names of the indices I am going to provide you. This will help you during your exams. See the indices released by Nitiayog include STG India Index India Innovation Index then School Education Quality Index then Composite Water Management Index then State Health Index District Hospital Index and State Energy Index. Just remember the names of the indices I said UPC may put a question like which of the following indices are released by Nitiayog like that. So just remember the names I provided. With this we have come to the end of this discussion. In this discussion we saw about the Nitiayog its establishment then we saw about the objectives of Nitiayog and finally we saw some points regarding the composition of Nitiayog. Now with these key points in mind let's move on to the next part of the next article discussion that is to discuss preliminary practice questions. Now look at this first question. This first question is regarding Brahmos missile systems. Now look at this first statement. Brahmos is capable of carrying nuclear warheads. See this statement is correct. Brahmos can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads. So statement one is correct. Now coming to the second statement it solely uses liquid fuel based engine for attaining high speeds. See this statement is incorrect because Brahmos uses both solid and liquid fuel based engine for propulsion. So statement two is incorrect. Now the question is asking for correct statement. So the correct answer for the question is option A1 only. Moving on let's take up the second question. Here in this question a condition is given we have to identify this condition reflects which of the given four disorders. Now I'll read out the condition. It refers to a range of conditions characterized by some degree of impaired social behavior communication language and a narrow range of interests and activities that are both unique to the individual and carried out respectively. The symptoms start to appear within two years of birth. Although it is not curable its symptoms can be addressed with appropriate interventions. Which of the following disease or disorder is described here. Here four options is given we have to find the above said condition is describing which disorder. See as we saw in the discussion it is autism spectrum disorder which leads to these conditions. So the correct answer for the question is option A autism spectrum disorder. Moving on let's take up the final question. Now look at this question Malabar whistling thrush sometimes seen in news is a species of butterfly bird fish frog. Know that the Malabar whistling thrush is a whistling thrush in the family of music apidae. The bird has been called whistling school boy for the whistling calls that they may cut dawn and they have a very human quality. The species is a resident in the western gods and associated hills of peninsular India including central India parts of the eastern gods and so on. As we saw in the discussion it also seen in mudumalay tiger reserve and know that it falls under least concern category of IUCN red list of threatened fishes. So the correct answer for the question is option B bird. And this is the quiz question for you today. I will post this quiz question in the community section try to answer it and the answer for the quiz question is posted in the comment section of the quiz question itself. You can verify it and displayed here are the main questions for your practice. Go through the questions write your answers and put it in the comment section. With this we came to the end of the video. If you like our analysis please like comment and share and don't forget to subscribe to Shankar IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.


Yeah I'm taking everything they can do know that you know that you know that you can't even talk to them


Davey, how are you brother? I'm fine, thanks a lot. It's been quite a while since we saw each other last. But it was on my run, wasn't it? I think the last time I saw you was in Mussolini Free's home in Shrewsbury. When we picked you up and you insisted we dropped you back at the same spot so that you made sure you did it and didn't cheat in any way. Yes, big shout out to Russ, he really, really looked after me. He got on his motorbike the next day and he made sure I was all right for the next 30 miles. He didn't talk on the back though. No, I wish he had had done. So Davey, friends at home, Davey's an old friend of mine. The youngest Royal Marine to serve in the Falklands, which I think just in itself is a fascinating thing to chat about.  I've got a really good story from that. We'll go through that, but it's got a fantastic story. His name was Taff Cooper and we remember on the SS camera. And yeah, honestly, I'll tell you the story about that but I was to tell you what happened last week. I actually met him. We spotted each other and yeah, I'll tell you it's a funny story that is here. Yeah, please do. So what year did you join up, Davey? I joined up to 27th of April 1981. Yeah, joined CTC. Wow, that was back when training was really easy, wasn't it? I'll tell you what, after watching the lads and the excellent machines they are now, it probably was. Were you in training with Terry Marsh? No, Terry Marsh was in before me. Terry was, because obviously I knew Terry from basically what happened was Terry was in the Royal Marines and he was just about to leave the Royal Marines, probably about six months. Once I'd finished my training in the Royal Marines and joined the North Navy Boxing Squad, Terry was on it, but he was just about to leave to go on to professional. Yeah, I got a funny bit about Terry. I think it was my mate H was telling me he was in training with Terry. Do you remember the thing where you used to have to queue up for the phone? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but the train ranks could just cut to the, they would cut to the front. And so friends at home train ranks of someone who's got their green berry. Terry Marsh was in the queue and this train rank came in, pushed in the front and Terry said to him, you know, away with you at the bloke word. No, I would train right and apparently Terry knocked him out. Well, I'll have to ask him that when I see him. Yes, friends at home again. If you're too young to remember Terry Marsh, he was a boxing champion. Was he world champion? He was certainly... Yeah, he was like Royal Marines champion, Royal Navy champion, Combined Services champion, boxed for England International and then ended up obviously training professional and become, I think it was world, like well-to-weight champion in the world here. Yes. Terry, if you're watching, please come on the podcast. It'd be great to speak to you, Royal. Yeah, yeah. So, did you train in any problem for you? I mean, that's young, isn't it? Were you 16 when you joined? I was 16 when I joined. I was eight stone, three, I think I was, when I joined. And there was 58 of us, 276 Troop, junior Troop. And yeah, there was 58 of us. And they ended up with 16 originals. Some, a lot left, but some of the lads obviously left not on their own accord. They obviously injured and got what they used to call 12 Troop then when I was, I think it's called something else now, but it was used to call 12 Troop. Yeah, sorry, go for it. Yeah, so basically there was 58 of us. We got down to 16 originals after the injuries. I think we passed out about 38 because we got people that sort of joined us just for the pass out because they were obviously being injured. And I think we're on, we had no monologue called David Patterson who joined, who passed out with us, joined up with us. He'd hurt his leg, big stuff.  But yeah, it's a shame for him. David Patterson lives in New Zealand now. Yeah, it's the mental thing as well, isn't it? Coming back from Hunter Troop. I've had a few lads contact me from Hunter Troop and it's getting back into it and keeping up the enthusiasm and I'm pleased to say I had a few words of them and bang, they've all got their green lids now. That's brilliant. We had some characters in 276. I'll jump forward a bit first. What we've basically done over the last month and a half, we've actually decided, or one of the lads, Brum Tennant, Squid Tennant, decided he wanted to find the lads. So it's 40 years and he decided we passed out on December the 11th, just gone and he wanted to try and get us together, but he couldn't find anybody and then he found me. And due to me and the Sergeant Blackman episode where thousands of people are on my site, we were able to get 22 of us. So there's 22 of us in contact with each other now and we're going to meet up in September and Mickey Rooney, his name, he's the character from Manchester. He now lives in Taunton, I think, scaffolding the business. He was one of the ones where you're in training and you just want to get down the stairs and get lined up already outside of Parade, where you've got your stuff on, with all your wig on, and outside and there'd be always one late and it'd be him you'd look up the window and the windows and he'd be there and he'd just be laughing.  He used to sit there, stand up, jump in line, and then within one second they'd come around the corner and I think, have you done it? He was just a character. He's a brilliant character. You've got to have characters when you're in your training. Yes, you certainly have and you get an interest in makes, don't you? Yeah. People all across the board. Yeah. We've done really well in training. We had a fantastic two Petty Officer, I don't know if it was a Petty Officer, so a Petty Officer PT, Derrick Pierce, Jan Pierce, and to be fair to him, he is what Romanians are today, what he would like to train today. In 81, I'm not saying it's any different now, but in 81, you were not bullied, but they character-built. If you did something wrong, you knew about it, but nowadays it's like, what's going wrong there? How can we fix it? And Jan Pierce was that type and unfortunately, Jan didn't really get on with the Romanians' training team because they were old-style and Jan seemed to be in his head a good 20 years ahead and he had a different way of training people and he became a really good friend, Jan did, because obviously I boxed from the age of, well, I started training from the age of eight, so for eight years, I was a really fit person, I was really good at cross-country, I was a cross-country champion, so I was quite fit when I joined up and I'd had, I think I'd had something like maybe 100 fights as a boxer when I joined up, 80 odd, and I loved that, Jan did, and so I was quite fit and in the end, when we passed out, I was awarded the PT medal, the GPMG medal and the Commando medal and we did a story about, Jan, we actually went for the endurance course record and basically, as you know, the endurance course, you had to go with the other two lads, so there'd be three of you to help each other to get through the tunnel, but once you get through the tunnel, then we could split, and Jan said, once you've gone through that tunnel, we are going for it, we are going to get this endurance course record, I want you to get it, and we were 17 seconds out of the endurance course record and a lot of royals on that and probably civilians won't know this, but at the end of the endurance course record and at the end of the endurance course, once you went into the main gate, you then had to head, as you know, to the ranges and you had to fire 10 rounds off and if you got your 10 rounds off and I think it was the 7 at the time or 8, hit the target, you were knocked one minute off, so Jan is chuffed a bit, he's like, Dave, we're 17 seconds off, we can get down there, we can go and get you this endurance course record, so off we went down to the ranges and I won't name him, but our troop sergeant said, oh, he flew past, he don't need to do the ranges and Jan was like, no, no, no, no, we need to do it because if we knock him in, he's got the endurance course record and for some reason or other, we don't know why they wouldn't allow me to do it, so I was never given the chance to get the endurance course record for the time, obviously being on November, December, in 81. Yes, the endurance course, for me, that's like everything about the Royal Marines, just that test. Yeah, obviously 30 miler, which is a killer as well, isn't it? Yeah, the 30 miler, but for me, I'd never managed to pass and I think we had two runs at it, maybe three and the first one, I was awful, I was literally something like 35 minutes over the time and on that day, I learned something about myself and that is if you don't give up, you can achieve amazing things and I come off that course, I looked at my watch, I was the slowest I'd ever done the actual course and I thought, if I don't, I'm going to get backtreated if I don't pass there, so you get one rerun at it, but I think the 30 miler, because people don't realise this, it takes eight hours for recruits and seven hours for the officers, I actually think we got under seven hours, I think we got six hours, 58 we just got under, because halfway down, we decided there's a tube, we're going to try and beat this and show the officers that we're just as good as a career, only a junior tube, so yeah, if I remember right, we actually got under seven hours, which is brilliant, it was. So, are you a Colonel now, sir? No, I'm not a chance. Not a chance. Yeah, I put one foot in front of the other and then I just didn't stop and I didn't stop and I could sense as I was running through that pain, this is what being a Marine is about, that is it, just keep going and keep going. Did you have it in your head? Like I did, but most people did I think, in their head they counted one, two, three, four, one, two, and just looking at the the steps in between and your head was down and you just didn't sort of stop, did you? And then somebody would say something, you'd look up and oh, it's a water break. Yes, that's exactly it, just a kind of steady plod, but don't stop. Yeah, it was an incredible, incredible experience. I'd like to go back and do it again, to be honest. Yeah. So, David, you went to four, two first? Yeah, but basically, this is where it gets a bit confusing for my head and my jigsaw puzzle and I'm useless, obviously I know you, but your face, I'll never forget because I'm brilliant when it comes to face and numbers, but when it comes to names, for some reason or other, I don't know if I took too many left hooks, but basically I cannot remember names. So basically what happened was we passed out in December 11th and we were sent on leave as you do for a few days and then I was given four two-commando, Bickley Barracks M Company, nine troop. So, I get down to Bickley Barracks and first thing happens is we line up, they're dead nervous, we line up in the troop and the company saw I made it and the sergeant comes out and the first thing they do is they shout, Marine Rob, so obviously you've got to stand to attend, step forward, hand in the air. Yes sir, right, I believe you on the GPMG, C2C, yes sir, ah, they're up, like everybody else, it's yours. So I'll get given it and then it's obviously in January this time. I think it might have been late December, it was very early January and we're packing for Norway, we're just about to go out to Norway for three months C2C did at that time and somebody shouted Rob, you need to go to, Marine Rob, get yourself into the C'mon Sergeant Major's office, you want some word? So I'm right, right, so I go into the C'mon Sergeant Major's office, that looks good. Right, close the door, you're not coming to Norway, I'm like, what? You're not coming to Norway, you've got to go off and fight for the Navy title.  Right, okay. So, being young, 17, I was like, okay, just do something for, give him an order. I did go and do it. I just won the the Royal Marines title actually in training, still in training, the Royal Marines champships were on and they wanted me to win the Royal Marines title or see if I could win it. So that's what I did. When I had won the Royal Marines title in training. So then I was sent off to off to HMS Nelson in Portsmouth. Forty Commander went off to do their Norway and whilst we were in Norway I'd been able to go and get the Navy title and then I'd travel with the Royal Navy squad all around the country against Northwest, Northeast, Midlands, you know it was representing the Royal Navy obviously the Royal Marines, we then came back at the end of March and they said right Forty Commander have just come back from Norway, they're on leave, go on leave and get yourself back to I think it was around the 8th or 9th or 10th of April, get yourself back to barracks. So I'm sat there in Stoke and Trent where my mum lived at the time and I'm watching the telly with my mum and all of a sudden it comes across breaking news, Royal Marines and all power troopers we turn to your barracks and it comes up on the TV the Argentinians have invaded the Falklands so I looked at my mum and I said what the hell are they doing up Scotland, what are they doing up Scotland, who the hell wants to go all the way up Scotland, it's freezing, not realising how cold it was in the Falklands, it's freezing up Scotland, always busy down around, no good and yep so I basically listened to the breaking news on the news on the TV and it said because I was thinking straight away well I'm going to get down there, I'm going to get a ticket and it come up, get yourself down to your nearest train station if you haven't got a vehicle and tell them if you are show your ID and you've given a ticket and I was giving a one-way ticket back to Berkeley barracks and that's how I heard about the Falklands war.  Yeah and the other thing was I was quite young, it's probably naive and I don't think wow we're going to war, we're here you know and I'm going to yeah I'm going to join the Wolverines and then as I'm getting down there and as I joined Berkeley and I joined M company I'm thinking where are we going, who are we with and then all of a sudden same again we're packing our stuff, Marine Rob gets to the company's art major office I'm like so I go to the company's art major office again, close the door again, hi Dave, I say right you're not coming with us I'm like you're having a laugh, he goes you're not coming with us, you're going to headquarters I'm like why and he says basically because you're not art at warfare trained I can't tell you at the moment we're going somewhere else M company are about to go and do something but we've got to keep it quiet at the moment and then obviously a couple of days later I find out that they were going off to South Georgia first, South Georgia and apparently he had to be art at warfare trained but it's a very strange thing is after meeting some of the lads and talking to some lads now and some of them said no I wasn't art at warfare trained so I maybe I find out afterwards 20-30 years later that my mother had decided to ring the company's art major and tell the art major that her 17-year-old son wasn't going anywhere near the falcons he wasn't going to war and she'd come down and sort a few of the lads out and sort a few of the marines out the company's art major partner was laughing his head off and said as far as I can see your lab is fully trained woman's command out and he is more than capable of looking after himself and we will look after him mrs. Bob and my mum basically said to him if he don't and something happens to him I assure you I will be down there and I will find you and I think that's where the saying from that film was come and I will kill you she actually said it and I've spoken to the but I forgot his name I've spoken to the person who actually took the call and he said I laughed my head off your mum was a feisty feisty scouter and I've got another little story which we'll talk when we talk about going back to 40 commando at 40 union last week when I met Colonel Vogue's it's a quite funny story but yeah so basically I didn't go with the M company which was really a massive disappointment to me because the mighty munch I'd only been there a few days but M company was the mighty munch and I love bringing that company and so when you say they sent you to HQ was that with a view to not go into the Falklands or was that with a view to going but being in a safer place I think what it was they put me as the GPMG they actually I actually went to the Colonel Vogue's machine gun as did most of them of course I think we had three three machine gunners in there of course defense troop we went in I've just remembered yeah we went into defense troop and obviously with the departure as well which is another story I'll tell you about when we get in the Falklands I've got my books going to be quite funny but yeah but yeah so I sent with the on with defense troop and then sent down on the camber with the with the guys down defense troop which was a lot of lads who were not all to warfare trained a lot of experienced corporals experienced LF experienced Lads corporals experienced experienced war marines and I think also they didn't tell me but I think because Colonel Vogue's never ever forgets names he's just a wonderful man amazing person and and he'll tell you so but he remembered me after 40 years he remembered my name and and I think he remembers my name because what my mother had said and I think the company so I made him muster hang him and also he wanted it he was like a fire he wanted to make sure that he didn't want to lose any of his youngsters so I'm coming I'm going to keep him next to me close to me and look after him because obviously it was young brilliant the youngest marines I get told I am I was and sometimes somebody said no there's somebody younger but it doesn't really matter we all went down there I definitely went there boy and I definitely came back on that and how did you get down there Davey on that beautiful thing called the white whale SS camber and when you talk about when you say about how did you feel was you're proud um on the camera until the Belgrana was sunk we just had one hell of a party we didn't even think we were going to go to war we just and I thought this is great just war marines this is brilliant life on the cruise with a big cinema you know obviously helicopter lost a pool um taking a pool off us but they look we lost the pool because they put the helicopter pad on one of the pools but um yeah we just had a fantastic time going down I think the the the the only mistake they made the M.O.D was they put they put a 40 commando 42 commando on the whether we were on the bottom deck and middle deck or vice versa but they put they put the powers of the top deck shouldn't have put us on the same ship because we had some battles of them on the way down they should never have never have put war marines and power troops together but yeah that's that's another story yeah we leaping forward a bit there was a I think there was a few ups sets on the way back as well wasn't it because of the blue because of the blue and blue blue on blues yeah no I'm not saying this was the parrots now I think it certainly the sas yeah um well we even we even had a blue on blue on our own didn't we and four five four five yes which I found out about when I went back um 35 on the 35th anniversary when I went back as a guest of honor um we got told the story which happened with four five which is absolutely tremendous yes yes we've had Andy very bravely on the podcast to um I'll put the Falklands playlist below folks so you can um you know you can check out all our Falklands podcast but uh yes that was um that was a tragedy a tragedy but but it's war isn't it and these these things these things happen so and we should give a shout out Davey as well shouldn't because they don't really often get a mention is that these were civilians on these man in these ships well as soon as you started saying that I thought he's gonna save his civilians because what a fantastic there was over 400 on our ship apparently I read that the other day and I was like well never 1400 and then we had Bertie or Bernie or something Bertie and Bernie who were two homosexuals doing they were funny guys and but they looked after us yeah they really did yeah I I think when you guys went or when the unit went ashore a camera march left them with a gpmg and they were like how do we how do we defend the ship cam he's like right take this fucker no okay but but they did they did yeah one one chap I think was on the mv nor norland so the ship the powers went down on yeah shot a bloody albatross yeah yeah yeah yeah I actually read that the book about them going down on the they had some form as well the powers on the way down yes my gosh uh big shout out to Wendy yeah Wendy one of the one of the stewards what a what a what a cracking bloke yes bloke folks you you do the maths but what a what a lovely individual when he was he was um he was you know very attached to the to the men wasn't he you know so when we went down on the Canberra um I was put into a cabin this this is um but obviously I've just come out of training and I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do everything I'm told to do I do because um these are all sweats and I'm just somebody who's in Ed I've gone from M company where I didn't know anybody's name I'm now in Ed quarters defense team where I don't know people's names and and I'm putting to the spoon with this huge huge bloke called taff Cooper and um he's massive and he and he says to me you're going on the top and I was not you're going on the top so I'm on the top bunk and um we run we have to every day we have to train so we're running around the Canberra and as you will know and the Royals know and civilians may not know but four towns around the camera was one mile so we do a four mile the end of the four mile we come back into the cabin and I don't know where taff was he wasn't doing the the the PT he he's gone he's gone off somewhere else and um I go into the cabin and I take my shorts off take me soft so I wash my socks and I wash my Dolby and we call Dolby no I Dolby me socks and I give them really good Dolby and then I get me teacher and I give a really good Dolby and I'm thinking I remember um from CTC where as you know a corporal so 60 in front of a 16 year old that's 58 of us there was just they tell us to go into the heads into the toilets and all of a sudden this corporal just takes everything off strips off doesn't he so he strips everything off and I'm like what's going on here this man has just stripped off in front of me and then he gets in the in and then he starts wash himself every single bit of himself he's washing doesn't he even pulling his foreskin back and clean behind him he's going right the other corporal says um but what you've just seen Corporal Smith do Corporal Ryder says what you've seen Corporal Smith do is wash himself it's called Dolby if you don't Dolby like that we've taught you how to do it if you don't do that you get a basper in the shower and you never forget that so from then on obviously I've washed like every woman I believe every woman is one of the cleanest people in the world and um so basically in this cabin I washed my teacher and socks and I did a good job and I rinsed them out because you can get Dolby rash it's called Dolby rash wasn't it so you get Dolby rash if you don't um obviously the uh the Dolby powder washing powder so I'll get it and as I lift it all up and swing it out I lift it up and I'm thinking when am I going to put this you know is it put it so as I'm hanging it up I'm thinking I can't put it there it's now dripping onto Taff's bed I can't put it there because I was trying to put over the mattress thing so I thought I'm going to have to just put it back in the sink so I'll put it back in the sink and as I put it back in the sink I go off to for some scran on the galley I come back at an hour later as I walk in as I walk in to the cabin I hadn't even closed the door the door was I'm lifted off my feet by one hand by this Taff Cooper and he rams me against my feet I'm the door slams and he says to me you little twat you scrappy little don't you ever and he's holding me one hand and he's pointing to the sink and he's going don't you ever ever ever leave Dobie in the sink again I'm going but it was clean it was clean it was clean and it no he would so I learned my lesson and I've never ever ever left any dirty washing dirty dishes I've got a bed at night and he's ingrained that into my head but yeah that was how I got into my cabin with Taff Cooper mate I still shower like that today yeah the problem I the problem I have is trying to find 58 blokes to watch me I thought he was going to say trying to find it there well that that too that's old age for you mate yeah so um did you uh did you have to stay on ship did you go ashore when when they did the landings well obviously on the way down we did um we did a lot of training and me being gpmg um I was then introduced to sf which is a sustain fire on the tripods uh and we trained and trained and trained and trained and we had to get it I think it was under a minute we had to get the gpmg down sorted out the the sf kit out this big bag big heavy bag pull it out tripod bump set up and aimed and ready to shoot I think there were like brown bags that were blown up and tied and not in the throne into the war um if I remember right and so we did a lot of training on the way down until we got to ascension islands obviously and then we were allowed off essential islands to do um to do some proper fire fire training on the range because there's a range there and unfortunately um I forgot what they're called well they're they're not ferrets what they call the little things that pop their heads up they on the ranges they got there was little little holes and like go go for sort of things yeah and there was a lot of golfers in this sense lines and a lot of long range including myself I feel tired with that if a golfer pops his head up that's probably better to practice training and firing than trying to go at this this this thing that's just sat there doing nothing you know I mean so um we we we had we had to go quite a few golf govres until one of the um one of the corbels told us off until we were allowed to do that when we were doing northern island training up at lid uh we were on a range doing a night night shoot and on the very last shoot of the of the exercise um one of the corbels whispers to everyone right on the on on on the very last shoot everybody shoot shoot the left light on the range you know they got like a red light and a white light or something on top the range to mark like don't fire above above it and um I just remember the range ward and walking back carrying this lamp and he's looking at the range controller and he's just going and he said he said there's 38 O's in this one and there's 27 in the other needless to say some of us ended up in the galley the next day peeling the potatoes and I think I think we I think we got off lightly yeah yes yes so obviously we stopped off this engine um we stopped off in Africa as well sincerely on we stopped off as well to refuel and that was that was um yeah we stopped off in Sierra Sierra Leone and all the all the natives um they um for some reason or other they wanted plastic and very very plastic bottles and they're asking plastic I think they're asking plastic bottles so that they can fill their water obviously you see these things about them having to walk across with it and you know on their heads and walking miles to go and get water that always puzzled me that why would you walk five miles to go and get well why don't I just live next door to the war but that's another that's another thing but they're always puzzled me but obviously they used to ask for plastic and typical submarines in Paris I think it was the power that went over the top of the powers but we we were throwing like bottles but we were trying to whang them on to their heads and things you know laughing but we had I think a power just threw uh he threw over they were on plastic and that plastic so he threw over uh uh sun lounger you know I mean sunk the boat and we're like Jesus all your light you know I mean it's going up it's going over the top but yeah yeah we've got telling off of that as well because they were trying to give us monkeys and and their and their their sisters you have sister sister four ten minutes and I'm trying to get the system to go up the side of the the camera into the big you know big loading door crazy just to get some plastic yeah I saw a fight broke out when I worked in Mozambique um all the kids came round the back we're on we called them shappers like pickup trucks right you travel everywhere on it on a shapper or all your hitchhike and uh all the kids come running up and they're like bottle bottle and one of the workers I was with like through the bottle and it landed on the floor about five or six kids just started battling for it like this ferocious um we don't know how lucky we are do we uh they used to make footballs Davey they get a carrier bag wrap it in a knot yeah wrap another one around it until it got as big as a football and that that was their footballs amazing it's incredible yeah so it was um funny times some sad times going down and then um in the ascension a lot of us got burnt because uh it wasn't it was organized as in sorting out our training for firing weapons but it wasn't organized as in what time we're going to get picked up and like listen lads but it's boasting it's absolutely boasting on the ascensions you ain't going to be able to get back on the ship make sure you got ads and stuff and gee I got a huge blister went right across my forehead uh because when we tried to cool down we thought the only way we're going to be able to cool down is getting the water but the water magnifies so it was even worse it like there was no way there was there was no way to shout you know sort of shelter so I went back down to the camera with this huge within hours and um there was loads of us lined up outside sickbay um you know getting them getting the right bollock and loads of us got arrived bollock and being off and off taking we just went with short sleeves and thought it's boasting in but we were there for some like eight hours nine hours and how did you get ashore did you did you uh did you go ashore did you stay on the ship yeah um basically um got to um just before we got to um exclusion zone um we were told that um we were told that talks were going on between the americans and the british and argentinians he was flying heig I think it was his name heig I think he was flying all over the place and he was trying to sort it out we wouldn't have to we wouldn't have to uh you know land and hopefully turn around um and I think it was an excuse I think what they were trying to um we we kept saying I'm sure we've just turned around or we've just done a huge circle and we kept getting told now and I were doing um um zigzagging we're doing uh anti-submarine drugs but we were sure we were we were uh we were just turning around because it took eight I can't remember how long it took we took weeks and weeks the weeks to get down the foglands I don't know if I'm right but I'm sure it might have been nine weeks but it did take a long time to get down there and um and then just before we got through the exclusion zone the zigzag started getting better and we were like whoa they're saying this is this is definitely and then we found out the balgrano would have been sunk and that's when my my mindset didn't change it didn't think oh we're definitely going to war because I thought but we've given one now they're probably going to say something they'll get off the islands and they'll go it wasn't till obviously um Sheffield went and that's when it was like whoa this is it mate you know get get your head on this is this is for real mate especially when you hear about um you know the lads uh being killed and so um when we when we got to San Carlos um I think it was the night of 21st we got off San Carlos and I was young right so you have to bear with me and there's some things that my way of dealing with things they're in my head and they stay in there end of the incoming article so 21st not the 21st we got to San Carlos with the white whale and we're thinking Jesus what a target this is and 40 commander I think it was 40 and 45 got off at San Carlos can't be wrong but I'm sure that's where they got off at San Carlos and as we're getting off HMS Ardent was sunk and the doors opened and I remember I was I was packing my stuff and opened the lads to pack uh and packing my burger and make sure I've got all my stuff and all of a sudden as I'm bending down somebody smashed into me and I turn around thinking any chance mate not only for that and I thought Adam they're doing doing you know they're doing a rush here so all of a sudden we're all wicked areas mind the doors mind the doors get out of the way mind the doors I'm thinking well so they open the door and I'll never forget um it's both come see both comes and picks picks up the survivors or some survivors of HMS Ardent and they come in and that's the first time I've seen navy lads and that when you're a kid you used to watch a film and the old films like the submarine films and you'd have a submarine and submarine isn't they'd have a white woolly pulleys wouldn't they with a polemic and that was the first time I'd ever seen them for real um and this lad comes up and he comes in and as he comes in he's just soaked and he's dripping wet his his jumper and uh I looked at him and as he walked past me he just said go get the bastard's royal I remember and I said and I just blew it out I went yeah no problem mate and uh as he went past I remember thinking the fucking idea was 17 year old the fucking eight stone five you know I mean the fuck am I gonna do poor fucker and then off they went and they obviously got them wet and dried them out and stuff there at 40 and four five were then let off and then I believe we went round to poor San Carlos and we get we got off at poor San Carlos and obviously me being with headquarters um you're not gonna let the condon office or you know or the the high ranking off first you're gonna make sure you've you've sorted evidence on the land ready and then so we went um not last but we went in the night early hours of the morning some like four or five in the morning of the 23rd I think I could be wrong on the date but about the 22nd um but we went round to poor San Carlos because apparently it was a better there was more soil hills and there was less chance of the the the the odd detainee jets getting getting the term getting the camera so yeah so we landed and then straight away started digging in started digging in and me and a leg call smudge and funny enough I've only just found out is real name first name five days ago because obviously I've gone from them company I don't know people's names to to the defense tube and I'm giving this leg called down smith brilliant at maths unbelievable maths 16 multiple 16s say to down smith what's 365 times time 16 and he go within a three seconds from giving the answer um 65 times 16 give it I don't know how he did it but but he smoked like a trooper and I've always been for I hated smoking so I was like I couldn't say nothing because I'm 17 I'm really a little bit older than me and um so we go down and we um we dig our trench and as we're digging our trench we're all ready and we've got trench going well and we were lucky because most trenches filled up after your first attempt with water so we're lucky and I said to smudge no longer how long we're going to be here for and he says then I said I tell you what so we just keep digging so we kept digging and we made ourselves a little sleeping area so we had the sleeping area and we had the place where he could stand and then we started digging again made it bigger we put steps so that we could step up to shoot or if we had to shoot which we did after um after five six hours got attacked by the jets and then we could step down and be undercover so to speak and then we thought and then so we dug it uh like this this little air sleeping area and then he says let's have a little so we dug this brilliant trench it was brilliant and the way the padre come past he's going hi lads I'm like oh sir and he says nice trench we lost that trench in about three hours three or four minutes trench when you two out we had to come but they're digging over trench so we dug over trench and I'm sure the party pinched it might have been the CO as well or one of the officers but we lost our trench so we dug another trench um started digging and it filled up within 15 minutes of war but I don't believe this so we dug another trench uh and we were able to dig another trench but we gave up just so we dug a trench and we just of cuddled each other when it was freezing cold but yeah but I lost we lost our trench we were gutted means much but um yeah but then obviously we um through the day they found out where we were as well and we started getting um I don't think we were getting attacked I think they were going across to obviously San Carlos where the guys were all the stuff was being taken off and all our stuff so basically there was jets just flying all over the place and you just tried your best with GPMGs um you know put it three or four inches in front of the jet and hopefully it went through but you'd have to you'd have to straight for the for the screen and and trying it in both so it was a wasn't pointless but you know we tried our best in the first few days and just watched all the all the ships getting attacked and the the Navy lads so brave sitting ducks unbelievable yes it is it is and uh as the Welsh Guards found out to their cost yeah yeah yeah that's a different story isn't it yeah we had Simon Weston on the show and uh just um awful awful yeah it is but it's a sore point with the Royal Marines the the Welsh Guards I'm afraid and uh yeah you can't blame the you can't blame the soldiers you have to blame somebody we won't name him but we have commanding officer of Welsh Guards who thought it was bad for him too yeah I do catch up I do remember seeing a documentary and there was a Royal Marines officer who was in charge so the Sotheby Taylor yeah could could possibly but but he was like incandescent that they wouldn't get off and he'd been screaming at them like you've got to get off you've got to get off captain Sotheby Taylor I met him um five five years ago after Sergeant Blackman thing um I met him there and um he insisted that they're there to get off you must get off your sitting duck so the Mr Sotheby Taylor he actually volunteered um to go down the Falklands 10 years before and he was fantastic at sailing yachtsman things and he plotted everything for Roots to go on the Falklands so he knew everything about the Falklands I mean he told them but they wouldn't get off well not sorry the lads wouldn't get off he wouldn't take his men off um well obviously we could talk about later but yeah yeah so basically we um we just waited until we were told to move and then we started moving towards Stanley then I think we went to Teal Inlet first um I could be wrong but we definitely within five six days we caught a pilot um and obviously being headquarters and this pilot was sent to headquarters um and I think somebody would probably say no I wasn't there but I think it was Teal Inlet and in Teal Inlet he had um um he had he had somebody put a thing around his like a band down of his eyes so he couldn't see any of those counters or things like that I think he was just sent into this um like shed like sheep shed or something but he was sent to there and he was interrogated apparently um but apparently Ferdinand didn't say anything so I got on him so he didn't interrogate him enough but apparently he kept his mouth shut and didn't say anything but that was the first time I'd seen one of them so to speak so for two commando was it Mount Harriet Mount Kent or was it the other way around yeah yeah Mount Mount Kent Mount Harriet in fact um I think because obviously I was headquarters then you had L company and K company with us um was doing Mount Kent first but I think the SS if I'm not right but I think but the SS went up and there wasn't that much um to do at Mount Kent they they they don't have run it already maybe seen how many there was I mean they've been there for three months it's cold wasn't it freezing cold man so are they stuck it three months in the train? They's probably worried Davey's going to go up there and hang all your dirty dobby everywhere yeah yeah so yeah so I think there's two then I went first and then I went into Mount Kent I'm one of the worst I don't know if Jeff Williams I think Jeff did a podcast didn't you were?