 So that was the Falklands and two years before that we had the Iranian Embassy and the Iranian Embassy was... I was on the top floor going in from the roof but it's all part of being the team, you know? But I had the job of lowering the explosive above the stairwell, you know, the big glass dome above the stairwell And that was basically the distraction explosion So if anybody watches the Iranian Embassy, little BBC clip on YouTube, there's a big explosion now There's some journalist going, that was a bomb, that was a bomb And then you then see the lads climbing out, you know, the four lads of the 30,000 that climb out onto the front balcony That everybody's seen, people call us special forces, we're not special We're called the Special Air Service and the Special Boat Service When I joined the Special Air Service, it was the Special Boat Section Then it became the Special Boat Squadron and then it became the Special Boat Service All the same guys, great guys, just different names, you know? It doesn't make any odds, it's all the same guys, none of them are special, none of us were special And being a boat troop guy, I worked a lot with the SPS, we're all the same We wear a different cab badge, we've got the same role, the same job, we get on with it We're two tiny units, most operationally we're normally combined anyway Because there's not enough of us to go around One lot is from the Navy slash Royal Marines, the other lot's from the Army That's back in my day, it's all different as you know now, because it's a combined selection Which in my view should have happened decades ago I spent a year down at Poe and I was a Staff Sergeant at the time And I had an absolute ball, the SPS lads welcomed me with open arms And one of the things I tried to do but failed Was bring the two units together and suggest a combined selection Because what was going on was it was two completely different types of selection So there was a mindset between the two that was slightly different And an SPS lad, if he was rank conscious, could pass the SPS selection, go into the SPS State two years, go back into the Marine system, get his Lance Corporal, get his Corporal, get his Sergeant And then go back into the SPS, and all the SPS lads that remained there might be corporals And he's jumped them and come back in, in the SES, the time, this is when I was in The time you decide that you want to leave the SES, you lose all your rank And if you come back, you do selection again and you start again at Trooper And I believe that that was right for both units, that was the way to be A, it makes people think twice about leaving, and B, we're all on the same page So that was going on, and a quick story about my time down in the SPS Great rivalry, of course, I'm the minimum number one, I'm on my own So I'm having to take all this crap from the SPS lads every morning You guys do fizz in the morning, before breakfast, that killed me I cannot do fizz before breakfast, that's not an army thing We need a big fat English breakfast in us before we do anything So I'm getting up in the morning, meeting up with my SPS buddies And getting the pants run off me, and then back again, or we're going swimming Or we're doing some gym work, or whatever it is, but everybody gets their chance So one morning it was my turn, and I kept it simple So we went for like a six mile run, we came back and warming up exercises To begin with warming down exercises, this wasn't long after the Falklands And I had the Marines, the SPS lads bending down, touching their toes Coming up slowly, coming up, coming up, and standing like that So I had a half-circle of Marines round me, all with their hands up And the Marines turned round and walked away, and then they chased me all over pool Anyway, it was all a laugh and a joke, we had a couple of beers that night We're all giggling about it, and then a couple of months later This SPS lads says, oh Bob, do you fancy going for a run tonight after work? I'm like, yeah that'd be great mate, and he was a really good runner And so he meets me outside the sergeant's mess, which is where I was staying And we go running out of, you know, Hamworthy, and out into the Cuds And I'm looking at my watch, and we're doing about seven minute miling pace, up and down And I'm just hanging on to him, and then we turn up at this house, and he stops at the gate And I'm like, what are you doing mate? And we're 10 miles away, and he goes, I live here, see ya So that was payback for my stretching exercises So fantastic stuff, you know, and I had an absolute ball down there I learnt so much, and I actually came back, and I had a vision that there shouldn't be a There should only be a boat trip in Hereford to move the other troops ashore Or to do light wreckies and stuff like that We shouldn't be at the extent of what, or we shouldn't be trying to do what the SPS are doing Because their streaks ahead, that's their job, that's their bread and butter They go to their oxygen diving, and for those that don't know, that's diving subsurface Where you're not popping bubbles up to the surface, it's a rebreathing unit, and there are no bubbles at all So, you know, you can swim in, nobody from the surface can see you We shouldn't be doing that, that takes a lot of effort The SPS are on the coastline, if they want to spend three hours doing that, they're there, they can do it We live in Hereford, we're landlocked, it's like a landlocked county, you know? It's crazy that we just don't have time to do this stuff, you know? So we were forever chasing the error, and I just felt that the lads are all the same We had SPS lads coming up to us for anti-terrorist stuff, and we were all working together, we were all gelling We would go down to Poe, we'd do the same with them, we would gel, but it was a hierarchy Those in charge of the Navy and the Royal Marines, those in charge of the Army and HQ Special Forces They're the ones that are trying to write their own history, you know? The lads just want to get on with their job, they're all the same Adam, if we combined, you know, we all wore a green berry with a wing dagger, or, you know, whatever It doesn't matter, we're all the same, we've all got a job to do, we need to do it to the best of our ability And we're not doing that when the headsheds are having a pissing match against each other