 No, I don't think I was surprised clearly the enemy was surprised We're going for a fight losing 48 friends and colleagues That was horrendous Once you drop to fire mission the enemy would go up and inspect the craters And they was a massive firefight going on there was just rounds and shit going there is a white flag flying over Stanley How do you marvellous? The conflict Boom Gazz how are you brother? I'm good. How are you Chris? Yes, I'm utterly phenomenal, mate And I'm delighted that finally we get the chance to have our Folklens chat Friends at home This is the wonderful gas tumbling gas has worked Tirelessly for the last 24 months with the Global Veterans Alliance Standing up to all this nonsense and in particular that the children that that getting Getting utterly abused by Yes, can we say events so thank you for that gas But we're not here to talk about the Global Veterans Alliance. We're here to talk about your Folklens Experience and I think it's Refreshing to hear the perspective of a sick of a signaler because You hear a lot about the Paras don't you and the Marines and in the Folklens bit about the Gurkers touch of SAS crushing their helicopters everywhere but Yes, what what what made you join the Royal Signals mate? If I'm perfectly honest When I went down to deep cut and sorry to have the final interview They said what do you want to join and I said I want to go into Paris and they went Yep, everything looks good for that. You've got to go off. Have your lunch. Have a think about it and come back When off had the lunch looked on the walls I have murals of paratroopers dropping down and all this sort of stuff and I thought that's great but If I find out I don't like it what we're going to come out with and You know, I thought well at least if I go in the signals I'm going to have some sort of trade that I'll be able to use in city street and So really it was that logic that made me Make that decision Put me in the signals. So that that was really the reasoning behind it Yeah, I don't think you're the first person that's gone to the recruiting office and then I Don't know either parental sort of guidance. Can we say it's gone? No, don't join the boot next We'll end up a bit thick go and get a trade Yeah Tell us a bit about training. What's it like set settling into Royal Signals life? Well The infantry training is standard infantry training. And so, you know, I'd spent Good four or five years as a kid in the army cadets. So I was quite used to that way of life and Once you've got through nine months of infantry training with a bit of communication stuff thrown in You'd then go on to your designated trade and there was I don't know probably about 10 trades that you could apply for You know, and if you had the aptitude then you'd be able to get into those trades You know, I just thought well RTG radio telegraphist best pay it's the most varying job and You know, if I can get it, I'll go for it. So Did that got through got the training done I Thought by the skin of my teeth all the way through But even got through the vetting because for radio telegraphists, you have to get clearance up to top secret basically and above and so the vetting process that they do additionally on you is quite in depth and You never know where or not you've passed until the day you go to what we used to call the funny farm Which is a camp within a camp and the camping side is double fenced and rolled barbed wires And they literally have guard dogs and centuries walking around this bloody place You know and we had guys in a line you go up and the guy on the go would take your name and it just say yes or no And neither you were in or you weren't and that's when you found out if you got your vetting and we had a couple of Irish lands It never made it and My dad was a full-on left foot in patty. So, you know, it was like, yeah, I'm probably not going to get through there But they let me in it was like well great. Okay on we go so Yeah, it was It was such rainy, but it was good and then you know, you get What we thought was a bit of a joke lottery You know, you get a choice of three postings. So you write down your top three choices of what you want, you know Oh, yeah, everyone wants a USA exchange or something like that You know, but worst case somebody's got to go to the outer hebrides and They've a miserable life up there for three years So it was a bit of a lottery, but my first choice was a regiment called 30 signal regimen 36 had the nickname the globe troughs and I thought yeah, I'll have a bit of that. I just Absolutely dreaded the idea of spending seven years in Germany being in the same camp and really just not doing very much You know, so I Got lucky and I got in that unit and I got in that unit with the benefit hindsight Just the right time He said funny farm a I'll put what brilliant name for limestone We went down to limestone friends at home limestone where the marines train that's the funny Well, I don't know if we should call them funny, but some but yeah Certainly a lot of hilarity there Yeah, to do the Assault course there. We didn't do the 10 mile up beforehand But we done it with full battle webbing and all the rest of it and Drop packs river crossing and all that sort of malarkey and then at the very end is that Man-made hill with a big trench made a pure sand with logs going up the side And it's the most heart-breaking thing. I've ever had climb up in my life. It's horrendous I was like, yeah, I knew there was a reason I didn't go in the Marines May everywhere in the Marines is up uphill and wet Yeah Yeah, so I mean I Ironically, I ended up working quite closely with the Marines during the falcons. So and also I was on standby for Norway Before the Falklands came up. So they'd issued all the Norway kit and then you know Ironically they took it all back because it was the Falklands and we never got issued any special kit for the Falklands It was all standard kit. We were still wearing ankle boots and using putties You know, I think it was a result of the Falklands war that they took up the high leg boot and dispensed with the use of putties but Gasm just gonna come in there. I just want to say Luther. Thank you for joining the channel, mate That's really really kind of you. Hello to Paul. Paul and I've got podcasts coming up I'm showing the the friends at home our chat chat that's going on on YouTube gas Paul and I did a fascinating podcast the other day We could have chatted for hours about Thailand and traveling and getting into scraps and And what it's like to think you're gonna die As you do, you know, I'm 52 years old. It's how I like to spend my life chatting about chatting about dying And we got the wonderful Mike McCarthy there Mike was a para-signal man. Do you do you have any? Experience of that, you know meeting these sort of guys gas I did actually but after the war You know whilst we were all settling in at Stanley there was a Communications issue with whichever regiment was stationed up on Sapa Hill I had a problem with their HF and they sent me up to fix it But yeah, that that was interesting I got to sit down with quite a few of the guys and we had some quite Deep and meaningful conversations, you know, I mean Prior to you know, even when we were on the boat going down There was this mentality between Regiments and between services, you know, and most parrots were Would look down on anybody that was a so-called frat hat, you know, it didn't have the berry and So, you know and of course they got quite a good Reputation for getting out and having a little lump up on a Friday night after a curry So, you know, nobody really wanted to get involved in that kind of animosity and there was a certain Okay, we'll keep our distance and all that sort of stuff, but there was a mutual respect. Let's put it that way But after after the war sitting down Chonking on about food Having a chat about what we all went through You know, I mean I had one guy sitting down and he just had tears Streaming down his cheeks and he was hard as fucking nails you know and that there's always two sides to a coin and you know, it's a Very tough experience for a lot of people. I've got friends who just Can't go back to that time Without suffering some kind of severe trauma quite frankly So, you know, I consider myself extremely fortunate and so far as I Believe I had a good war if you like Yes, I'm just gonna chip in mate if I may and say let let let let's give some recognition here to a lot of people so not just our wonderful military who You know, let's keep the politics out of this bloody podcast gas especially for the 40th anniversary I Think we're all old enough now that we want one thing in our lives and that's peace and peace for our for the next generation but That said we must remember our Our wonderful forces many of whom like yourself were teenagers when it when it went down there and and it's extreme I got friends a little bit older than me that were there and They they can't even come on the podcast because they're so traumatized still You know But also we should recognize The the the military nurses that were that were down there on on on the hospital ships we should recognize the civilians that that manned the cruise liners and guessing the the RFA the Royal Fleet auxiliary Obviously the people of the Falklands but I Think we also need to recognize my generation. I was 12 years old and We went through it all albeit vicariously via the BBC news Every night After the news after the what limited bulletins they could get from the Falklands the list of the dead that died in battle that day went up this up up the screen and Even to someone like myself, I wasn't in a military family but You were caught up in all of this it was a part of your history and and I think we all have You know a degree of emotion but also a Dig degree of trauma. I mean war is a very serious thing I Said this a lot my my my my buddy who I joined the Marines with he he was 10 years old And he's having to watch the news to see if his dad Who was the sergeant major of Lima company? down there Lima company Famously fought a couple of battles didn't there was it Mount Harriet Mount Kent and they yonked Yomped across the island and my mate's ten and he's having to watch your news on his own Reading these names to see if his dad had died that day. It's it's Just just hats off to everybody Affected by by this conflict did you how did you get to hear? of the war kicking off gas um Just turned up for a normal day at work so we had a troop office and Our troops specialized in long-range secure HF communications We walked in and as I say we were part of what's called the spearhead unit, so You're probably familiar with that Chris But it involves units basically stationed in the south-east of England And they're on a 24-hour standby To go anywhere and generally it's to do with Non-noto commitments, so we're basically Working where we can't where we're not working for NATO And this was a non-noto conflict then, you know, we could use these troops without sort of Messing up our commitment to NATO Definitely we had examples of other nations providing forces personnel to take over Communication centers or battleship stations or whatever Sort of our commitment was still maintained, but it freed up personnel or ships that could then you know go and help out in the effort for the south so There's a lot of jigging around in a very short space of time to get the thing sorted out But so we turned up spearhead wasn't in So you do a month on spearhead, so it's a third of the regiment and We came in they've gone the vehicles were gone everything and it was like what's going on And there was some corporal in the room and he was like all the Falkland Islands have been invaded And we had a world map up on the wall and we're all over looking at the north of Scotland quite literally and He came over and Smoky went no down here and we were like what? Who the hell were they Alan's so you know we we were bemused and But yeah, it all kicked off and then obviously the official channels came down some major came in gave us a briefing and From now on in No leave no going anywhere. I think we could go down to the pub But it was like we were on spearhead, which meant we had to book out at the guard house Right down what pub we were going to and they would literally just phone the pub and so shout spearhead and everybody on spearhead would just leg it for a cab back up the camp and And that was it so There was a lot of what we used to call get on the bus get off the bus for a couple of weeks Wait and to find out, you know, are we going is it all gonna, you know blow away And then eventually we're on the square Probably for about the third time when the vehicles all lined up and we go and we drove down to Can't really remember if it was Portsmouth or Southampton They'll look bloody same to me and to be honest, you know by the time we got down it was dark But there was helicopters buzzing around there was welders on ships like, you know, just doing crap There were vehicles everywhere Royal military police shuttling traffic around and the only info I had was The name of the ship that I was going on you turn up at the gate and they say what shit And I said Atlantic conveyor and I went no you've been changed You're going on the Nordic down that way. So I'm going down looking for the Nordic and Get there and they basically split the the unit that I was with into two groups because the Atlantic conveyor was a huge ship and Because it wasn't ready. We got these other two ships that were quite small and It was like a row row for a bright red with, you know three-foot high white letters saying towns and tourism down the side And the only thing it was missing was a neon target on the side as far as I was concerned But um, you know as it late turned out It was a blessing in disguise because if we had ended up on the Atlantic conveyor There's a good chance we'd have gone down with it Yes Tragic wasn't it Very early on in the conflict to lose the Atlantic conveyor and all the equipment that was on it All the heavy lifting choppers were on the Atlantic conveyor. Were they not? Yeah, we lost five out of six that were on there in total and that was the only heavy lift by heavy lift That's a shinook helicopter Um, and it also I believe it had about 19 helicopters in total So six of those were shinooks. So there were other variants on board as well as you know Other vehicles etc um And relatively speaking, I think from memory a low loss of life But um, you know, it was relatively catastrophic to the strategic plans of the battle We uh, we sailed back from our arctic warfare training in Norway on a civilian ferry It was a uh, scandinavian liner um When you come out the field of a 12 day exercise And you literally all your stuff's already packed and you go straight on board a scandinavian civilian ship With the most beautiful women you've ever seen in your life serving you whatever you want and a and a Bed like a normal bed. It was just um, you know, obviously we weren't uh We weren't under fire in fact, um I'll just mention this but my favorite picture from the folklens war if if you can have a favorite picture is when the marines came back into Plymouth and There's an actual picture Of the Royal Marines some of them officers carrying their briefcases And their slr or or submachine gun and their bergen And their posse's suitcase It God it really makes me emotional to say this but they had to wade ashore gas, you know They had to wade they were brought from the ship in landing craft So rule marines, you know amphibious landing craft and the final End to their war was they had, you know, they waded ashore in the folklens They had to wade God Just makes me upset think thinking about that so so proud, you know, just so So proud So you get down there. What are you? Were you in bomb alley what was some such place or were you outside the exclusion going how how does it work? no, we um We were quite a slow ship both of us and so We Had problems getting down at the same speed as Naval vessels for example. I think we could do something like 21 knots So when we got to ascension island, I mean, I remember we pulled in at um Free town in Sierra Leone Which was kind of bizarre Um, we'll stay there overnight, but then that's that's where you pick up your weed, won't it? No, I it was just so weird I mean bearing in mind like we're talking about the early 80s at the time, you know middle class people Would go skiing in the winter and maybe visit Spain in the summer and that was pretty much Travel and most working class people Never been abroad before I certainly hadn't so this sailing trip was the first time I left the country and then before long We're pulling into this African port um, and like, you know, there's literally dug out canoes Coming up to the side of the boat trying to flog little birds in brightly colored painted wooden handmade cages And bits of fruit and all this sort of stuff and it's like Scottie's actually buying this stuff. And it's like You understand where we're going. What what are you thinking? Forget it. You're not you're just not thinking mate. Do you do you know how many parrots are on the Falkland Islands now? Taking over absolute menace Gazz, I just got to take Sorry to sidetrack my little anecdote we we went when I was on hms invincible for that year We went ashore in Alexandra in in in Egypt And so those of us that weren't on ship shift for the next few days We hopped on a a bus to Cairo to do the you know the pyramids and the camels thing And when we got on this bus They're all the locals all coming up to the window with their goods just like you're saying all this sort of You know raffia work and the homemade stuff and trinkets and exquisite, you know Boxes with all this ornamental stuff in late. You know the sort of thing and um The matlow that was sat next to me was he was just a massive joker and he's going. Oh, yes. Yes. Oh Oh, oh, yes very Oh, yes good and he's he's building this stack of bloody gizzards, right? and And just as he can't like balance anymore anymore in his lap The bus pulled away I'm friends. I'm not saying this is good behavior I'm saying this is what happened, right and these poor youngsters like that's that's their next week's wages a running down after after the after our mini bus The next thing I know right. I look over my shoulder and the police are behind us Bloody police van or car or something and I'm like Mate mate So, you know, someone must have run up to a nearest copper and gone. He's stolen my stuff and we went all the way to um Uh kyro with this this police following And It took me halfway to realize it it was the tourist police at escort Escorts the tour of tourist buses everywhere um But yes, so there you are You've loaded up with your pineapples and your bananas and your budgerigars and um And uh, yeah, so where did you where did you hope to? down there if If you did such a thing we ended up hooking up with a task force and got no idea where that was You didn't need to know you just knew there were other ships around but um I believe that was out through the east of the islands out a range of the exercise um, and then basically they were funneling ships in so Three commando brigade had already gone in and established a beachhead um and uh We were now going in to sort of reinforce them And we were the advanced party for five brigade So we got there before five brigade, but just on the back end of three commander um But we we were escorted in by intrapid And I know the first night that we went We were too slow and they ordered us turn around and go back and try and find the task force um and uh That was that the next night we went We just got told that there were feature Which I now know to be fanning head That um potentially had enemy on it and so We cammed up, you know, we haven't been out of the ship for ages once you get onto darkened ship It's quite rare that you get an opportunity to see daylight So all of a sudden we've been walking around in red light below decks got all the cam on Bit of scrim all this sort of stuff weapons Loaded made ready And we're up literally hunkering down behind the gunnels on the deck And we're just waiting as soon as there's any incoming Then you get up and return fire um But thankfully we went through without any event Went back down below decks and then next morning. I remember sticking my head up And um, you know, it wasn't enough being in this big glowing red ship Um, I look over and I see camera and it's like great There's us our sister ship the same color as us and then this bloody great white thing with yellow chimneys on it How they're gonna miss us? So, um, yeah, we didn't know how long we were going to be stuck there for or whatever but We're just running around always always busy um Did you see the did you see the firefight at fanning head? No, um, I'm not sure who would have done because um Can't remember I think it was one of the parachute regiments from memory that actually Went up there and took care of them because they weren't originally Spotted I mean, I think one of the biggest problems that we had down there with benefit hindsight Was the quality of intelligence that we had? um And that's to say, you know, a lot of people believe that it could have been better um, but you can't argue with the end results you know, so It's what it is but um No, um the only thing at that point really once Um, they decided I mean there was constant air raids on the ship So, you know, you just air raid warning red shelter shelter shelter And unless you had an anti aircraft position You generally was just grabbing a screen frame Running down to your bunk room sitting on the floor and eating it Um, you know, and I had tannoy systems throughout the ship like the speaker systems and um They did give you a countdown of what was going on I mean when we were actually out at sea when when we got an air raid there um, you know the naval commander on the ship Um, we'd essentially give you a countdown saying right. We've got an extra set inbound And they could launch these things up to I think 30 miles away And after 13 miles you've got to take the curvature of the earth into consideration um, so you can excuse me, mate Everybody knows everybody knows the earth is flat, right? I am so not getting involved in that bloody argument. Um But the point is that um, that you couldn't see the aircraft that were launching um physically you could only see them on radar and um, I appreciate we had some Let's say good local intelligence of when these aircraft were taking off Um, so I think we had a relatively good air defense system in that regard but um When when these things came in, you know, we were in a group of ships steaming south and um We had no idea of what decision that little computer was making or what target it was deciding to lock onto But you know the the air defense On our ship was primarily You remember when you used to clean your weapon you get your bit of 4v2 sticking on your portrait or your barrel And then you'd throw away your bit of 4v2 Well, we had open oil drums on the deck that you'd throw that 4v2 into And if ever we came under close air attack Then we just chucked a zippo inside those oil drums All this black smoke goes up And um, hopefully we look like we're here and they go and try and have a go at something else I mean, you know that we You know how it's in Skeleton city crew on board, but it also had a naval crew on board so the commander was naval and there was a lot of um naval sort of uh traditions that we had to pick up along the way That that sounds like a great ploy um Reminds me of a time when we're in norway. There was a massive company joke about this Uh We were going to get there was one day we were going to get attacked by the norwegians, right? They were playing the enemy or obviously wonderful norwegians. Hello, norway um But they're coming to attack us and our I can't remember who it was one of our co's decide a company commander. I think decided We take our mbc suits or our nuclear biological and chemical suits folks that were you know You're you're praying in the miniature you never have to wear that shit because that's not real war. That's kind of some like futuristic Stuff it's so uncomfortable to wear So we had to fill them with snow and put them in a mock positions to um And I don't know if it worked or not. I don't know if it lured lured the norwegians into thinking that was us but You can imagine the amount of piss taking that just took It was every orders that got put up on the board from that point on was always like yeah Don't forget you to fill your mbc suits with snow or snowmen snowmen in mbc suits Because um because we had access to teleferences on the ship um as part of the communications kit We could type up notices and they had like a part one and part two orders board outside the person's office so um We used to type up the occasional little joke orders board and um, you know in the early days it was quite light hearted um, I think the first one I put up was uh Peace to the snooker room will be available from 07 30 at the purses office And like 07 30 was like scram time So I knew that I'd be going down for scram And I kind of have a quick look at the person's office There's uh, do you want to know do you want to know an actual fact? Three girkers and two parrots Sorry, you've lost me. I'm uh, no my My actual fact gaz is that there it there was a ship in the Royal Navy that had a pool table on board I can't remember which one it was but when I when I was at sea There was one of our fellow ships had a pool they actually did have a pool table on board So it was that thing so so it's got a pool table Yeah, I saw one the other day in like the latest technology that uses some accelerometers out of the phone And it's brilliant. They were in quite heavy pitching waters And uh, just having a proper game of pool And there was no effect on the balls that saw it. It's brilliant But um back then on an overnight row row ferry Um, yeah, I don't think a snooker table was a logical conclusion for anybody to be drawing But there were people queuing up for the keys anyway, and that was yeah, just the way of keeping the him again really Have you ever seen that footage of the uh The ferry at sea when the the weather's just got utterly horrendous and and It's just beyond belief the passengers are just getting smashed Smashed everywhere. I might see if I can find it while we're chatting but um Did you get issued Arctic warfare kit because I know the Marines took their Arctic warfare kit down there because it was the nearest thing they had to You know protect them from the the cold No, I think I mentioned earlier, but um We we were just wearing standard You know NATO equipment And uh, we were still using ankle boots and putties You know, I think the army's pretty reactive rather than proactive and I think that upgraded a lot of kit As a result of the war You know as a result of feedback from commanders in the field Um, ultimately from the men that were actually having to use that equipment in those conditions Had had you bought anything specially to go down there with or was it all too too short notice? It's um really It's just because the signals are kind of It's it's a bit different from like infantry regiments. You're going to an infantry regiment And you're basically in that unit. It's almost like a family unit For the time of your service It might be that the regiment is big enough that it has battalions And you might switch between battalions But you know more often than not regardless once you're in a battalion. You're probably in there for a good few years um In the signals you can end up in that kind of environment But by the same token you can end up Doing odd jobs. I mean, you know my three years at 36 I've done just about every job that you can imagine that a signaler Could or would do You know, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had That opportunity You know and again Just the falklands war it was nothing to do with noto And it was the first time I think since the second world war That all three services have been operational in the same war, you know, and as I said I ended up working in um field hq that was half run by marines half run by army royal signals Um, you know and had every service representative sitting down Communicating to the front line from where we were so, um You know and the jobs that I had Additionally, you know little things, right? um On the ship coming down because it was a civil ship and they used to use walkie talkies We needed radio silence. So we had to have a telephone infrastructure And because of the way the ships are built They're water type all the way through The only place that they could find that we could run a cable Was that a lot of ships have an elevator shaft that runs through the middle and so They decided that we were going to run the cables between decks and it was about five decks from memory on the ship And um, yeah, I was I was in there. They had to descend her in a figure eight Put the bloody stuff on. I'm literally Abseiling down this dark tunnel with a torch hanging out my jacket and a pack of d10 Uh sort of telephone wire Stripping out the back Um, you know, which officially in the signals is a lineman's job But you get to all the trades and if there's no lineman about guess what? You're dropping them whatever hole running cables And this ship's pitching all over the post. So i'm bouncing around inside this thing And I just loved it. I mean it was all action man stuff for me. It was like You know and at that point We still figured you know what the politicians and the diplomats That that this isn't going to go to war, you know, and I think most people would agree that until really um, you know The belgrano Everybody was thinking it was going to be diplomacy Uh, but once that happened, I think most of us you that that's it. We're going in so You know, how did you eventually how did you physically get ashore gas? Um the first time um we landed I think by By landing craft so we had the land rows and everything trailers on the back um, and we landed Probably close to ajax bay But that that area where we actually hit the beach, you know at the time none of these names really meant very much Um, they were just getting made up on the fly so they could go on a map Now anybody that studied the forkland's war knows these places like You know, they're real places Um, you know, they're beach colors and all the rest of it So, um, we we just knew that's it. We're off a boat and for a squadi Who's just spent a month at sea the one thing you don't want to do is a squadi. I'm probably deciding for a marine and Probably say this but you know what? She spends your life on a ship. There's always a chance that that's where you're going to finish it Um, and there's a squadi. You really didn't want that so, um Once we actually got ashore there was actually a sense of relief Um, certainly for me and I think for probably a lot of the guys, you know land lovers so, um I'm sure, um What what um, what what accommodation are you accommodation? But what what what's your sleep it? What's the sleeping situation if obviously the most of the troops down there had Literally slept in a poncho. Didn't they which is just the most Crappist crappist thing in in in those conditions It it varied but Uh, you know as a signalman having gone through various exercises and so you end up doing various different jobs Sometimes there's a nice 10 man tent and you know, look why who beds to put your sleeping bag on and other times you're digging a trench and You know sleeping In a crouched position. That's way too small. Um, it just depended where you were at the time um so During the conflict Um, once we got ashore Depending where we were dependent where we were sleeping. There was times when it was Literally under a shifty made canvas But more often than not Um, there would be some outbuilding somewhere where we could just go in and there would be I know at least one location We had the little wire who beds made up And they were sleeping bags on them and it was just a hot bed system. You just Turned up when you got off shift And it was slightly going to get you three and a half hours kip You just went down there found one that was free got in it and crashed and um You know, I don't think there was any of that REM crap. You just went straight into deep sleep And it took somebody giving you a boot to wake up again, and then you were back on it again for the day Think um as they're founding out Finding out to their cost in ukraine. It's it it's a different theater of war now Could you imagine if they had the technology now back then so they could put a drone up in the air It could just look at any it could spot any outbuildings Call call in a precision airstrike boom boom boom just literally take Take out every every every single building in in um On the fulcrum and islands or Where the perceived where the Argentines would perceive their enemy enemy to be and of course fight possibly vice versa although when you're esconced in the capital Stanley it's um The British didn't have that Possibility did they with the obviously all the civilians around? No, um Although having said that You know after you know, literally the days after the war And I had a lot of opportunity to be wandering around Stanley freely um And um a lot of the houses on on the road going from what was known as the race course Which is the road going back into port Stanley um They they were just filled with you know, whatever units turned up. So like, you know half of Bleeding to power got half a street of these Bakel houses and then there was a group of marines in another couple of houses And there was a bit of a party atmosphere going down, you know, everybody's like outside and Maybe there's a beer being had or something like that um But you know, there's things that a lot of people Certainly, I haven't heard bringing up but were prevalent at the time talking to the boys there that You know, when they moved into those houses, a lot of them have been previously occupied by the Argentines And a lot of them have been booby trapped So, you know, there were things like you go into a room and there's a cup and saucer on the table with the upstone cup And underneath there's a grenade where they've removed the pin And so as you pick the cup up the grenade drops out and explodes um And so, you know, there were other improvised devices that were left around as well as the fact that They're hygiene. I mean they they had to have done it on purpose. It was just Disgusting the amount of human waste that was just on tables on counters. It was just Everywhere it was filth, you know and just being British. That's not playing cricket So, um, yeah, you know, we we had a bit of a Low, um, sort of opinion if you like of uh Of our opposition at the time Okay, we had major major Andy Shaw rule marines on the podcast Cred incredible gentlemen um And he just said Fucking animals chris fucking animals Um, I'm not saying this folks. I'm a podcast host. I'm I'm relaying information So all your sissy's out there calm the fuck down But um, that's what he's that's what he said guys, you know Yeah, um, yeah, but getting back to the technology thing I mean one thing we did have when I was walking down the streets one of the guys I saw who was um, you know, he was in a raw marines berry And I was like, I don't know you and we'd either been in training military training or communications training together But I went over how you doing? He's like, yeah, yeah, good. And I'm like, you know, so What was your war like, you know, that was basically the conversation and um, um Why are you why are you a freaking marine? and You know, the rule signals let's just say is potentially an avenue for a lot of job opportunities that are a little offshoot and um, regardless of what his Very was or wasn't I was what we call a speck up And so they used to do direction findings. So, you know, they'd have Two or three of these guys out in the field And they'd home in on one particular signal with a very sensitive antenna That would give them an exact bearing And of course, once you cross the lines where these bearings cross That's where the target is transmitting from And this guy sitting there sound like, yeah, I was speaking to this guy with a southern argentinian spanish accent Um, Jose, you know, and we're having this chat about what it's going to be like when we get back home and all this stuff and just wait for the artillery to drop in And uh, then all of a sudden like the phone goes dead Job done So, you know, there was an element of that stuff going on. Um, you know, and equally Allegedly, they have very good EW as well electronic warfare capabilities. So, you know um, working on an HQ that had At least 12 mass antennas outside We must have been glowing like a light bulb and I still to this day don't understand why we never got singled out for Um artillery strikes, but there you go. I'm glad we didn't So Was it hard being a sure mate was it was Were you cold and hungry like like the sort of If I would say, um That I was in the fortunate position That it didn't matter how bad I had it I definitely knew there was a shed load of guys out there that were having it a lot worse than me and You know, I was in no position to actually complain about it And as per when you go on exercise, you know what you can whinge all your life nobody's listening Um, you know and in a couple of weeks, you're not even going to remember. So just Get a stiff up a little get on with it. Yeah, sorry Miles is asking which specific part the signals were you and I know you've Said that but could you just say it again for our audience? Yeah, so I was part of 30 signal regimen, which is you know multifunctional We provide communications of basically all situations um during the campaign My original task was as the headquarters for five infantry brigade And the original plan was Three commando brigade would go down take the islands five commando, uh five infantry brigade would come down behind them Garrison the islands let three commando go home and get their team medals And we'd sit there and basically scare off the arches and coming back But obviously that changed as we went down And so as did the designation of you know my job Because rather than being headquarters for five infantry brigade I ended up becoming part of the land force headquarters Which as I mentioned was half marine half army so Yes, can you um, I'm conscious of the time here because I know that you've got another engagement um Did you were you parties to some harrowing sites or was that just up on the mountains where the boys were fighting? harrowing Not really. I mean the thing The other good thing about this war for me was the fact that we spent a month on a boat going down there Which means you've got a lot of time to ask yourself all those personal questions like Well, I'm in it now. What if I actually do have to kill someone? How do I feel about that? You know questions that a lot of people that go thrown into war like these people that are volunteering to go running off into some battle But they've got absolutely bugger all to do with Um, and no understanding of what's really going on You know, and then they get there and they haven't had time to ask themselves those questions And they may not have actually thought about it. So by the time I got down there, you know Morally, I sort myself out that I figured what I was doing was right um, and that As much as I didn't like the idea of killing people We were in a battle. I signed up for it. And um, if they were in the way that was it Um, it was all going down um You know, but uh I think what a lot of people may lose sight of Is just the dangers of being in the battlefield full stop You know, um, yeah Chances of getting killed on a ship on the way down I horrendous for everybody on the ship simple as that Uh, and that was a very real threat And I know for a fact there were certain people that psychologically broke down Whilst they were listening to those countdowns of Exorcets coming in and the thought that oh, you know, I just got married a couple of weeks ago and you know Literally just losing their marbles in front of the rest of the guys Um, that sort of shit happens um But most of the guys were like like You know, this is it. We signed on the dotted line. We're doing the right thing. So we're going in and we're doing it and You know, I believe that most of the people that went there and did that did it for the right reasons, you know As as you said, no need to get into the politics. So there were anything else Um, you know, the people that went believed the narrative they were given and um And they went and they've done a bloody good job Guys, do you think we was a bit like Temporarily sociopathic when we served Um From the perspective that Like we was quite willing to do Stuff now that when I look back I think bloody hell um I'm not suggesting this is a you know anything to feel guilty of or whatever but It's kind of unreal, isn't it that the atrocity that you'll commit on your fellow On your fellow man Um Consider and we all have to share the bloody planet together Yeah, um To classify it as psychopathy for example Is just a bit too ambiguous I would argue. I think The unfortunate truth that most people Don't want to Amit to it or don't believe it to be true, but the majority of people Are capable of things way way beyond what they think they're capable of um, I think one thing that goes For most people that have been In the services for only a period of time is they see the side of people coming out in extreme Circumstances that they wouldn't ordinarily see and they wouldn't have guessed that person to be able to possess um So, yeah, you see some very questionable behavior um, and the fact that you're asking essentially teenagers to be okay with potentially You know face on face Fisticuffs bayonets Bullets the whole nine yards um You could argue it's it's psychopathic to ask kids to do that sort of thing um Oh, wait mate mate we on this show we're well aware who the psychopaths are And I know you are too mate Yeah for sure. Um But yeah, I I personally, you know, I think that people are capable to do things That they wouldn't ordinarily do Certainly from my perspective Um, you know, I questioned every decision I had to make down there particularly when it involved another life and um You know, there were the odd individuals that you saw or heard of that perhaps just Enjoyed the idea of killing rather than wanting to end a bad situation as peacefully as you possibly can in that given environment, you know, so gas, um Where were you when you heard the Argentine to sign the surrender? um I was on the forward HQ so the the tech HQ Essentially the way it works Once you've got the land battle going You've got the headquarters, but the headquarters needs to be relatively close to the front line So that you've got your generals and all the rest of it Are able to have close communication with the front line However, if for some reason the front line falls back And you're unable to pack up obviously you don't want your generals being in there If your front line of infantry are falling back under attack So, um, they need somewhere else to be able to go So you have two headquarters And you pepperpot in the same way as you do as infantry Moving forward in pairs One's down shooting while the other one's running And then he gets down he's shooting while the other one gets up and starts running So we do the same with the headquarters Now, um, what we had in this instance was The land tack HQ, which I was part of Which was originally called Biffy Which was British forces Falkland Islands And then it became Liffey for the land forces Falkland Islands I think they were just making crap up on the go, but whatever And then our pepperpot HQ was actually based on HMS Fearless So, um When general war and the rest of the guys weren't with us They were on Fearless And so that's how they were running the battle Um, and so, um By the time we moved, I mean, we moved originally from Bomb Alley up to T. Linnet set up there And then the battle was run from T. Linnet um And then we They went back to Fearless We had to move to Fitzery And that was by helicopter And that was just the most surreal helicopter ride I mean, you know, I loved everything to do with aviation Love the military, the army, army stuff And um, so this was like in a lot of ways a dream. I knew it was serious But like, you know what? This is brilliant. What an experience And um, you know all the normal crap we used to have like health and safety for getting on a heli where you Sit down and you get on one knee and your little sort of stick And you put your belly away in a pocket and you make your weapons safe and You're waiting till you're called in you get an helicopter you go to the back seat you sit down You put your weapon under your feet on the floor Belt yourself up Put your hands on your head like that when you're ready sort of load you can see that you're all done You know, when we got there loady was just get the fuck in because he didn't want to be on the grip and um, you know But one of them asked what are you doing because I was unloading on the way in He's like just leave it on And um, we got in the seat. I went to do my belt up What the fuck are you doing if this thing goes down the last thing you want? Is that on and so all of it just went out the window you got in that way you're good And then off we went and the pilots I mean we were on this occasion in a wessex five, I think and There was a low ceiling of fog So you can see the hill sort of disappearing up into the fog like And we were console flying So where there's these rivers going through this fairly featureless ground Um, we were flying down in that little valley that the river had formed And I remember at one point we were steep banking a corner to stay in this little valley And I looked over my right shoulder and there was a little blister window And as we took the corner I saw the rotor blade take a chunk of paint out the ground and send it flying through the air And I just went white for a second. I was like This really is for real. I mean fuck the bullets We could go down in a crash Any second and and then the next thing I know We're straightening up and then the r-send the the helicopter Almost hits the floor and we go straight up into these clouds And we're like just getting tossed around no seatbelts in the back Loaded weapons and we're all just like bouncing around And then we dropped just as fast as we were going up And um, we got out at the other end at Fitzroy And one of the guys was checking into pilot was like, what the fuck? And he was like There was a high ridge of ground that we had to fly over And um, there were apparently two Argentine artillery positions on them And we were taking small arms incoming as we were flying over them But thankfully they were completely in fog. So they could hear us. They couldn't necessarily see us. So, um It was like Yeah, that that that was um, that was pretty interesting. And then we were down at Fitzroy for a while Got moved up to Bluff Cove by I think it was some Perseville So we ran up there. I remember we had some marines on board and Turned around. I was like Guys, where's your gas masks? And then we're like, oh, yeah, fuck that don't need that too much weight got rid of them And it was like at the time we were still thinking well, I got the carers and we I'm not sure I'd be chucking away my great, but uh Yeah, that was a bit strange. But yeah, we were set up in um Fitzroy Bluff Cove um When the surrender went down and it was actually one of my mates who was on the pepper pot HQ on fearless Um that typed up that surrender on one of the teleprompters on board ship and uh, and then helicoptered it in with um with general war That wasn't another joke was it? No It's actually the war's still going on I saw a video, um A couple of weeks ago where this individual that supposedly is very knowledgeable on the forklift campaign um Was stating that you know this big fallacy over a surrender was signed And that it was actually a ceasefire and it's like well, I've seen the document on Endless documentaries. It says the word surrender in the title in the text um, and in fact the word that they had to cross out was the word Unconditional which came immediately before the word surrender It's like i'm not sure where you're getting the idea that this says I think um, they might be getting a wires cross with When royal navy party 8901 so basic the rule marines that were down there when they Ferociously fought off the argentine invasion initially before before the war had started um They fought like lions And everything was hushed up for political reasons. They they said, ah, they killed one argentinian and and it was like It was way more of a scrap than that. It was it was, you know, these guys were out You know, you're a raw marine you're you're gonna fight until you die. It's that symbol, right? But what happened is is rex hunt very cleverly negotiated a ceasefire Right, it was a ceasefire i.e. Give us time to get You know to do something obviously they they didn't know about the task force at the time But that that was the result of of his engineering and those marines were flown back to ascension flown home Or flown back to I think it was via montevideo or something That the the boys in that party were put up in a hotel I think it was montevideo, which is is chili um That night The bar bill was something Like 16,000 pounds Right. Um, I guys i'm prone to exaggeration. Who cares? It's a story, but the the point is they went back to Were repatriated to the united kingdom and immediately hopped on the ships on the task force and sailed back down and famously hoisted The union jack, but it was a ceasefire. I'm i'm i'm not just saying that to to um To be a dick I'm saying it because those guys deserve that the the the credit that they've been denied all these years um, they didn't surrender that they wouldn't have surrendered they would have fought to the death and Anybody who served in the british forces knows they would have done um gas So much i'd love to talk about i'd love to talk about the the one of the commanders down there I mean the big wigs came up i've been watching the the documentary was on tv the other night uh Split the forces and suddenly started coming from the south by by landing and it and it all went to It it was like when they should have been powering through the mountains taking them out and pushing on to stanley suddenly But anyway, let's not get into that What what i want to say is is you stayed on for three months, which is Fascinating in itself what What was what state was stanley in what kind of stuff are you seeing? um How quickly did they tidy up was that was their big arms dumps everywhere? How do they how do you deal with that? I mean with the parts of rusting weapons We um Helicoptered in I think the day after they'd signed the surrender document and we billeted in government house And um, we set the hq up there um as a temporary hq and uh ended up keeping um underneath the snooker table So like up in their loft, they've got this snooker table And there was a shed load of us that kept underneath it and that became our bed space but as a result there's just Loads and loads of graffiti underneath it like hundreds and hundreds of signatures and you know Whatever else squaddies decide to write on a priceless piece of furniture, but um Yeah, when I went back in 2016 um the current governor or the incumbent governor, uh, and his wife took us up there and uh, I went underneath and took some photos on my phone and uh, all that sort of stuff but um, we we set up a comms then in um, what was a um An old ymca center sort of hexagonal Modernish looking thing, but it had already been condemned um poor construction Um, and we're there with kangle hammers on the roof like drilling holes in so we could put up 12 meter masts um, you know, and that was just One of the hardest things I remember doing down there to be honest there was a Go-force wind um hurricane going outside blowing in off the Antarctic and It was so cold that you could literally just go out there for 15 minutes and I would drill a hole or put a section of pole up or tighten up a guy rope Whatever it is we needed to do but we needed a lot of these antennas up on the roof as quickly as possible So we could get this comms sent up and running um You know, so we were up there just doing 15 minute shifts downstairs 15 minutes having a brew and warming up your hands and everything else And I just couldn't believe how cold how quickly you could get that cold and then like but You know salt major had it all right. It was like well if I could get I can take 15 minutes of that So you'd be out there and uh, at least to get a brew at the end of it, you know and Get back down and but like got the whole thing up and running that night got it all working and Got full secure comms going back to all the major excuse. So You know once we got that sorted out um walking around town You know for whatever reasons I I had quite a lot of freedom and um The town was exactly as you see on any of the youtube documentaries that you might look at There was still smoke coming out of buildings. There was this acrid smell of just burning everything really chemicals fuel and you know Body smells as well When we moved in the first night we were in government house There's a room at the back that had some french doors that opened into the garden and One of the lads was giving me an aerial tour of the garden and literally as you walked out the back door There's a dead argy with his legs severed at the knee uh, you know Fucking slumped almost at the door so you had to make sure you didn't trip over him when you were going out And then a little further up the garden is another one that's been slide um You know, I think these were mainly remnants of Incoming artillery or something in that nature But um, there were stiffs were quite common um, you know corpses um, and as for weapons There was um an awful lot of weapons piled up from you know, I mean initially But they knew the game was over um The amount of animosity between The actual soldiers and their officers was a surprise And it got to the point where when the rmp's were disarming the argentine soldiers They were leaving argentine officers with a sidearm and a mag of ammo for their own protection You know before sending them off to basically, you know survive for themselves Down at what was the airport? um And so yeah, there were big poles of their weapons and all the rest of it Just stacked up and you know, I mean as I say for the three months after that I was there um, it was no surprise to come across um, you know uh, argentine weaponry or Left over this and that you know, I found a grenade that was just lying around in the open um and um Yeah, there were several guys that found rifles that were in unusual places um and uh I think the nice thing was, you know, the civvies um I mean, it was a bit bad, you know from brutally honest most of the boys having spent like A month on a boat at least and then like, you know A month marching across the bloody islands Um, I hadn't seen a woman in all that time um Anything that was lagging she mailed him standing was was looking like a nine out of ten all of the stuff Hey, um, I'm I'm feeling sorry for the fucking sheep I would be as well, mate I remember when I when I was up chatting with the powers, um On sapper hill, uh, one of the guys just Went out heard a bang came back sheep over his shoulders um And uh, they had these um the huts room room were like these Sort of I don't know why west house really there were two rooms And uh, they were separated by one wall And uh, they had A peak stove You know going up the middle of the room if you like so there was one in each room and um, so this thing was constantly burning And there's pink everywhere. It just needs to be relatively dry but uh Yeah, the next thing I learned it's like, you know, some parrots out of these white ginger Yeah, and he's like messed him and it's like there's a steak of sheep And literally it it was rare in fact, I would argue it was blued because you can see the searing from the little pot stand on the On the burner was actually seen into the steak And it was like done on one side done on the other and the rest of it was just raw flesh and it was like Am I going to back down in front of this lot? And it was like, well, they're all eating it. I'm fucking eating it. So, um Yeah, there was some Funny old stuff went on guys, listen, I'm conscious that there's a gva meeting now or is it A So big shout out to the global veterans alliance for actually Doing what veterans are supposed to do which is stand up to the plate and protect the bloody children Stop buying into this utter utter nonsense That's coming from essentially pharmaceutical companies that made 80 billion profit last year guys 80 just just let that sink in When you're wearing it when you're wearing your underpants on your face and clapping like a You know on your front doorstep clapping like a sea lion How much these people take you for a kipper and let's start doing the right thing for the kids um So I just want to mention that mate because that's our you know, that's our mutual ground, isn't it? And that's our Bill Gates has just got his new book come out Telling us all about the next pandemic and how are we all need to be taking? You know all the fire suit of course that he's basically got his fingers in yeah to overcome These so what no what guys what none of these psychos tell you and what's been hidden from societies You're born perfect You're born with the best immune system that mother nature could ever create wider Frick You know we've been Bullshitted into tampering with it. But that's another that's another chat again. Um, I'll tell you what mate you're you're I I know I speak on behalf of everyone in the chat. Let's just say hello to them There we go guys. You're absolutely wonderful. I've never seen such a respectful Chat in all my time on youtube. Um You're an absolutely natural speaker gas really just thoroughly engaging and I Just my god, I don't know if enjoy is the right word when we're talking about such such Traumatizing times, but you you certainly bloody summit out. Well, mate Um massive. Thank you for your commitment teenager in the Folklens for crying out loud To every other person we gave them all a shout out at the beginning. So I won't I won't go through it again um Friends watching this if you're struggling Okay I haven't got much time here to go into one but leave the pass behind it's gone Tomorrow is an amazingly beautiful day And any of your oppos that are no longer with us or mine We've had quite a few go, haven't we they they only want one thing for us. Just get out there and freaking smash it Have fun seize the day and move forward Nothing to be gained by by creating your identity 20 40 years ago whatever the case may be We respect what happened. We learn by it. We we we forever Love our our our comrades that are no longer here, but we have to move forward um And if you are struggling remember a real warrior It's the one that reaches out picks up the phone calls one of the helplines cool calls one of the uh the charities Or or calls a mate that they know they know they can trust. So I just wanted to say that Gazz massive. Thank you again, brother Just just stay on the line obviously to everybody at home if you could please do this one Which is like and subscribe it helps us to grow the channel and You know, let's be honest Where else are you going to hear a chat like this? You know this this should This should be on your mainstream media, but you We we're not going to hear it. Are we but on this channel we we're just trying to give um Give a window to to put these stories out there before they're lost to time Um by the time the 50th anniversary comes round We'll we'll have said to a a good deal more um A good deal more veterans of the falklands conflict if you're out there or you serve yourself down south if you know somebody um It's very difficult to get the guys that actually went up the mountains to come on a podcast What does that say about war, huh? um You know they they carry that trauma their whole bloody lives. It's but if you are out there Uh, if like captain robin lorence the other day you can talk about it and it's not gonna You know you've managed to compartmentalize it all. Please come on the podcast drop me a line. I love to chat chat to you I I This arm I I salute you all um I salute gas and I will see you next time Thank you