Commando School
SBS, Monday, 8.30pm
WE’VE seen them on TV and depicted in movies and read news reports but how much do we really know about the Royal Marines and more interestingly how does an ordinary British boy become a hard-as-nails commando?
That’s pretty much the premise of the fly-on-the-wall docu-drama Commando School which started on Monday night on SBS.
Cameras were given access to the Royal Marines’ Commando Training Centre in Devon to record the transition and watch a group of young men in suits and ties slowly evolve into disciplined commandos.
As expected this is no holiday camp and the young men are soon broken down – they say that the first two weeks of Royal Marine training are among the toughest of the whole 32 weeks and the first episode followed the 56 recruits through what they call the Shock of Capture.
Their waking moments are controlled by their drill instructor – Corporal ‘Froggy’ Chauffour – a Frenchman with the most amazing British accent you’ve ever heard.
Froggy teaches these young men everything and keeps a tight rein on everything they do and say.
During their obligatory runs and drill work he also strips them right back to basics and builds them up again.
The documentary is nicely done and interspersed with interviews with relatives and thoughts from their drill instructor and the young men themselves.
This isn’t for the faint-hearted and these aren’t choirboys – if they bleeped out the blue words in this one, Froggy would be a man of few words.
It is a fascinating look at what it takes and what happens to ordinary young men on their way to becoming commandos.
They are taught to address an officer, iron, make beds, fold their shirts and even the correct way to shower and clean their bodies. It must be a dehumanising experience.
And then they spend hours and hours cleaning their room in hopes of passing their main inspection at the end of the two weeks and going home.
But, of course, they don’t and Froggy considers them the worst recruits he’s seen – softening later in the episodes to admit that everyone goes through this and most are hopeless at the start.
– TANIA PHILLIPS
