I was in the British TA for 10 years in the 70's and 80's. In a BAOR-earmarked infantry battalion. I went on many courses run by the regulars (including a patrol commanders course run by the Para's in Brecon - that was, errr... 'fun'!).


Yes, we sometime got a really hard time - particularly being 'f****** part-timers'! Yes I willingly underwent E&E training including stress positions, white noise, part-naked, cold, threats, humiliation etc. My record was being kept awake for 48 hours without rest of any kind - you start to see and think really weird things I can tell you!


You are training for war, so if you get upset by a little bit of shouting and verbal abuse, you really ain't gonna handle the Russian shock armies too well! The saying was 'train hard, fight easy' (although I don't think anyone was under any illusion that real war would be 'easy' in comparison).


I never did the (TA) SAS selection, but spoke to people that did and what they did made my experiences look like the boy scouts!

I was also a reservist for a number of years, serving with various Royal Engineer units in an air support or airfield damage repair role, a relatively straightforward and low-risk job for a young platoon commander. When I moved to London in the 1990s I was tempted to apply to join either the HAC or the Artists' Rifles; work travel commitments intervened, which was a good thing because in reality I'm not at all convinced I'd have done well in the selection course for either. But it was an interesting thought for a while.

I also did a weekend or two of E&E training in the Brecon Beacons. It was frightening and miserable, but at the time I was glad to have done it as surviving the experience did give one a bit of a sense of achievement!