Alex talks about the first strict days of his Naval training at the shore station of HMS Ganges in Ipswich, and the even stricter regime that followed at Chatham Barracks, recalling the general attitude amongst his peers of ‘just getting on with’ whatever they had to do. His first draft as an ordinary seaman was to HMS Savage, a brand-new ship which he was one of the first to board. Unfortunately for Alex, as soon as he left the shore for the very first time, he was laid low by seasickness which took a fortnight to get over and left him temporarily unable to care if the ship sank or sailed! Alex shares stories from his time on the Russian convoys and the unimaginable hardships the crews endured. He also details close contact with the SS Penelope Barker, as well as Savage’s heroic role in the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst: an amazing account made even more incredible when he remembers the moment the Savage turned her guns in the wrong direction… A charming, generous and funny man, Alex’s story is that of a young sailor at sea determined to do his bit, regardless of the dangers and fears he encountered along the way.

In pursuit of elite military standards and determined to pass one of the toughest training courses in the world, Daniel Bottomley joined the Royal Marines at the age of 18 and duly earnt his green beret. As part of 45 Commando he was almost immediately sent to Afghanistan as a battle casualty replacement for the final phase of Herrick 5. A brief stint in Norway to complete arctic training followed, after which intense pre-operational training for Daniel’s second tour of Afghanistan began. He shares details of the brutal reality of life at FOB Inkerman in Sangin, talks candidly about the Taliban as a fighting force, and recalls the tangible shift in the balance of war when the extensive use of IEDs became commonplace. Daniel gives a vivid account of events leading up to the moment he stepped on an IED and the immediate aftermath of the blast, his subsequent road to recovery and the circumstances that led to his decision to leave the military. Now an outdoor trainer, Daniel’s drive and determination to succeed remain as strong as ever, and it’s easy to see how he earnt his place within the ranks of the military elite.

Colette Cook tells of her work at Bletchley Park operating the Bombe machines whose function was to find the daily key settings of the Enigma machines used by the Germans during WWII to transmit encrypted messages. Colette joined the WRNS (Wrens) as soon as she was able, and following a period of basic training, applied for a mysterious posting ‘P5’. It transpired that this was shorthand for HMS Pembroke V, a cover term for WRNS being posted to Eastcote (an outstation of Bletchley) to train as Bombe operators. In this engaging interview, Colette explains how, after signing the Official Secrets Act, she learned to load the bombe with the coloured wheels and then set about the difficult job of plugging up the back as directed by a ‘menu’. She describes the work as monotonous, physically demanding, and very noisy, but her and her colleagues ‘just grinded away’. She tells of a sense of urgency, but stresses it was not panic, and a realisation that what they were doing was important. Reflecting on her time at Bletchley, Colette says that whilst ‘it all seems like a dream now’, she has an overarching feeling of pride in the part she played to crack the German cypher.