Gordon began learning to play the cornet at aged 10, while many of his friends were out playing football. After leaving school, he successfully applied to the Royal Engineers at Chatham at aged 14 and was subsequently accepted as a pupil at Kneller Hall despite being only 14 years old. After 18 months, he succeeded in his exams and returned to Chatham. While there, he was supported to continue his education and studied Music at Trinity College. In 1956, he was accepted back at Kneller Hall, although considered too young for a studentship, but put in for the 6-month exams where he came top of his group. He subsequently took on a bandmaster roll at aged 25, becoming the youngest in the army to achieve this. Gordon goes on to describe his time as bandmaster and the rich variety of opportunities that came his way, including serving in Germany. Ultimately, Gordon became Professor of Band Arranging, Harmony and History Music at Kneller Hall. In the last months of his career he met Princess Anne, who was then Colonel in Chief of his regiment. She was instrumental in organising a celebration of his work in London before he retired.

Colin Parker details his experience with PTSD as well as his tragic fall from invincible Coldstream Guard to being left for dead in the Middle East. Slaving away day after day at his foundry job pushed Colin to actualise his childhood infatuation with the Armed Forces and join the Coldstream Guards. This particular regiment had a violent and prideful reputation due to moulding their recruits to feel like nothing could hurt them, something Colin experienced first hand.  Colin initially found it exciting to be on the battlefield until he was surrounded by Middle Eastern tribals and gravely injured by their mortar fire, the two teenagers soldiers under his command at the time not making it. Laying in the crater thinking about his family one last time Colin was fully convinced he had died but miraculously he survived.  After the attack, Colin had to relearn how to walk and talk and was then medically discharged and forced to deal with his new found PTSD alone. Having to accept that the army viewed him as expendable was extremely difficult for Colin; he felt so small and powerless after being discharged, he had lost everything and they did not care. Due to the way the Coldstream Guard trained him Colin never believed he would suffer from PTSD, but now he was stuck constantly relieving the stress and fear from that day over and over.