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Army, Navy, Air Force

97 images Created 27 Jan 2012

A loose theme of army, Navy and Air Force images sourced from personal projects and assignments.

On the nature of militarism: From Roman foot soldiers, Parachute regiment training and Gurkha recruitment to life below the surface on a Royal Navy submarine and at sea level on a US Navy carrier.

We pause to see war veterans and memorials to an anti-war protest and even paramilitary murals in Belfast; the ranks in a parade and the sometimes comedy of just being a serviceman - or a wannabe.

And don't miss the current Duke of Wellington standing on the fields of Waterloo.

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  • One single soldier of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regiment of the British Army, stifles a yawn, his white gloved hand covering his gaping mouth. They are all in correct position, practising for an official portrait at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh, which will include Her Majesty the Queen the next day. After hours of rehearsal arriving efficiently into position, warm summer fatigue set in. The group of men are laid out in strict military lines, their heads and buttons show clearly and have been selected for even height to allow the picture to be as regimented as possible.
    RB-0069.jpg
  • Student officers and a sailor rating on duty beneath the giant hull of their ship during a tour by the general public on-board the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious during a public open-day in Greenwich. Illustrious docked on the river Thames, allowing the tax-paying public to tour its decks before its forthcoming decommisioning. Navy personnel helped with the PR event over the May weekend, historically the home of Britain's naval fleet.
    navy_open_day55-11-05-2013.jpg
  • Three soldier recruits wearing shorts and black army boots, one with blood trickling down from the knees to the shins, stand at ease, lined up for inspection after the rigorous steeple-chase endurance race, an individual test with candidates running against the clock over a 1.8 mile cross country course. The course features a number of 'water obstacles' and having completed the cross country element, candidates must negotiate and 'Assault Course' to complete the test. This forms part of  the 14-week long Pegasus (P) Company selection programme. Recruits wanting to join the British Army's Parachute Regiment held regularly at Catterick army barracks, Yorkshire, need to pass this and other tests before earning the right to wear the esteemed maroon beret. A plastic bottle of water stands between recruit number three (3) and six (6).
    RB-0073.jpg
  • In pouring rain, United States Air Force pilots stand like canmouflaged statues in the undergrowth near Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane, Washington. They are listening to a USAF survival instructor giving them advice about another challenge they are about to face, a few hundred yards ahead in the woods, so they listen intently in the saturatedconditions. They stand motionless, green figures in a green maze of foliage, wearing waterproof cagoules covering their backpacks which are shiny as the rain trickles down. They look like hunchbacks of the forest. The week-long survival course is held at the military facilities around Fairchild where the Air Force conducts a survival, escape and evasion course which combat pilots need to pass before rejoining their units for real-time warfare. This part of the lecture is held in the forest and forms part of an extensive physical and psychological assessment for young aviators on active service. In the future any one of them may be shot down behind enemy lines and need to use the lessons passed-on here to help facilitate their rescue by US forces. One pilot who passed this course in 1991, himself a Spokane-born boy, was F-16 pilot Scott O'Grady. He put his skills learned here to the test while evading Serb forces before being airlifted to safety and a hero's Presidential welcome.
    RB-0163.jpg
  • In the mid-day heat, all members of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, stand at ease and we see the back of one of the squadron's official photographers head, looking into the viewfinder of his camera to record an official photograph immediately on PDA Day at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. PDA (or 'Public Display Authority'), is when they are allowed by senior RAF officers to perform as a military aerobatic show in front of the public - following a special test flight when their every move and mistake is assessed and graded. Until that day arrives, their training and practicing is done in the privacy of their own airfield at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, UK or here in the glare of Akrotiri. The pilots are called reds and their ground crew, the Blues after their summer air show uniforms.
    Red_Arrows092_RBA.jpg
  • Elite ceremonial soldiers called Evzones or Proedriki Froura (Presidential Guard), parade on Acropolis Hill, Athens. This special contingent of the light infantry unit are on duty at the Acropolis during the national holiday of 'No Day,' celebrating the day when Mussolini was denied a marching route through Greece in 1941. The Acropolis was once the centre of classical Greek culture which the world has inherited for its laws and philosophical thinking. Mounted above the Athenian city within fortified 60m high walls, its history is a World Heritage Site, important because of its "universal symbols of the classical spirit and civilization and form the greatest architectural and artistic complex." The establishment of democracy, took a leading position amongst the other city-states of the ancient world.
    greek_olympiad012-23-10_2003.jpg
  • Young Nepali boys in army red march though a Pokhara street after being recruited for the Gurkha Regiment in the Btitish army. This recruitment test for the Gurkha Regiment is part of a tough endurance series to find physically perfect specimens for British army infantry training. For example they will need to perform 25 straight-kneed sit-ups at a 45° slant both within 60 seconds to pass. 60,000 boys aged between 17-22 (or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists) report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000-12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the journey to the UK. The Gurkhas have been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
    gurkhas05-16-01-1997.jpg
  • For their regular river washing ritual, the red identical t-shirts of young Nepali boys walk in single-file down a valley side near the British Gurkha Regiment's army camp at Pokhara after recently being recruited into the regiment after a gruelling series of tests to eliminate the weaker and less able candidates. 60,000 boys aged between 17-22 (or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists) report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000-12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the journey to the UK. The Gurkhas have been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
    gurkha_training0316-01_1997.jpg
  • In the mid-day heat, Squadron Leader Spike Jepson, leader of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, informally addresses the team's highly-skilled ground crew at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus after the whole team's success of passing PDA (or 'Public Display Authority'). The Red Arrows are then allowed by senior RAF officers to perform as a military aerobatic show in front of the general public - following a special test flight when their every move and mistake is assessed and graded. Until that day arrives, their training and practicing is done in the privacy of their own airfield at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, UK. Squadron Leader Jepson has gathered his engineers and support crew known as the Blues to congratulate and encourage them. Specialists like these outnumber the pilots 8:1 and without them, the Red Arrows couldn't fly.
    Red_Arrows162_RBA.jpg
  • British Army Gurkha soldier instructs his men during an exercise on Salisbury Plain, the army's infantry training ground.
    army_instructor01-05-08-1996.jpg
  • Seventeen officer cadets march in line wearing full dress uniform with their rifles on shoulders past guests and VIPs at their passing out parade in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. The recently-graduated soldiers march in a near-perfect line looking over their right shoulders towards their commanding officers and VIP guests which sometimes includes Her Majesty the Queen. We see every face clearly and notice their different heights and sizes.  Sharp focus is centred on the smallest man in the parade. The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is the British Army officer initial training centre. Sandhurst is prestigious and has had many famous alumni including Sir Winston Churchill, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Sultan Qaboos of Oman and, more recently, Prince Harry and Prince William. All British Army officers, and many from elsewhere in the world, are trained at Sandhurst. RMA Sandhurst was formed in 1947, from a merger of the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich (which trained officers for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers from 1741 to 1939) and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.
    RB-0074.jpg
  • New recruits of the British Royal Gurkha Regiment learn to parade for their official photograph at their army camp in Pokhara, Nepal after recently being recruited into the regiment after a gruelling series of tests to eliminate the weaker and less able candidates, before the 160 lucky candidates travel to the UK for basic training. 60,000 boys aged between 17-22 (or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists) report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000-12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the journey to the UK. Nepal has been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
    gurkha_recruitment04-16-01-1997.jpg
  • An RAF Air Chief Marshal helps a Royal Navy Vice Admiral just before he bangs his head under a new Eurofighter's (Typhoon)  wing
    eurofighter_RAF01-27-03-1994.jpg
  • A flirting Scots regiment soldier chats to two young women during 50th anniversary celebrations of wartime VE Day.
    VE_celebrations07-06-05-1995.jpg
  • In late afternoon, three conscript soldiers  of the Polish army are dressed in brown uniforms eating ice cream cones in Plac Zamkowy, outside the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. The Polish army (Wojsko Polskie) is the name applied to the military forces of Poland. The name has been used since the early 19th century, although it can be used to refer to earlier formations as well. Polish Armed Forces consist of the Army (Wojsko L?dowe), Navy (Marynarka Wojenna) and Air Force (Si?y Powietrzne) branches and are under the command of the Ministry of Defense (Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej). The combined Polish armed forces consist of 215,000 active duty personnel and in addition 450,000 reserves. The armed forces are made up of conscripts who serve for a period of 9 months, and professional soldiers.
    misc_poland12-06-09-2007.jpg
  • British and Nepali-born army officers assess recruits during an army exercise trial known as the British Fitness Test (BFT) at the British Gurkha Regiment's camp at Pokhara, Nepal. The boys are among those trying for a highly-valued place in the regiment after a gruelling series of tests to eliminate the weaker and less able candidates. 60,000 boys aged between 17-22 (or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists) report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000-12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the journey to the UK. Nepal has been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
    gurkha_recruitment07-16-01-1997.jpg
  • Young Nepali boys watch how to perform sit-ups in Himalayas, hoping to be recruited for the Gurkha Regiment in the British army. This is part of a tough endurance series to find physically perfect specimens for British army infantry training. They will need to perform 25 straight-kneed sit-ups at a 45° slant both within 60 seconds to pass. 60,000 boys aged between 17-22 (or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists) report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000-12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the journey to the UK. The Gurkhas have been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
    gurkhas02-16-01-1997.jpg
  • With a grimace on her pained face, a female Officer Cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst splashes through a water obstacle during  an endurance race. Recruits are running a 5 mile steeplechase around the Academy grounds to assess individual stamina and accumulate team points. Sandhurst is an institution which has bred staff officers since 1800. Today it trains future officers for the demands of leadership and military understanding of military understanding. Students are tested for their command instincts, intellect, strength of character and physical endurance often under great psychological pressure - the demands asked of them in modern warfare. Failure in this test might not necessarily mean dismissal though perseverance or refusal to give up won't harm their prospects.
    sandhurst_cadet04-12-1996.jpg
  • A British Army Parachute Regiment recruit punches an opponent during a bout of Milling, a test of aggression for new recruits. In this event, each candidate is paired with another of similar weight and build, and is given 60 seconds to demonstrate 'controlled physical aggression' in a milling contest - similar to boxing, except neither winning, losing, nor skill are pre-requisites of passing. Candidates are instead scored on their determination, while blocking and dodging result in points deducted. Candidates now wear head protection as well as boxing gloves.
    paras_milling02-30-07-1996.jpg
  • A Parachute Regiment recruit is in mid-flight and leaps across a wide space between scaffolding and a rope net during the 14-week long Pegasus (P) Company selection programme. Seen in silhouette, the man is in full stretch, half-way between the gantry he leapt from and the rope net that he is about to meet. It is an image that describes a mid-point, a half-way position between safety and uncertainty. Known as the Trainasium, it is an 'Aerial Confidence Course' which is unique to P Company. In order to assess his suitability for military parachuting, the Trainasium tests a candiates ability to overcome fear and carry out simple activities and instructions at a height above ground level. Recruits wanting to join the British Army's Parachute Regiment held regularly at Catterick army barracks, Yorkshire, need to pass this and other tests before earning the right to wear the esteemed maroon beret.
    RB-0075.jpg
  • A female member of the Territorial Army hangs on to ropes before falling in pond water during weekend initiative manoeuvres
    territorial01-12-06-1988.jpg
  • Young Nepali boys do a leadership initiative test in Pokhara  camp, hoping to be recruited for the Gurkha Regiment in the British army. This is part of a tough endurance series to find physically perfect specimens for British army infantry training. For example, they will need to perform 25 straight-kneed sit-ups at a 45° slant both within 60 seconds to pass. 60,000 boys aged between 17-22 (or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists) report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000-12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the journey to the UK. The Gurkhas have been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
    gurkhas03-16-01-1997.jpg
  • Wearing a large green helmet with the number 26 painted on the front, a worried-looking black soldier recruit gazes into the distance in front of a white army  instructor at the large Garrison at Catterick, England. Here, the Parachute Regiment (The Paras) - hold part of their famous basic training programme called Pegasus (P) Company. The most notorious selection procedure in the British Army. After initial recruitment, each student is sent to either pass or fail a set of 9 events from which a total score of 90 points is possible. 58% or more passes, less fails. Events like the 18 mile Forced March followed by a further 5 miles can earn 10 points though this will inevitably prove too much for many young man, desperate to pass P Company and earn his prestigious beret (Like the Foreign Legion).
    army05-15-12-2007 .jpg
  • Young Paratroop Regiment squad run with 35lb loads during rigorous 10-mile march near sheep through Yorkskhire countryside
    paras_march01-23-06-1996.jpg
  • A boy soldier has collapsed on the ground suffering from fatigue and dehydration on a rigorous march conducted as a squad of soldier recruits, over undulating terrain with each candidate carrying a bergen (back pack) weighing 35 pounds (plus water) and a weapon. Two senior trainers haul the buy up who fell under the weight of his backpack and weapon carried on a hot day and without drinking enough fluids. The 10-mile march must be completed in 1 hour and 50 minutes and it forms part of the 14-week long Pegasus (P) Company selection programme that recruits wanting to join the British Army's elite Parachute Regiment, held regularly at Catterick army barracks in Yorkshire, need to pass (with other tests) before earning the right to wear the esteemed maroon beret.
    p_company02-30-07-1996 copy.jpg
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