Props to anyone who has even attempted this! Doing more research and hearing from y'all, this sounds like a very admirable tradition indeed!

I am ex British army and it's a joy to watch such unbiased opinions on British military. Your a top bloke and look forward to watching the rest of your channel. So many videos of American and British bitching about one another. Both countries have fought side by side for over 100 years. We are brothers in arms and like brothers we squabble and fight and argue with one another but like brothers you pick a fight with one we bond together and bring the pain.

I am a former Devonport Field Gunner... 'First Wheels' ie, first pieces of gun to cross the chasm and the last wheels to come back. They weighed in at 120 pounds each and combined with your body weight you have around 300 pounds (136kg) loaded on your arms which comes a bit of a shock the first time you swing on that traveler. We had 08:00 to 09:00 in the gym every morning with 100's of grid sprints and calisthenics. Then it was tea with cheese and biscuits before changing into track gear and then it was normal to do 8 full runs before closing at around 16:00. There is an A crew and a B crew and we would face-off for all of the days runs. We would complete at least 40 runs a week and we trained for 3 months so you can work out for yourself how many times we threw those guns over the walls. There were plenty of injuries as everything is either wood or metal, its heavy and is moving fast. The battleships HMS Terrible and HMS Powerful sent their 12 pounder field guns ashore to help break the siege at Ladysmith. It is said that an army general told the Navy that he didn't have any horses to spare for pulling the guns, to which an Admiral replied, "We don't need horses... we have sailors!" You cannot imagine how proud we field gunners are to have taken part in that history.

This was such an important event to The Royal Navy, that within seconds of the race finishing, a signal was sent around the world to every ship and shore station with the result and the times.

My great grandfather was part of the artillery force at the relief of Ladysmith, where this tradition originates from.

My husband was a Portsmouth Field gunner in the late 60's. He ran 4 times, he was 1st swing. I loved going to the royal tournament. Sue Godsell wife of Brian.

The Royal Tournament was an outstanding annual event that showcased the British Armed Services like no other recruiting “organ” that was available then and still is now. The ABSOLUTELY worst decision made was to cancel this opportunity to show the World what outstandingly professional, young men and women we have in our Armed Services and this is an event that regardless of cost MUST be brought back.

The absolute bonkers pinnacle of the British armed forces training. Our country might only be small, but we pack a heavyweight punch, and it's guys like this that are behind it. Respect.

We still do it now - one of our artillery units carried a field gun up the side of a hill in Afghan at the dead of night - they had to contend with IEDs and the chance of being attacked. By morning, they had the gun on a hill in a very commanding position and judging by the chatter by the Taliban on their radio net, they weren’t happy. They called it the dragon I think.

Bring the Royal Tournament back !!!

Strange? We’re British mate, that’s what we do....

My dad was Portsmouth crew captain in in 1999. There were so many injuries involved in this my pop alone lost the top of his finger and on another occasion was clinically dead for a few seconds following an accident. The pride associated with this tradition was incredible

Ah, the brits.. You have to love them. :D Cheers and all the best to you! ~a humble Kraut

As a young boy In the 1980’s I was lucky enough to go to the royal tournament and was in absolute awe of the field gun teams and other fantastic displays on that day. It made me join the army and had a fantastic 22 year career. It’s such a shame that the Royal Tournament is not on any more as it was such a great atmosphere to be in. To all those still serving thanks for your service, professionalism and dedication. Stay safe🙏😎

The whole gun run is to represent the relief of Ladysmith during the Boer War, Ladysmith was besieged and surrounded by the boars and the only artillery they had at hand were on Royal Navy ships at Harbour, so the Royal Navy took the guns off their ships and manhandled them over rough terrain onto high ground in order to give artillery support to the besieged Infantry at Ladysmith. Then the Royal tournament began Which was basically a tournament to celebrate the armed forces with various different demonstrations from each of the services and the Royal Navy had two. One was the gun run and the other one was a demonstration of climbing the masts on the Old sailing ships. I can remember watching one in the 1980s where one of the Crew had his head split open by one of the wheels of the cannon and he simply stapled it together.proper hard bastards

The perfect description of a field gunner. "Speed of a race horse, strength of a cart horse and brains of a rocking horse .! They are all crazy but absolutely magnificent. It makes me very proud to be British.

I went to watch this every year, made us proud - BRING IT BACK

The REAL winners are the team with most fingers left. 🤣

Your a good egg fella. It's so nice to see a brother from across the pond with a genuine respect for his brothers on this side of the pond. All the very best and keep the channel flowing. Blessings from the Welsh.😎👍

The Earls Court event came to an end because the increasingly stretched armed services have found it ever more difficult to provide personnel. Sad that the youth of today don't appreciate history and what it took to achieve the things they did back in the day. I'm a South African living in the UK and I can attest that a similar event was run in South Africa relating to the same event/siege of Ladysmith between the British and the Boers. The British didn't have field artillery so they had to strip their ships of the only available artillery and hump it across the African savanna in record time to drive the Boers out. The British suffered 175 killed and 249 wounded. 52 dead Boers were left in the British positions. On Christmas Day 1899, the Boers fired into Ladysmith a carrier shell without a fuse, which contained a Christmas pudding, two Union flags and the message, "compliments of the season". The shell is still kept in the museum at Ladysmith.

My Grandad was a trainer for this, I think in Portsmouth. Sadly he died when I was quite young so I never got to hear that many stories but I believe it was very hardcore, either my Dad or Grandad told me once that if someone lost a finger they would just carry on, not even stop to pick it up! It was an amazing tradition to commemorate an event that the Royal Navy is rightly very proud of.

Interesting that our American friends should pick on this RN tradition. I ran it in 1976 for the FAA . One years hard training went into the competition. This was one sport I was proud to take part in....

The Royal Tournament was abolished by Tony Bliar(mis-spelling intended).

superb demonstration of team work. Training !! Training !! Training!!! wish we did stuff like this in the US Army.

When I'm Prime Minister this is the first thing I'll be bringing back. The Tot as well. Oh and baccie rations.

Lost my dear father in law 2 years ago aged 88. He was a proud fleet air arm field gunner. Still tough in his final years.

The music is called "Hearts of Oak", a traditional Royal Navy song. "Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer, To add something more to this wonderful year; To honour we call you, as freemen not slaves, For who are so free as the sons of the waves? Heart of Oak are our ships, Jolly Tars are our men, We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady! We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again. We ne'er see our foes but we wish them to stay, They never see us but they wish us away; If they run, why we follow, and run them ashore, For if they won't fight us, what can we do more? Heart of Oak are our ships, Jolly Tars are our men, We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady! We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again. They say they'll invade us these terrible foe, They frighten our women, our children, our beaus, But if should their flat-bottoms, in darkness set oar, Still Britons they'll find to receive them on shore. Heart of Oak are our ships, Jolly Tars are our men, We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady! We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again. We still make them feel and we still make them flee, And drub them ashore as we drub them at sea, Then cheer up me lads with one heart let us sing, Our soldiers and sailors, our statesmen and king. Heart of Oak are our ships, Jolly Tars are our men, We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady! We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again."

My dad used to take me every year, was a fabulous exciting time, remember cheering for the team that was on the side of the stadium you were on, I can honestly say now at 53 I’d love to see it all again, the pride it brought was amazing

This was required viewing back in the day, I love the commentator Barry Davies he's an absolute legend. That line at the end of the first run, recalling the events that inspired this tradition "the men came from HMS powerful & Terrrible, and who's feeling what now" lol

A sad day when those in charge decided to stop it. stirred my heart to see these teams doing this. Absolutely fabulous.

I used to watch this every year without fail. It was great.

Hi mate, Royal Navy Vet here - ran Field Gun twice in the cut down version post-1999. Had a couple of mates who volunteered for Field Gun prior to 99. It was a gucci-billet (RN slang - cool job). Generally you were assigned to training for the comp for 2 years as a full time job. You can probably see from the video that it takes that kind of dedication not to die... Having said that, you mentioned injuries. There were a lot of those, even on the cut down version. Was just expected that someone or maybe more than one would lose a finger at some point. The main idea was two-fold. First was to show what extreme dedication and discipline can achieve as an example to the rest of the fleet to get their sh*t in one sock. Second was to send a message to the rest of the world to not mess with the RN or our allies. If you can train people to throw hardware around like that, better beleive we're on top of our day job ;-) After 1999 the cut-down version was put in place, which is similar - same rig mostly, but without the zip line/walls. What was lost in difficulty was made up for in that it was no longer your main job, which meant more could participate. When I ran it was against 7 other teams. I was back-of-box (the heavy lifter - not very fast), while i was an instructor at the Basic Training School at HMS RALEIGH, and Instructor at the Engineering School at HMS SULTAN. All done out of hours after usual duties squared away. Never been so fit! But it was a real shame when the full-fat version was discontinued. Guess they needed everyone to have all their fingers. KR Lt M S Maxwell, RN (rtd)

Have spent two years at Earls Court for the Royal Tournament I can tell you that the Royal Navy field gun competition was fanatical.bigger than football within the navy and thousands of people would support one of the three teams. I was Portsmouth all the way, my pal bill parry ran in 1990’s. As a contender you could only run the gun three times in your career, the level of training and dedication from the teams was awe inspiring. If you’ve been given the chance to compete with the RN then good luck pal! You’ll all need it. I served but never ran the field gun. People did loose fingers etc, it was part of the course. Huge tradition as you rightly said dating from the boar war, it represents what the Royal Navy did to get guns and ammunition to the war effort. Through the hole in the wall and over the chasm. 👍🏻

The results used to be flashed around the fleet...it was a very big deal.

British soldiers carried a artillery gun up a mountain in the dark by hand in Afghanistan so the Taliban didnt see it arrive at the fob at the top.

My father was a chief in the navy, and I loved watching this... like so many things in the UK, traditions are being lost... we used to have Navy Days (open day to visit naval ships etc) and Family Days( officers had families on their assigned ships out to sea and kids firing guns - great fun). Up until about the mid eighties sailers were still entitled to their Grog ration (Rum) and old naval ships have a keg in the mess for this purpose - this goes back huge amount of years... when the British fought the Spanish on the Old sail naval ships (ship of the line such as HMS victory) gunners were able to reload and fire guns double the rate of the french/Spanish which had a huge affect on any given battle .... so tradition of being well trained gunners was normal in the old ship of the line days

My parents used to take me to the Royal Tournament back in the 70's. The Field Gun Race was always the highpoint of the evening. My Grandfather had been regular Navy before and during the war, and Portsmouth was his home port, so we always supported them. The rivalry between Devonport, Portsmouth and Fleet Air Arm was extremely fierce, and those guys put their all into the competition. I suspect it was the pinnacle of their naval careers, to represent their port in the gun race. It was tremendously exciting, and I wish they'd bring it back, but with the Health and Safety Laws these days, I don't suppose they can. There were always stories of people breaking arms and losing fingers but carrying on, and I can quite believe the adrenalin would carry them through. Respect to the guys who competed in this. You were amazing.

My dad did this back in the 80’s.Got badly injured during training and ended up losing 3 fingers.He never regretted a minute of it,hard as nails👊🏼

When I was 9 years old [I am now a sprightly 70] my dad, who was a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy and based at Devonport Naval base, Plymouth [my home town] took me on to the base to watch the Devonport field gun team practising for the Royal Tournament at Earls Court, London. The matelots on the team seemed like huge, powerful hulks to me. When I went to watch them at the Royal Tournament when I had grown up, they STILL looked like huge, powerful hulks! On Friday 29th July 1999, I took my young nephew to see the Royal Tournament, on the evening when the team from Devonport broke the 15 year-old course record previously held by Portsmouth. Devonport did it in 2 minutes 40.43 seconds., a record which will never now be broken. The competition is in three parts: the Run Out, the Run Back, and the Run Home. The heart of the run, apart from carrying the huge weights involved, disassembling and reassembling the gun, carriage, wheels and limber, is the 28 foot chasm, into which no man or piece of equipment must fall. The A and B teams from Portsmouth, Devonport and Fleet Air Arm [there used to be four teams] consist of 18 men each. The B teams, although they also run against each other, are really a box of human spares for the A team. It took them 5 months to get track fit before they start practising the run. When the final selection was made for the two teams, those not making the A team be disconsolate. Those making neither team would be practically suicidal. By the time they got to Earls Court Arena, the teams would have made 600 practice runs. Injuries in training were frequent and were sometimes serious, especially when catching fingers in the gun breach, but were brushed off by the men. A programme made in 1978 by Ian Wooldridge [sadly since passed away] follows the 1978 Portsmouth field gun team training. The programme was titled "To The Limit and Beyond", the motto of the field gunners. If you can find a copy of the programme anywhere, it is an impressive to watch and shows the esprit and dedication of the field gunners. During the course of the Royal Tournament the teams made 16 competition runs. After each run the results and times would be signalled around the fleet. Some field gun races do now take place, but they do not have the chasm, which made the field gun competition so unique. It has been described over the years as the "toughest team sport in the world.

I was just reading about the Rhine crossings in WWII, and in this operation the Gordon Highlanders were accompanied by the 454th Mountain Battery of the Royal Artillery. They used old 3.7 inch howitzers that could be manhandled and broken down in just the same way as the guns in this competition. They could move their guns by hand through the rubble of the town of Rees, to support the infantry in clearing the town of Germans. At one point they took a gun apart to mount it in the upstairs room of a house. Seeing this competition again reminded me of the history that I just read.

Just fantastic. One the greatest things I've ever seen. They must bring this tradition back.

That takes me back, I used to love this on TV every year when I was a kid. Thank you.

Our deep and rich history fills me with pride. And we DO like a fight every now and then.Island race you see,we cant help it.

I did the "Cadet" version of this, as a kid. Saw a lot of grown men do it. And my uncle was an officer for several teams. The adult version, just watching them train, was awe inspiring. But, [junior] Deadalus Field Gun Crew rules, and our succes run against everone, for me, is a proud moment of my childhood..

As ex-RN I almost signed up for this a few times. the real motivator was, for the everyday unfit matelot (not me!) to get 2 or 3 months of extreme physical exercise, completely excused duties and special food every mealtime (steak and so on) and come out mega fit and built like a brick sh**house, no mater what you were like before starting. I can't believe the airy fairies won the last one though, didn't know that.

This race was at the royal tournament every year, I went twice the atmosphere was electric. The race was also shown on national TV every year and was part of the national psyche. Injuries were all too common.

Absolutely loved this, watching every year, such a shame it stopped

I was 5/6 years old when I went to my first royal tournament way back in 1983 & i was extremely lucky to went with my school class in 1984, 1985, & 1986. I'll never forget watching this for the rest of my days as it was always the highlight of the event for me, i can still remember the noise, smell & the insane loud cheering for both teams when they did this. A big hats off to any of the lads on here who actually did this.

Used to watch this as a kid in the 1970's when Dad took me to the Royal Tournament in London, The Sound is deafening

The British have limited gear so the quality of their soldiering is off the charts. Even their basic infantry can run huge distances with heavy bergens. Their ability to move heavy equipment, on foot, over the battlefield is amazing.

I'm ex RAF, have seen this live a few times, stuning! Amazing to watch live. Love your attitude, US Army may not have as long a history, but, what a great history it has. Keep up the good work.

Enjoying your channel, my great grandfather fought in the battle of Ladysmith he was colour Sargent major for the The Royal Leicestershire regiment (UK), his brother died there. Nice to look back and give gratitude to all you guys that have given service to your countries.🇬🇧🇺🇸

I sailed with an ex-matelot that had done this in the 80s and set a record with Portsmouth, absolutely phenomenal, what a top bloke he was

Definitely one of the best channels to watch, unbiased and a definite military person, who doesn't bitch about who's best, just enjoys achievement and friendship 👍

My Grandad was in the Royal Navy, always supporting Portsmouth, this was broadcast every year, ex serviceman would cheer on their home Naval base and the general public used to go nuts for it too. Massive shame they stopped it. Politicians spoil all the fun.

I ran for Portsmouth Command, in 1966. We train for six months prior to the Royal Tournament.

My friends dad used to run the bar at HMS Daedalus and there was apparently a jar of pickled fingers that had been cut off during training. The gun run is brutal and the guys are ridiculously fit.

Notice they were wearing black armbands in mourning for the end of this tradition.

The unmistakeable voice of Barry Davis doing the commentary. He was one of the best football commentators when I was growing up in England. I think he passed away some time ago but I could be wrong.

I have watched a few of your videos. You do yourself total credit in your commentary, and I really like the way you are open to reviewing new things. Keep it up👍

Great British naval tradition. Bring back the Royal Tournament

The tradition started when the gun crews from two Royal Navy ships dragged guns over 200 miled of mountainous countryside to help in the relief of Ladysmith during the Boer war as you said. During the 1998 run at the half way point a video shows a doctor stapling the head of a competitor together after he split it open! He then carried on with the competition!

My father-in-law was a member of the Fleet Air Arm team back in the 60s. He was a wheelman, carrying a 60 pound wheel over the wall and zip line. He lost two fingers in training (caught in the axle) and was allowed 2 days off training to recover. Since competition for a place in the team was so high, plus the fact that it was such an honour to represent the FAA in the competition, he was back at training after only one day off. The training is intense, and very closely choreographed to cut tenths of seconds off the previous team's time.

Barry Davies. Legend. Best known for his international staring competition commentary.

I was part of the Devonport crew in 1998 though didn't quite make the running crew Training took about 4 months all the crews were volunteers. Each person was put into a position which had a number I trained as Devonport No 6 which was on the gun trail though I could also do no 5 which was a similar position but on the other side. It took about a week on the track just to learn the first bit, the run out. If you want to see some of the injuries just look up the 1998 field gun interviews. Just to confirm I still have all my fingers!

I went to the Royal Tournament with my school, c. 1980, and the Field Gun race was the high spot. It used to be on TV every year as well. He mentions the coordination and teamwork a lot, which, of course is the heart of it. But what he didn’t mention so much was the sheer strength of those guys. The shoulders on them!

I was a chef in the RAF detached to the Royal tournament in 1983. I fed the field gun crews. Double normal rations each meal! All real gents.

hey mate, there was a bbc programme years ago about the training these blokes went through to take part in this, pretty brutal stuff,

I used to do this in a lighter format, in the RN cadets. I ran in the HMS Dolphin Field gun team and the year we won at Earls Court. The navy rewarded 5 of us to travel for 4 days in the sub-HMS Otus. Good days and happy memories.

you had to be their to really to appreciate this race properly .highlight of the royal tournament for me "POMPY ALL THE WAY"

hey! thanks for reviewing this, i went to one of these as a youngster, at the Royal Albert Hall! Was a great show!

I remember watching this as a child. We would cheer on our chosen side, we're a military family serving in all the branches of the military with mum in the Wrens and dad in the Royal Marines. We would really look forward to this. Going once to the Royal Tournament was the icing on the cake. Then one year my son worked there all through the tournament, he loved it. This and the Royal Tattoo would make us swell with pride. Such a shame the bean counters decided to do away with it. Thanks for showing and commenting on this.

Part of the yearly Royal Tournament which is sadly no more. I trained for this but sadly could not run as a promotion course came up. Many of my friends ran the crew year on year. As you correctly say, It’s historic from old battles where field guns had to be taken over terrain to battle. The training is brutal and the runs are even more brutal. Lads have had carriages run over them, barrels land on them, broken bones and fingers going missing were common. Bodies of most are now wrecked! The rivalry within the Royal Navy was fierce. Ultra fit people with absolute dedication. Disgusting that it was stopped. A smaller competition still goes on within the Navy, now seeing teams from Marines, Army and RAF. Cadets also run teams. All done with much smaller hardware now. After the season is over they all go back to units to carry out their usual professions. So proud!

We still do this in Australia. Its a ceremonial exercise. In WW2 in New Guinea, soldiers of the 3rd Division carried 17 pounder artillery pieces up and over 14,000 foot jungle ranges to stop the Japanese taking Port Moresby. No helicopters or planes could be used. Everything had to hand carried. It was brutal.

When I was in the reserve fleet at Whale Island I used to watch the Portsmouth Field guns crew training on the mudflats. Tough lads.

I’ve never seen this event before, makes my British heart swell with pride. Wow just incredible.

A shipmate of mine was selected to train for this, it scared him to death, so he went for his diver training instead.

Privileged to have seen this event live on a number of occasions. Sitting in the front row we were showered with the soil from the arena floor thrown up as the gun carriages were pulled at full speed past us which only added to the excitement

I was very privileged as a child to be taken to see the men training for this, at I recall, whale Island (near Portsmouth) when my dad was serving in the RN. Yes, it's historic and recalling traditions, but one of the most exciting things I have lodged in my memory. And yes. There are injuries. Fully respect this sport, tradition, and endeavour.

I’m surprised he has so much difficulty understanding. It’s a test of cooperation, agility, strength and stamina. Qualities that will always be necessary in war.

7:00 “They’re pretty passionate about it” and they say understatement is a British quality.

Great to see that this still raises interesting conversations and memories. Combat Arms, I love that you found this of interest and assessed it for your followers. I had the (dubious)pleasure and privilege of running for Devonport Field Gun Crew 4 times 3 in the arena at Earls court. And the honour of selecting and training the Devonport crews in 1987 and 1993.

I served in the fleet air arm and one of my instructors at HMS Sultan was the flying angel (last man over the zip line) in this video. One of the days me a bunch of other guys had to clean the guns they used to train with none of us could pick up the wheels. It would be a draft to be in the field gun team and it stopped due to cost and career ending injuries. We still do field gun with its much safer and not as exciting to watch with lighter guns and no obstacles. "Mini Mini Lou" was the name of the fleet air arms gun I believe named after some east asian prostitute 😅 If any of the older fleet air arm guys could confirm that it would be appreciated.

I attended a couple of Royal Tournaments as a teenager. I loved the whole show (and all the exhibitions back stage) but the Gun Run was what you always looked forward to. The atmosphere was electric!

We used to do the gun run in the Canadian Navy as well into the 2000's with the East coast and West coast teams competing against each other. They would tour across the country over the summer months and it was a great way to connect with folks inland that we have a navy. It was finally stopped because of several factors, it cost a great deal of money, took sailors away from the fleet for about half the year and seriously injured a number of guys over the years. I sailed with a number of friends who were team members and they loved every minute of it. The Military Tattoo just doesn't seem the same without it.

A good friend of mine was from the Fleet Air Arm. He was in the team, in the seventies. He still has today a Wheel pin, marked P for Portsmouth that was left on the square. A true Gentleman and nice guy. Luv ya Jim mate.

I’m from Plymouth, I watched the Field Gun teams since the mid 60s at the Royal Tournament and this is a reannactment of the Siege of Ladysmith (South Africa during the Boer War 1899). The Royal Navy landed two 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns and four 12-pounder naval guns creating improvised field guns using makeshift gun carriages. The guns were transported inland by rail and then drawn on makeshift carriages by oxen. For the final part of the journey, sailors from the Naval Brigade manhandled the guns over very difficult terrain. One story tells of sailors carrying one of the 12-pounder guns for 2 miles (3.2 km) after one of the wheels collapsed. My late father was HMS Collingwood, I was always a supporter of Devonport. You can always tell an ex gun crew.... he will have a finger missing, or three. They had double food rations and were man mountains. Royal Oak described them ALL perfectly no matter which Division they were from, Flight Deck Fairies included.

Wonderful tradition, remembering a brave event in British military history. The Royal Tournament was a wonderful annual event, showcasing every aspect of military skill, both British and worldwide. It was also a fantastic recruitment tool (you see small boys in the crowd). Sadly closed by the ‘bean counters’. I served as a soldier with the Navy for a while and would often see the men training for this event. Seriously tough men and it was not uncommon for serious injuries to occur, including the odd lost finger! Thanks for posting.

It was always a great show and needs reviving. Respect to all Tars!

They've not stopped it. It's performed every year!

Always used to watch the Royal tournament on TV as my Dad used to be in the Royal navy he used to do field gun but never got to that standard

I went to the Royal Tournament many times as a kid and saw this, every time was brilliant, always cheered for Portsmouth if they were running, or Fleet Air Arm. As a Sea Cadet I stayed in Portsmouth yard and watched them training for this, many busted knuckles and more than few broken fingers. It is something else to see live, shame it's not run anymore. As you said this is based on an event from the Boer War where Guns were removed from a ship and transported over land and back.

In the Boer was the navy carried the guns over hills and rivers to relieve the army from the Boers and this competition was their way of constantly reminding the army how they rescued them. They just love rubbing each other's noses in it the forces do.

I have seen lots of your vids now mate and have a lot of respect for you. Thank you for your honesty and respect.

Good on you mate, us Brits do weird stuff, Hearts of Oak mon brave! Warming up seriously, they trained pretty hard and missing body parts were common.

Hello Combat Arms Channel. The competition was run twice a day over two weeks at the Royal Tournament an annual all arms exhibition at earls Court in West London. It was when we had a Navy and our fleet was based in different Ports, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Devonport plus the Fleet Air Arm(the fleets air wing) Each division put team forward for the competition. It was held with high importance nd each days results were broadcast to the fleet throughout the world. The winner was the Division with the fastest time over the two weeks. Thanks for your kind words about our military.

Back when ships were wood and men were steel...this was standard stuff for sailors. More than a few times getting artillery pieces up to the high ground saved the day. Especially in the days of sail when the ships couldn’t just power away. See climbing the Ganges for some more RN history that extended into at least my dads time.

My uncle did this when he served as a Marine. He then went on to the SBS. They are literally throwing a half-tonne gun barrel on a rope with a guy sitting on it - there is always an alternate crew from each service as injury is pretty common. That was back in the 50s/60s and the other stuff he got into was equally insane, like circumnavigating the UK in a one-man collapsible canoe, which had to be done without being observed, so he did most of it at night. Made of a different stuff to normal people.

I was there with my two young sons. Having watched the Royal Tournament on tv for many years, I just had to go for the last one. Absolutely brilliant!

I remember watching this as a kid, amazing grit shown by these servicemen