Becoming a Rome Marine

commando was a dream.

Do you know what I mean?

Because I think as a kid, you don't

feel like you're going reach it.

Alcoholism was involved

like my dad, absolutely

using

Unfold.

Guys, welcome back to another

episode of the Combat Fuel podcast.

Today we are joined by Sam Sheriff,

MBE, the founder of Reorg First Black

Belt in Royal Marines and all round.

Good guy.

You know, he is done a lot for charity.

His charity wasn't always that way.

Did a lot of work for other

charities, really supports

the community come from Sam.

Thank you for your service.

Welcome to the Combat Fuel podcast.

Please give us a, a

brief oversight on you.

Alex, what an honor to

have me on here, mate.

Thank you so much.

Really, really appreciate it.

Sam Sharif, former ro, Marine

Commander Physical Training

instructor, founder of reorg dad,

husband, and jujitsu Black belt.

Wicked and straight off the bat.

Then what's your proudest achievement

of, of all of those things?

That's thrown it.

That's throwing it hard

for you, hasn't it?

Straight away.

Nah, it's been a dad.

Love it a hundred percent.

Love it.

Yeah.

Brilliant.

Awesome stuff.

So obviously you weren't always a dad.

You obviously had to start life somewhere.

Where, where was home for you growing up?

So I grew up in East Yorkshire, little

sea type, seaside town called Briton.

I dunno if you've heard of it.

I have not.

No, not many people have.

So I normally say it is near

Hull or something like that.

Yeah.

So yeah, grew up there and I think

like most of us, you have a bit of

an ambition or something, don't you?

And my dad, he was a diver in the Navy.

His uncle was a, a Royal Marine PTI.

So those stories they used to tell me,

you know, from a very young age, you know,

I was young enough to know what it was.

It was always a dream to become

a Royal Marine Commander one day

that, that was my aspiration.

So yeah, in Bri you'd often find me Dan

Dyke crawling around or climbing trees

on my BMX, you know, normal kid of the

sort of eighties or nineties I guess.

Yeah.

Wicked.

And your childhood, was it plain sailing?

Any dramas in there?

I don't think anyone's childhood

is playing sail, is it?

But.

But yeah, so I mean, the majority of

my childhood, I grew up in Bread as

I said, but then my dad, he got the

opportunity to become a public, so own a

pub basically, or run a pub for a brewery.

So we moved from Bri to Hull.

So those that don't know Hull

is like the nearest big city.

Br so I left my nice primary school

in Burlington and moved to this, this

new opportunity, you know, in Hull.

And although it was a new pub, it was

actually situated in probably what's known

as one of the roughest areas in Hull.

So it was just on the

outskirts of the city center.

And the, the actual pub was

surrounded by like high rise flats.

I'd gone from a school where you

wore like little gray shorts and,

you know, kneehigh gray socks and

a maroon tie to no school uniform.

Like, just didn't have a school uniform,

just went in your normal clothes.

And I'd gone from doing like normal

schoolwork to, I, it was almost

like we'd gone back a few stages.

Do you know what I mean?

I, I was like, I remember one day

they'd gimme like a, a fire engine to

color in and I'm like, what is this?

So I went to the teacher,

Mr. Teal, it was called.

He was horrible.

And I remember we had these

big, thick glasses and like,

you know, graveyard teeth.

Yeah.

And wiry hair.

And he always spit when

he talked red face.

And I went to his desk and I, I said to

him, can I do a drawing on, on the back of

this instead of coloring it in, you know?

And he must have said yes to

one of the other kids, right?

I thought he said yes to me.

And do you rem do you remember Trap door?

You might be a bit too young for that.

You remember trap door, right.

So I was mega into that, right?

So I did this trap door drawing.

I was quite creative, and I got a pair

of scissors and I even cut a trap door.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And in my mind it, I thought I was

like doing something really good.

Yeah.

Anyway, next minute I just feel this

presence behind me and someone grabs

my ear and yanks me into the corner

of this classroom and, and it's like,

how dare you destroy our schoolwork?

Face the corner.

Do not speak.

I was like, what is going on here?

Wow.

Right.

So lunchtime, I always used to go home

for, for my lunch, and my mum would like

make me summit in the pub, like kitchen.

Yeah.

So I ran home and I was like, you know,

like distraught, you know what I mean?

That this had happened.

And my mom's like, what's wrong?

And my dad comes in and

he's like, what's going on?

I explained, he just buff, he's out,

he's out the pub, you know what I mean?

Up the school.

And he was like, he dealt

with this guy, you know?

Yeah.

And he never bothered me

again, you know what I mean?

But I think that was my first kind

of experience of what change is like.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Like change from what was a really nice

pleasant environment to things like

switched up pretty quickly and looking

back, you know, as I am now, it was a very

deprived area, do you know what I mean?

And and I think that was a good life

lesson, you know, going from that to that.

You know, at our pub, like we'd always

be having people coming to the back

door, knocking on the door, then near

the private entrance, and I'd open

the door and it was, every time they'd

come, they'd have something different.

You know what I mean?

Like, remember one time they

had a computer, he was like,

ah, hey man, it's your dad in,

do you wanna buy his computer?

And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Obviously I had no idea it was

nicked, you know what I mean?

I'm like, dad doesn't blow.

He selling his, selling his computer.

Can we buy it?

He's like, no, son.

He's like, not today, thanks.

Shut the door.

Someone else had come back with dub

and dog once he's duberman there.

And I was like, oh, he's amazing.

Dad, can we have it?

He is like, no.

Dub knows where they got it from.

And then there'd be other times,

like, I'd, I'd always be at the back

of the bar, do you know what I mean?

And stuff.

And I was in the bar one, one

time and my dad, he always had

my cricket bat, like next to the.

Like the door between

the kitchen and the bar.

And this bloke burst in the pup.

He had a knife and he is

like shouting and screaming.

And my dad just picked this

cricket bat up and he's like,

Margaret, take Sam upstairs.

Jumped over the bar,

just dealt with this guy.

Yeah.

So that was just like a common

thing, you know what I mean?

So I think, yeah, just being

around stuff like that.

But I had a, things didn't work

out in Hull with my mum and my dad,

so me and my mum and my sister, we

moved back the Bri and then yeah.

Carried on.

I went back a different Sam, you know.

Yeah.

I, I left Sammy and went back, Sam.

Yeah.

You know, I had new experiences

to share with my old friends.

Yeah.

So so yeah, then rest

of my childhood in Bri.

How was it going back to Bri?

Was that like a sense of

like, relief that, like, that

intense environment was over?

Well, I mean, by then I,

I met like new friends.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

So I suppose I'd missed those friends.

But it was a baptism of fire, you know?

It really was like, I've got one more.

I've got one more.

'cause I, I know you probably wanna

move on, but it might make you laugh.

So I remember once I looked out the

pub window and, so we opposite the pub.

'cause it was like a bit

of a new development.

There was a a playground which had

built, you know, we were like the

spider web kind of climbing frame.

Do you remember them things?

Yeah.

So that was like the new

hangout for all the kids.

And some of my mates from school

were like laid on the grass,

like looking into the park.

So inquisitive.

I like ran over.

I'm like, whatcha doing?

Whatcha doing?

They're like, get down,

get down, get down.

So I'm like, laid down, whatcha doing?

Like, don't say anything.

And then they're like throwing

these stones like over,

I'm thinking what's next?

Minute These lads come

round like teenagers, right?

We were primary school kids.

Teenagers came round.

Yeah.

And one had like a German shepherd dog.

They're like, right, get over that fence.

And I'm like, so I'm

climbing over this thing.

Oh, what have I got myself into?

You know?

And then they line us up against

this wall and they're like, right,

one of you has got a fight him.

And I'm like, what is going on?

You know?

And I'd never been in a proper fight.

Like at, at that point in my life, I was

probably like 10, you know what I mean?

10 years old.

Like, it was all headlocks

and pinning each other.

Like WE wrestling?

Yeah.

Wwe f wrestling.

So he's like, right.

One of you.

Oh, you are all gonna get beaten up.

And we're just like, stood there.

Like, you, you're not

volunteering for that.

Are, you know what I mean?

And then, anyway, one of them just grabbed

my mate, Keith, and he's like, right.

Fight him.

And I'm stood there and basically

just watched my, one of my best mates

get filled in by this teenage lad.

I just couldn't get my head around it, you

know, like proper, like beating him up.

Yeah.

And they had this dog, like, and

one of 'em had a knife, like a wow.

Yeah.

A like butterfly knife.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I had a butterfly knife and he

was like that with this knife.

And I'm like, what is this?

You know what I mean?

And then it, they just basically just

let us go and I lagged it back home and

couldn't get my head around like what

was going on, but then that kind of fear

and kind of yeah, like the, the, the

fear and everything like that changed

to like anger, you know what I mean?

That he'd done that.

Yeah.

To my friend.

And I dunno what I was thinking, but

I, I went into my mum's kitchen drawer,

pulled a couple of knives out and back

then you used to have these like tops

that had like a zip pocket on the front.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And put these knives in right.

Like a kangaroo pouch,

you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And basically went off like

patrolling the streets.

Yeah.

She's like 10 years old.

Do you know what I mean?

And thank God, like I didn't, you

didn't find them bump into these guys.

Right.

Because it would've

ended very badly for me.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

And I don't think I had any intention

other than they did that to me.

Do you know what I mean?

Like they pulled this knife out.

So it was, it was like my

childlike mind seemed like, right.

I need to do that to them now.

Yeah.

So as like a grown man and a, a dad, you

can still see like how these horrendous

like knife crime, knife culture starts.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Like it starts with one person then,

because you're immersed in that world

and you feel like you need to carry.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

It's just normal.

Yeah.

Dare I say, you know, like

someone's done it to me.

You've done it to them.

Yeah.

You grown up like through the pub

and, and this like extreme violence.

Yeah.

It's, so then I came, I came home

and my mum's in the kitchen and

she's like, where have you been?

So, because me and my mom had a good

relationship, I just blurred it all out.

Do you know what I mean?

I didn't hide it.

And she was like, fuming.

Do you know what I mean?

She like obviously gave me a

proper dressing down and probably

clipped me around the ear as

well, you know what I mean?

And I, I knew I never,

never did that again.

I think I might need to point that out.

Yeah.

But, yeah.

It just shows you how easy it is

to slip into something like that.

Yeah, absolutely.

Is wild, isn't it?

To, to think that like, kids

can go in and do that, you know?

And God forbid love if you had seen

them, how that that could have ended.

Oh, I, I won't be in now.

No, that's a fact.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Mm-hmm.

Lucky touch wood.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But it wasn't all, it wasn't all bad.

No, no.

I had a, I've got a lot of great

memories as well growing up.

Good.

How was your relationship

with your dad at the time?

So mom and dad had split up.

Mm-hmm.

Gone a separate ways.

Did you still get to see him?

I did.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So my dad was my hero.

Yeah.

A hundred percent.

You know, I like and it's weird 'cause

like, even though alcoholism was involved,

like my dad was absolutely my hero, you

know, I, I, and he, I find it really

strange actually, when I talk to people

and who don't have a good relationship

with their parents, I suppose I was very

lucky in that respect that even though

we did have this turbulent kind of home

life, I guess, because he was in the Navy

and he kind of shared these stories with

me of traveling the world and stories of

Uncle Derek being in the raw Marines and

a PTI he was absolutely my hero, you know?

Used to do a lot together.

You know, we'd have the, the races

on the beach and go and, you know,

you know, once weirdly I think once

me mom and dad divorced I seemed to

see more of him, you know, because I

think when you, when we lived together,

he was always working, you know.

But then when they divorced, I'd

only see my dad on a weekend.

But like my weekend would be with my dad.

Yeah.

So I'd go Friday night or

Saturday morning, and then we'd

have quality time together.

But then as I got older, I dunno if

it's 'cause I noticed it more, or if he

just let his guard down, but I noticed

the alcoholism then, and that was

quite hard to deal with, if I'm honest.

Growing up.

So yeah.

So I, I think I, I kind

of separated the two.

I had my dad, my sober dad, who was

my hero, and then I had the drunk guy.

Do you know what I mean?

And I separated the two.

And there I found myself in

situations that I would never,

ever want my boys to be in.

To be honest, that's probably

why I don't drink now.

You know what I mean?

And I know there'll be people

listening to this, that.

Dealing with similar things and be that

they've maybe had parents with alcoholism.

Maybe they're dealing with

alcoholism themselves.

Do you know what I mean?

There might even be you know,

have kids who are dealing with

addiction and stuff like that.

But I think as you get older you

realize that it is a disease.

Do you know what I mean?

And and, and yeah, it's, it's

a lot to deal with as a kid.

Do you know what I mean?

I used to blame myself a lot.

And how old are you at this

point when you've realized that?

So at the point where I've kind

of realized the, the alcohol's

there, I'm probably like 12, 13.

And it got to the point where I

never knew what I was gonna be

faced with when I got to my dad's.

So you know, I, I'd go there

and it was almost like that

anxiety of what am I gonna be met

with as I go through the door?

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

Or there was certain times where

we'd meet and everything would be

great, and then we'd be halfway

through a walk and he'd just change.

So he'd obviously had a

drink, you know what I mean?

And I'm in the middle of the bridge

town with my dad, who was my hero.

Yeah.

Now I'm embarrassed.

Do you know what I mean?

Because I'm like, I don't need

my mates to see, or this, so

now I'm trying to get him home.

Do you know what I mean?

So I'm trying to flag a taxi down

and taxi will pull up, and then dad's

kicking off with a taxi driver, and it's

like there's just o other situations.

Do you know what I mean?

Like, you know when, when I got a bit

older then having to like carry him

like upstairs, do you know what I mean?

And put him to bed and stuff like that.

And it's just, it's, it's things

that you kind of deal with, but in

your, in your world, it's normal.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

It's like, but it, it was normal

to me, but then it was nothing

that I could talk about to anyone.

So I didn't, I couldn't talk to my mates

about it because I was embarrassed and I

didn't want them to know he was my hero.

He was my, you know what I mean?

I always wanted them to know him as

the navy diver, the pub landlord and

the doorman, you know what I mean?

And yeah.

All these cool stories that he used

to tell me, but obviously there

was a flip side to that, you know?

Obviously I, I didn't wanna tell

my mum because I didn't want

my mum to stop me going Yeah.

To see my dad.

I didn't want her being angry

with him, you know what I mean?

So, yeah.

It's, it's it was challenging,

you know, but I think it,

it, it strengthens your mind.

Do you know what I mean?

And it gives you a determination and

a fire with other things in your life.

Do you know what I mean?

Unconsciously.

Yeah.

Was there any other role

models you had growing up?

Your dad was like your

hero, your role model.

Yeah.

Was there anyone else along your path

before you joined the role Marines,

where you were like, you really

looked up to this guy or woman?

My uncle.

So my uncle Derek.

Obviously my dad's younger brother.

He was Royal Marine PTI.

And, but he was very, he was like, I

would say like your typical Royal Marine

of that era, you know what I mean?

So like when you were talking to him, you

knew you were, you knew you were talking.

It wasn't like I was talking to my

uncle Derek, do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

You were talking to him.

Yeah, I was talking to I remember

like, I think probably one of the

first times I met him he was like

behind a desk, do you know what I mean?

And so yeah.

And again, he'd tell me these

stories of been in the raw Marines

and stuff and yeah, absolutely.

Like I worshiped both of

them, you know what I mean?

I really did.

So yeah, I'd, I'd say my uncle Derek.

Yeah.

What was your like, call to serve?

You know, you said you always

wanted to be a Royal Marine Command.

That's gonna be my thing.

Yeah.

And, and Hu is a city where a lot of

people, the vast majority grow up in hu.

They stay in Hu and they die in hu.

Not many people leave the area.

Dunno if you knew that about hu.

It's one of the.

The lowest, I forget the word or

the correct word to use for it,

but it is one of the smallest areas

where people actually ever leave.

They grow up there, they

work there, they die there.

Yeah.

So if you took up and go to the

opposite end of the country, what

was that like, the final moment where

you're like, I'm doing it, I'm going,

I want to go on selection to Yeah.

I mean I, I mean to be fair, I

spent most of my time in Bri.

Yeah.

But I think Bri is probably the same as

hu in in the respect of a lot of people.

They settle there and,

and they don't leave.

I think, as I said in the

beginning, becoming aro Marine

commander, it was a dream.

Do you know what I mean?

Because I think as a kid you don't

feel like you're gonna reach it.

Do you know what I mean?

It's almost like becoming, you know,

some kids that might dream of being a

footballer or a ballad or a rock star.

You know what I mean?

And to me, that, that was my dream to

become a Royal Marine commander one

day, but I didn't think I'd ever do it.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

It was like, that's what

I was working towards.

So that's what I mean, like in terms

of my growing up was all shaped

around that, you know, in terms

of like, my mum would get me the

combats and I'd have the green beret.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

And I remember I broke my arm

once and when I was in hospital in

Scarborough, my dad bought me the

Combat Survival Magazine, and I had

a raw Marine commander on the front.

You know, it was the first edition

and in the center you had two

raw Marines doing unarmed combat.

Yeah.

I just loved that.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And it just all seemed so exciting.

And so, so that, that was like the dream.

But then obviously as I'm

growing up you know, you do like

waver a little bit, don't you?

And I, I started working really young

actually, so I think I was probably like

about 13 or 14, and I had a job at a

pup, like bottling up, glass collecting,

looking after their like German

Shepherd guard dogs and stuff like that.

So I do that on a weekend.

And then I worked in a like a, a

hotel, like a family run hotel, just

washing dishes and stuff like that.

So I had, I had like an understanding

of you work hard, you get paid.

And I was saving up for a motorbike.

Yeah.

You know?

And so like all through the summer

holidays while my mates were having

fun, I'd be in that kitchen from

like first thing in the morning Yeah.

To last thing at night, washing

pots, you know what I mean?

But I had a goal and that goal was

to save up enough for this motorbike.

Yeah.

And then I left there and worked,

worked at Tesco's, and I remember.

Getting offered a management position.

Right.

This, I'm still a teenager,

you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And I remember going and telling

my dad saying, yeah, I've been

offered this management position.

He's like, oh, well done, son.

What about the Royal Marines?

You know, he was like, he

was always reminding me.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And you know, I was probably like 17

by this time, and I said to him, when

I, when I'm 19, you know, I'm not

ready now, I knew I weren't ready and

I wouldn't, I wouldn't have been ready.

Yeah.

Like physically, mentally, there

was no way that I was ready.

Then I was a bit of a

late developer, you know?

And so I remember I was at my dad's,

it was my 19th birthday, and he

said to me, happy birthday son, 19.

I'm like, yeah.

And he threw me the the, the phone book.

Yeah.

So like the BT phone book?

Yeah.

The big yellow pages.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So he threw it to me and he was

like, you gonna make the call?

And I was like, I was anxious yo made.

And I was like, yep, yep, I'm gonna do it.

So I went over to his phone, and

obviously it was one of the ones that

you, you know, pressed the buttons.

And I, on that day, I actually, you

know, made the call to the careers

office, which was in Hull, by the way.

Yeah.

So so yeah, I made that call, went,

had my interview, and remember it.

I remember, I'll never forget him.

Jed Stone, his name was, and he,

again, he just epitomized what you

would think of as a, a raw marine.

He was like W2 and and yeah, sat

and had this interview with him.

I remember so nervous because

'cause I wanted it so much.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

And at the end of this interview,

he says to me, right, I'm gonna

tell you one of three things.

Now I'm gonna tell you you're not

suitable for the Royal Marines.

Don't try again.

You've got potential.

Go away, work on a few things and come

back and we'll interview you again.

Or I'm gonna tell you, you're

just, what we're looking for.

I'm gonna put you on A-P-R-M-C

at limestone and that, that pause

weighing, do you know what I mean?

And I thought, please

don't say not suitable.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

And and luckily he said the third thing,

you know, just what we're looking for.

And and then yeah, went on PRMC

and yeah, that was the next stage.

How did it make you feel

though, going there?

This is like the thing that United

of Berkeley, his dad's done that your

whole life being like, I wanna be a

raw marine to be told Yeah, you are.

Exactly what we're looking for.

Was that like a sense of a

achievement or of like, do you

know what, this could be a thing?

Yeah, you, you're probably right mate.

I've never even thought about

this, but that's probably like the

first time in my 19 years that I'd.

Been given a bit of validation,

do you know what I mean?

And told yes, well done.

You know, because I think I didn't

do great at school, to be fair.

So yeah, that's probably like

the first time that I had that.

Awesome.

And it was exciting, you know what I mean?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

It was exciting.

How, how did it go when you got to Limon

to go on your, your raw marine selection?

Oh, what an experience.

Yeah, so so you, you go by train, right?

Yeah.

So you get the train from grid

and then you change, it hut.

You go from Hull and then,

you know, down to Limestone.

And for those that don't know,

there's actually a train station Yeah.

At Limon Commando where you

can only get off if you've got

business at Limon Commando.

Yeah.

So as you cut and before that,

you're noticing all these lads

getting on, you know, and, and

you're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's, and then then yeah, you all get

off at this train station and you know,

you, as you, as you're approaching,

you're seeing all the barbed wire, you

know, and yeah, the lads running round

on the bottom field, and that's the

moment where it's like, this is real.

You know what I mean?

And then you get, you get met at

the, at the gate and and, and you're

taken up to the foundation block and.

Found.

No, that's when you start in it.

So yeah.

PRMC, you're in, you're in the PRMC block.

Yeah.

And and then yeah, you do,

you do your week there.

Starts off with physical tests,

you know, bleak tests Yeah.

And all that.

And and yeah, they just put

you through your paces, you

know, for that period of time.

But remember loving it, you know,

like as in, this is what I'm here for.

Yeah.

You know, I knew it was gonna be hard.

Like I knew it was gonna be

tough and because of what my

uncle had told me and all that.

And I think even going back from that, I

remember even knowing very little, I knew

in preparation for instant, for my PRMC, I

had to be doing stuff I didn't want to do.

So I was like setting my alarm, you

know, getting up at five in the morning,

running down to Linton, seafront, running

along the cliffs, you know, stopping

at the park, doing my pull-ups, doing

my press-ups, doing my sit ups in any

weather, you know, because I knew once

I got to the limestone, they'd been

making me do things that I didn't want

to do, you know, and like, we didn't have

the internet, so it's a very like, big

grown up thing to, to put on yourself

straight away though, to 19 years old

going away and getting up at five o'clock.

Yeah, well it was earlier

than that, obviously.

It was in preparation for that.

Yeah.

So it's fantastic self-discipline

at a young age with that.

I mean, looking back I

guess it, I guess it was.

Yeah.

But I think that's just shows when

you have a desire for something.

I think that's a big thing is if your

desire for something is so strong,

then that is gonna be the catalyst,

the trigger to doing those things.

'cause ultimately everything

we do is a choice, isn't it?

And you choose whether to hit the snooze

button, stay in bed a bit longer, or

whether the alarm goes off and you

are bum straight out bed get done.

Yeah.

Train's on go.

You know?

And, and that's what I did every day.

And thankfully it paid off.

'cause you know, I did that PRMC and

you know like it was about 15 of us,

you know, from that PRMC 15 or 20

of us, you know, we, we passed that.

And, and then obviously as you

know, that makes up a troop of 60

of you that then start raw Marine

Mando training at limestone.

And it's, look at the question

we have to ask all Royal Marines

is, were you an original?

Did you pass that as original?

Yeah, I did.

Which, which again, for those

that don't watch that, it's,

it's quite rare, isn't it?

You know, how many of you are 60?

12? 12, yeah.

The dirty dozen as around 2% of you

managed to, to finish first time.

And of course some people are injured.

Yeah.

They get sick.

That's not, that's out their control.

But there's also a great deal that just.

Yeah, this isn't for me.

It is too.

Yeah.

I think it's probably worth noting

as well, like those 60 of you who

start, you've all passed A-P-R-M-C,

so it's not just like good,

strong, strong logs off the street.

Yeah, exactly.

Good, strong fit lads.

You know what I mean?

That want to be Royal Marines.

Yeah.

And I remember like day one, you

know, in the foundation block 60 of

you, you know, all in that one room,

you know, all with your own bed.

I remember looking around that room

and feeling a bit like an impostor,

if I'm honest, you know what I mean?

Because there was lads

there much older than me.

Yeah.

You know, much more experienced than me.

There was one lad who was a W2 in the

Cadets, you know, the Rry cadets, and

there was there was a lad there who both

his parents, mum and dad were in the army

and triathletes, and he was a triathlete.

And I'm like, oh man.

You know, like boxing champions.

And we had like, you know, guys who were

like almost, almost like professor level

in terms of like their academic ability.

Yeah.

Then you have lads who are like from the

roughest estate in Glasgow, you know?

Yeah.

So this real diverse Yeah.

Mix, you know.

So, so yeah.

I think ultimately, you know, probably

knowing more of what I picked up.

As A-A-P-T-I and a PT school

instructor and stuff like that.

And see, and taking recruits

for myself, and I'll probably

talk about that more later.

But I think ultimately it comes down to

the mental fortitude to just keep going.

Do you know what I mean?

Because there was lads there much

fitter than me, much stronger than

me, much more experienced than me.

And there was probably times where I

could have gone a sick bear and and

you know, got some medical treatment

and stuff like that, but I kind of

knew that if I did, there'd be a

chance that I might get back trooped.

And like, no one wants that.

Do you know what I mean?

And I think at this point it's super

important to say that if you do get

back troops, it's not the end, you know?

And to be quite honest, those that do get

back trooped and do go to Hunter company,

actually you receive more training.

Do, do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Because, you know, you you, you

go to the gym for longer, you

receive more military lessons.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

So the ones that, I suppose what

I'm saying is if you're listening

to this and, and you have been

back troops and you're at CTC.

Stick with it.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Don't, don't let that get on top of you.

I was just lucky.

Do you know what I mean?

I was just lucky that I didn't get a

serious injury or a serious illness.

And the ones that I did get,

thankfully I managed to fight through.

Remember during commando test,

I, I'm jumping on a bit here, but

during commando tests, I got this

honking, like cold, like Yeah.

Thing.

Do you know, you know,

we just freezing cold.

Yeah.

And like, oh, I remember my mum

saying like, get a cold like that.

You sweat it out.

I just seemed to remember her saying that.

So I went to the Nafi and I bought

like a load of Lucas Air sports.

Yeah.

Went back to my gr up, got all my warmest

kitten, got in my, got in my bed, and

I nailed all these Lucas air sports.

Yeah.

I just got in my bed and just like, just

like sweated it out, you know what I mean?

And then woke up in the morning, went

and did the endurance course, you know.

So yeah, that could

have gone the other way.

Yeah.

You know, if maybe I didn't have

that desire and that determination

if I'd just gone, oh, got sick babe.

Got some medication, you know, I'll, yeah.

Then could've got back

through, so that's brilliant.

Mm-hmm.

Obviously mobile phones weren't

really a thing back then, were they?

You go through training, you say that.

But I'm making out like super old.

No, I am, I am super old.

But it was like Nokia,

do you know what I mean?

Okay.

I remember one of the lads in our troop

and he, he had a color screen, you

know, and it was like, ooh, you know?

But yeah, I think, I think I just

had like a, like a basic kind of or

something, but but yeah, I do seem

to remember using the payphone.

Yeah.

So I say that's gonna be the question.

Is it?

Yeah.

How did you keep in touch with,

with mum and dad and any friends

going through training and was

that lecture actually yeah.

I remember writing, I remember

writing letters to like you know,

parents, friends, you know, school

friends and stuff like that.

Yeah.

And, and do you know what, like,

phone calls are great and I didn't

have many phone calls, if I'm honest.

'cause she's too busy.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

You're too busy doing stuff.

And, and yeah.

Those letters that you get back, you

know, they do, they do reenergize you.

Mm. You know what I mean?

It's nice because you've got something

that you can read Mm. Over and over again.

Yeah.

A phone call's been in, it's gone.

You've got something there.

Yeah.

Especially when they're,

they're written with emotion.

Yeah.

Family members.

They must be your, remember mine being

the reason, like, gotta keep going.

They remind you, don't

they gotta keep going.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They remind you like why you there and.

At the end of the day, it's

supposed to be hard, isn't it?

You know, if it weren't

hard, everyone would do it.

Exactly.

Oh, actually, more importantly, if it

weren't hard, you wouldn't wanna do it.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

I remember like the old advertising

campaigns, not that I needed that

'cause I wanted to do it from

like the age of like five or six.

Yeah.

But the advertising campaigns,

you know, 99.9% need not apply.

I thought they were brilliant.

You know, 'cause it just

just made you want to do it.

It made you want to.

I wanna be that North point, not 1%.

I can do that.

Yeah, exactly.

I can have a piece of that.

Yeah.

Awesome.

So end of raw Marines training,

you know, the, the 30 miler.

Mm-hmm.

How was that for you?

Easy, hard.

I wouldn't say it was easy.

Yeah.

None of the commando tests are easy.

Good.

But they're all very, very different

for different reasons rightly so.

Do you know what I mean?

Because I think they test you

in different, different areas,

both physically and mentally.

And I think also this is at

the end of commando training.

So your body, although you are

being built up, I suppose, almost

like an athlete, you are also quite

degraded as well at that point.

Do you know what I mean?

So it's, it's a, it's a weird sort

of conundrum where you've been built

up to be physically ready for it.

But then you've also got that wear

and tear on your body as well.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

So yeah, I mean, you know, as you

know, you've got the endurance course,

you've got the nine mile speed,

March thousand assault and and the

30 miler, but I think through the 30

miler, that's a really great display

of brotherhood and, and teamwork.

You know, like getting each other through

that because all the way through that,

everyone has their, their low points.

Do you know what I mean?

Where you're kind of

encouraging each other.

I don't, I've gotta be honest.

I, there was, there was no point where

I even contemplated giving up that just,

just the desire was just too strong.

You know, what's at the end of that 30

mile that green lids gotta be yours?

Like, embrace the sucking and yours.

Exactly.

I mean, you, you, yeah.

Don't get me wrong.

You want it to be over.

Yeah.

But and obviously at the beginning you

feel like it's never Yeah, it's never,

and there's a difference between wanting

it to be over and I'm gonna quit.

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I, I think as well, it's like

every step you take further forward,

you are closer to that finish line.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

And how was it, you know, you,

you are present, you finished it,

30 miler done, you got that green

lid, you're like, I've done it.

I've, I've passed.

Yeah.

It's amazing.

Yeah.

It's an amazing, it's an

amazing feeling, you know?

And.

Yeah.

And, but the thing is, that's just

the way I like, I like to talk about

this, is it's like the entry ticket

to the best boys club in the world.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

So it's like, yeah, you've got your

green lid, but that's just you,

you've just got your ticket to get in.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

Absolutely.

And, and, and this is

where it really starts.

That's where it starts.

I remember finishing training

and thinking like, oh, done.

Mm-hmm.

And then when I've asked Ru

saying, you've just started.

Yeah.

It's only just started.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, and it really is, isn't it?

That's your ticket in and it's Yeah.

And you go from, you go from

being the top of the pile.

Yeah.

Straight, straight into the

bottom, the bottom again.

Yeah.

And and I went, I went

from CTC to Ka match.

Yep.

Kao Group of four three Commando.

It's known now, but then it was

housed within 4 5 4 5 Commando.

Yeah.

Our bro barracks.

So it was like our bro barracks, but split

into four five Commando and Kamio group.

And I went up there with two other

originals, you know, and and yeah, that

was, that was the start of it, like super

exciting, like that drive up to Yeah.

Our growth, you know to

start it all and yeah.

And, and how do you feel, because

obviously once you're passed that raw,

you can go anywhere 'cause you're a,

a self-sufficient core, aren't you?

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah.

You could have been a chef, for example.

S No, no disrespect to chefs.

It's just not, it's not for me.

You gone through all that

ka ono trend into them.

Yeah.

Right.

Well, you're gonna be a chef now.

It's, yeah, so I mean, as, as you'll know

the dreaded ping, do you know what I mean?

So thankfully luckily I avoided the

ping, you know, I managed to stay gd,

you know, until I you know, became a PTI.

So I was very lucky in that respect.

You know, a lot of good lads

did, did get pinged, and,

and we lost a lot of good lads because of

that, you know, brilliant Royal Marines,

you know, lads that were so talented

and, and, and so had such a great mindset

and they got pinged and they just lost

their, the love for it, unfortunately.

Do you know what I mean?

Should maybe a little bit controversial.

Should the Royal Marines stay

self-sufficient, or should Royal

Marine Royal Marines training

make you a raw Marines commando?

Mm-hmm.

And you should have attached arms.

Well, I mean, we do have

attached arms, don't we?

So, you know, we do with you

guys and stuff like that.

Yeah.

But so you, you couldn't go off and

be a f would you like to see like

Royal Marines being Royal Marines, so

they can't go and be a FBX, Y, and Z?

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, I think.

That's what the lads join to do.

Yes.

Do you know what I mean?

So yeah.

In a, in a world where lads could

just do what they join to do and Yeah.

A hundred percent Yeah.

That, but I think I understand having

worked my way through, you know, through

the 22 years, I think I understand

there's always a bigger picture.

Yes.

Do you know what I mean?

And as much as it'd be wonderful to

wave a magic wand and make it so,

you know, there's always a bigger

picture with these things, isn't they?

And which sometimes we can be a bit

naive at the start of our careers and

like, why aren't things like this?

Yeah.

Guarantee I know best.

Yeah.

I think one of the things that I've always

maintained is like a positive mindset.

Yes.

And no matter what situation, I've

found myself in the Royal Marines, what,

which, whatever draft I've been in,

I've always found the best way to make

that draft become a positive experience.

Do you know what I mean?

Because you'll have

experienced this as well.

When you served within a troop,

you're always gonna get lad to drip.

You know what I mean?

And it's like, I remember being like on

FSRT, so a fleet standby rifle troop and

were attached to a ship and we'd then

from that ship, we'd be deployed off to

certain stuff and, and what have you.

And during this one particular.

Phases of the deployment.

We ended up working with

the USMC in Hawaii, Oahu.

And we had a bit of hour and hour and

we're on the beach in Oahu, Hawaii.

Right.

And we've got surfboards and where

we'd decided to like, just pitch up,

we were a fair distance from like

where you got your wets, you know,

like drinks and stuff like that.

And I overheard this conversation

of two lads dripping because

we'd decided to like sit here.

And I'm like, are you guys for real?

Do you know what I mean?

Like, we're on the beach Yeah.

In Oahu, Hawaii getting paid.

Right.

And you've, you've found

something to drip about.

Do you know what I mean?

Where it's just with some lads, it's

just, that's just the way, isn't it?

That's just what like, yeah.

Yeah.

But then I think, but then on

the flip side, you also need them

lads who are gonna pick it up and

be like, yeah, no, come on lads.

Let's Yeah.

You know, see the positive side of it.

Yeah.

You know, and you're

always that positive guy.

You know, ever since I've done,

you've always been Oh yeah.

I mean, don't get me wrong,

there will have been times

where I've been threaders Yeah.

And had my own bit of dripping.

Do you know what I mean?

But I would like to think on the hole.

Yeah.

I've always tried to find

the positive in everything.

Yeah.

And, you know, you did a, a full,

a full service your full 22 years.

Yeah.

Operational tours to, to touch on briefly.

How were they?

You know, you've done Northern Ireland.

Yeah.

You've done Herrick.

Yeah.

Are there any defining moments on, on

those tours that you want to talk about?

Defining moments.

I think, I think every deployment

you do defines you, it shapes you.

It teaches and assure you something

about yourself that you didn't

realize or understand before.

I think each one I've done

has been very, very different.

You know you know, my time in

Northern Ireland, it was, it was

very much intelligence and you know,

looking at gathering information

and, and feeding that back.

It was very, very different to anything

that I'd done in commando training

or, or anything else like that.

Even down to the weapons we were

carrying and you know, the vehicles we

were in and, and, and stuff like that.

So, I think I grew up

very quickly on that one.

The responsibility that you're given

the taskings that you're given and the

information that you get back, you know,

when you're kind of feeding some of

these things back and, and what have you.

I think he, you know, I was a

section commander, corporal, and

I think without a doubt, that

was the highlight of my career.

You know, being in a position of command,

you know, having seven of the lads, you

know, similar age to yourself, you know,

so much younger than you you are leading

and they're looking at you to make the

right call, make the right decision.

Ensure that what you're doing

is right and proper and correct.

And, you know, some of the situations

we found ourselves in you know,

it's just luck that I am able to sit

here with you now and talk to you.

And, you know, we don't need to dive too

deep into this, but both you and I have

lost far too many good friends, both while

serving, and then once they've come home

and you'll attest to this, it's just luck.

You know, when you're seeing them

rounds splashing around you, all it

takes is that you took up a PO position

there instead of where you were.

Seeing RRP G rounds, you know,

the first time you see that, it

just don't look real, does it?

You know, how, how, and, and again when

you, you in that position and leading

and, and relying on the lads to follow the

words you are saying and, and essentially

dealing with that mission and that task

and then reflecting on it afterwards.

So yeah, I feel very lucky and

very fortunate that you know, I'm

able to sit here with you today,

and I don't say that lightly.

And I, and I think a lot about the

lads who can't do what we're doing

now, and I think now we'll talk about

this later, but I think that's one

of the drivers for reorg really.

Do you know what I mean?

Let, let's touch on reorg.

Obviously, you at some point found

jiujitsu whilst you were serving.

How, how did that come about?

Yes, so as I progressed through my

career I had this desire to follow

in my uncle's footsteps and become

a R Marine PTI, which I did in 2004.

And part of that, pTI course

you do a, a role, Marine Close

Combat Instructors Course.

Now things have moved on quite a

lot, you know, during the time of

me, you know, starting role, Marine

training and then doing my PTI course.

And actually the Close Combat

Instructors course was, was

actually quite a substantial course.

And effectively the guys who pulled that

together had basically taken all the best

parts of the martial arts and brought

them together to make it as efficient and

effective for raw Marines operationally,

you know in clean fatigues or in Kit.

So they'd put this together and

the guy who was teaching us had

just recently got into MMA, right?

It's quite a relatively

new thing, I guess by then.

He was a boxer by trade and he'd done some

wrestling and grappling with this guy.

And this guy just took him down and

just dominated him on, on the ground.

And he was like, I need

to be doing more of this.

So subsequently he taught us

like the Rome marine close combat

syllabus in like record time.

Do you know what I mean?

He is like going, going through the

book, like got that lad up, Pete.

Yep.

Okay, move on.

You know, I'm like, yep, yep, yep, yep.

He was just like ticking off, you know,

the, these things and he's like, right,

we're gonna get to the good stuff now.

We're gonna do some grappling.

And he basically brought in his

mates from like the local grappling

club and they basically just used

us, used us as grappling dummies.

Yeah.

Right.

Just to practice a bit of jujitsu

and grappling, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And I think when you first experienced

jiujitsu, one of two things happen.

You either think that was honking,

I'm never doing that again.

You walk away or you are

like, that was amazing.

I need more of this.

Yes.

You know, and that is what happened

with me because grow up, you know,

growing up in the eighties or nineties

martial arts action movies, it was a

big part of like my kind of growing up.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

So yeah, I dabbled in many different

things like, you know, a bit of

karate, a bit of judo, a bit of

boxing at the boys club in bread.

Yeah.

Even a bit of kung fu, you know.

But I'd never stuck to one

thing, you know, I just dabbled

a bit, bit this bit of that.

I found jujitsu and it was just

like a light bulb moment, you know?

Absolutely loved it.

And, and I got absolutely

twisted up, you know?

Yeah.

But could see how, you know, 'cause you

know, we were on a PC course, we were

strong fit lads, do you know what I mean?

And, and they just, through

superior knowledge and technique,

just absolutely dominating us.

You know what I mean?

So so yeah, that, that broke the

seal in 2004 and then I passed my PTI

course and went back to, you know,

u commando units as a PTI and with

the limited knowledge that I had.

But, you know, I was you know, an

instructor, so I had the ability to

teach and instruct and I would basically

just teach as, as often as I could, you

know, the limited knowledge that I had.

And, and, and that basically was

the start of it, I guess, you know?

And was where you were training jiujitsu,

like, I mean, back then it, it wasn't

as prevalent as it is today at all.

It was very hard to

find a school somewhere.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How far was it from you?

Was the one anywhere near Ton?

So, so yeah, so I, I did my PTI course

stayed at limestone taking troops through,

but then I went to four two Plymouth

and I was a section commander, so yeah.

We were like deployed a lot.

Yeah.

Either away to Norway or, you

know, on different exercises,

different deployments.

So I was only really training with

the lads, do you know what I mean?

Either as PT or whatever, you know.

So it wasn't until I then moved back

to Limestone and I was able to find a

Jiujitsu Academy, which was in Toke.

So it was Fight Works.

And so that's where I, I started doing

jiujitsu, you know, in a gi, in a Jiujitsu

Academy, you know, prior to that it was

just kind of shorts and t-shirt in a

squash court or wherever we could do it.

Do you know what I mean?

So yeah.

So I would say my first

jujitsu academy was in Toki.

Yeah.

And now, age old question you started,

how long did it take you to get your

first belt, your, your blue belt?

Oh, wow.

Long time.

Yeah, long time.

So God, when will it have been now?

So, obviously my first experience

of jujitsu was 2004, you know,

on that PT course, I think I got

my blue belt must've been like

2010, something like that.

I was a white belt for a long while.

Time.

Yeah.

Few years.

But that was good.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Because it's like, I mean, you know

what it's like, mate, you know, as,

as, and, and again for any white belts

listening to the, to this, you know,

white belts one of the best belts.

Do you know what I mean?

I know That's when you are, you

know, you've got that you've got

that sea of juujitsu ahead of

you, do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And you're finding your way and you

are learning the art of learning to

be comfortable being uncomfortable,

and you're learning that survival.

Do you know what I mean?

So I remember going to like four

or five and we had like our,

our own little club up there.

And we'd, we'd go and train together,

and then we started like competing

together and we'd go to like, you

know, Edinburgh Open, Glasgow Open

and Manchester Open, you know, it

was like a little, little team.

Yeah.

And, and at this point, you know,

this is like Ro, Royal Marine

Jiujitsu is not a thing at this point.

You know what I mean?

This is us still kinda like

bumbling along, like trying

to find our way, you know?

But I kind of realized by this

point that, you know, all Royal

Marines need to be doing jujitsu.

You know, it, it shouldn't be

this like secret squirrel club

that you are just invited into.

Do you know what I mean?

Everyone should just be doing it.

Like, you know, raw Marines mat read,

they go on the range, they grapple.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

They do juujitsu.

Yeah.

It should just be part of what they did.

Yeah.

You know?

Absolutely.

And let's touch a little bit on integrity

and explain how I want to get there.

So integrity and juujitsu,

you need to have integrity.

If someone's gonna tap let go oh

percent, you're not gonna injure them.

Yeah.

Which another key bit of integrity

you showed was on a a ship's

course, actually, wasn't it?

We got off on a bit of a tangent here,

but you, you explained it before to me,

like, please share this story and it's

a cool story, but it, it shows a lot

of integrity and you as a person Yeah.

To where you could have been

like, yeah, fine, whatever.

Yeah, no, please share.

I think integrity and, and you know about

this mate, integrity is a cornerstone

to who we are within the military.

You know, it's just, it's

a non-negotiable in it.

But we've all met lads who maybe

their integrity has been questionable.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

And we are faced with many different

situations where your integrity could

be called into question, you know?

So yeah, this particular, there's been

many, many during my career, but this

particular one that you're talking about,

I found myself on a ship's diver course.

And mainly because my dad was a diver.

You know, I had the opportunity

to do this, which is quite

rare for a Royal Marine.

But I had the opportunity to do

it, so I went down to horse, the

island, and you have like clearance

divers taking you on this course.

And it was, it was really cool actually.

I won't dive too much into the

course, but you know, you, you learn,

obviously learn all about the kit.

You learn about the, the

role in which you're doing.

So this particular exercise

that we were on, we're kind

of well into this course now.

And we're simulating doing

a ship's bottoms search.

So essentially you go along the

bottom of the ship and you are

looking for Olympic minds, right?

Or anything which is untoward, anything

that shouldn't be there, basically.

And you know, you start in daylight

hours and then they progress you on.

So at this point, we've got

to doing it at night, right?

So I was doing this ship's bottom search

and can't see anything, you know, it's

all by touch and you know, you're there

bottom of the ship, you get like w

noise, you know, and you've got this

weld and you basically, you follow the

weld like along you bottom of the ship.

And I'm following it along and then all

of a sudden I kind of just lose it a

bit and I reach out and it's not there

and I reach right out and it's gone.

Like the ship has gone and then all

of a sudden I just feel like this

almost like a d feel it, you know?

And I'd, I'd obviously like hit

the, the bottom, the seabed, right?

So I'm on the seabed now

and I'm like, oh my God.

So I then start thinning and I, I,

I, I eventually come up and look

around and I see the ship, but I'm

on the wrong side of it, right?

Yeah.

I'm on the wrong side of the ship.

So I'm like, and but, and now that

my light lines for those that dunno,

you have a, you communication to

the ship is through a light line.

I think it's pulls and

bells you communicate.

And that had wrapped all around me.

So I'm trying to unwrap myself from

this thing around my neck and that.

And it's just like a calamity, you know?

So I unwrap myself and

then I go back down.

I have to go back under the ship.

Yeah.

Right.

Navigate my way back up.

And then I come up and I go

back to the dive boat and

they're like alright sheriff.

I'll go.

Well, and at that point

I could have and Yep.

All good.

Yeah.

You know, clear.

But but no, I just came out and I just

explained exactly what had gone on and

they were like, good effort sheriff.

Yeah.

We knew exactly what had happened there.

We wanted to just check and just see

if you'd you know, tell us the truth.

Have the integrity.

Have the integrity.

Yeah, exactly.

And and they were, they were

great about it, you know, and

just told me kind of, you know, my

shortcomings and where it gone wrong.

And that's what it's all about.

You know, you make a mistake, you walk

up to it and you can't learn three your

mistakes if you don't have them though.

Right.

Just learn.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And, and, and, and going back to Juujitsu,

which is where you just came from.

Yeah.

That's exactly how we learn, you know?

Yeah.

You get tapped out and

you're like, brilliant.

How did that happen?

Let's dissect it.

Let's work on it and let's move on.

You know?

Yeah.

Get your guard passed.

How did that happen?

Yeah.

How did I get my guard passed?

Yeah.

You know?

And I think that's why

like, it's so synonymous.

We like military lifestyle because that's

how we work in the military, isn't it?

Yeah.

Like, you know, you are on an

exercise, you, that mission fails.

Why did it fail?

Or it didn't go as well as planned?

It could have been done better, you

know, we can always do better, can't we?

Yeah.

You know, I'm sure you were the same.

We never like got.

Chuck up say, oh, brilliant, that was ama

great section attack, glit trip attack.

You are amazing.

Take the rest of the day off.

Do you know what I mean?

That never happened, did it?

No.

It's like, you know, could

have done this better.

Could've done that better,

could have used more smoke, you

could have gone left flanking.

You know what I mean?

It's like there's always

things we can do better.

Yeah.

But, and you know, you that desire to

always be better and do better allows

it, you know, you become a little

bit stagnant if, if you don't Yeah.

You Oh well completed it.

Yeah.

Why do I need to try any harder?

Yeah.

Because I've already perfect.

If it's always room to improve

on oh percent on everything.

Always doing.

Yeah.

And isn't, I think always the, the

older you get, the more experience

you get, the more you realize that

you're never gonna be the best.

Do you know what I mean?

You might get good.

Yeah, you might get really good,

but there is always gonna be someone

that's gonna be better than you.

It might not be today, it might not be

next year, but eventually that's gonna be

someone that's gonna be better than you.

You know what I mean?

And I think if you can always maintain

that mindset of being the recruit,

being the white belt, you know?

Yeah.

I've always got some I can learn here.

There's always gonna be ways

that I can adapt and improve.

I think for me personally, I

think that's the route to success

and success.

Obviously you got real

and r Marines, jiujitsu.

Mm-hmm.

R Marines.

Jiujitsu came first.

Yeah, it did.

Yeah.

Set up.

Why?

Because there, there was a Navy

contingent at some point there.

Why you want afterwards?

Yeah.

Afterwards.

Yeah.

So what made you want to go and start

like the, cause Jiujitsu, I think

the, the big driver was that we had

these little pockets of lads training

juujitsu, but we had no top cover.

We had no support.

Like one of the lads got injured

through an arm bar or, or

just a take down or whatever.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

It wasn't, it wasn't official, like

what we were doing wasn't official.

That was the first thing.

Yeah.

Second thing was everything

was per personality led, right?

So if your boss, you know, if your

troop boss or your OC or whoever

didn't get it, you wouldn't do it.

Simple as that.

You know what I mean?

And there was very little

education on what Juujitsu

was, what unarmed combat was.

And I just knew that there was

so much confidence that could be

gained through the lads having the

ability to defend themselves to to

dis to disarm, disable an aggressor.

You know target an uncompliant person, you

know two man, three man take down drills,

you know, rumen, you, you know, you're

asking young lads who maybe some of them

have never been in a fight before, right?

Yeah.

To board that ship, take down that

big polish fisherman, or enter that

room, you know you know, non-compliant

aggressor, you gotta take him down.

You gotta arrest and restrain him, right?

Yeah.

But where's the confidence?

And, and, you know, weapons

systems aren't helping Yeah.

In this situation, are they?

Yeah, exactly.

It's, you know, you, you know,

you, you're wanting em to have

courageous restraint, right?

And and do the right thing.

But are we giving them the tools and the,

the knowledge, the experience to be able

to actually deal with that situation?

Yeah.

Because the more you are pressure

testing these lads, the more

confidence they're gaining.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And then they are gonna sling

the weapon and get involved

and do you know what I mean?

So, so I was like banging down doors,

you know, kind of like speaking to troop

officers and ocs saying, look, we need to

be doing more Rome Marine Corps combat.

We need to be doing grappling.

We need to be doing this,

we need to be doing that.

And this is a perfect example, right?

So we always carry a

survival tin, don't we?

Right.

In our pocket, right?

It's tipped up.

We never open it, we never use it.

But in there, it's got everything we need.

If we find ourselves on our own,

dislocated from our, you know, our

section, our troop, our kit, right.

And in there you've got your, your

fishing hooks, you've got your condoms for

carrying water, you've got your tampon for

breaking up and making fires and all that.

Right?

But when have, when have we ever used

our survival tin in a real situation?

Yeah.

You just don't do it.

Just don't do it.

And whenever you've going on ship Right.

Or whenever you're going on a,

any waterborne operations or

exercises, you go and do dunk drills.

You know you go in a simulated helicopter

and you put it in a swimming pool, turn

the lights off, we turn it upside down.

Yeah.

And we all practice getting out.

Right?

Yeah.

In case it ditches in the water.

Yeah.

But, you know, when has that happened?

And I think that's the

same for like close combat.

Do you know what I mean?

So it's like, it should be like a

fire alarm or a car alarm in the back

pocket, always there if we ever need it.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And I think a lot, a lot of the time,

the argument always used to be, well, if

you're at a point where you're not gonna

need your weapon system all lost anyway.

Mm-hmm.

Well, you said the same for

the helicopter going down.

Yeah.

Well it's done anyway.

Don't, don't bother drilling it.

Yeah.

Because you're probably gonna die anyway.

Yeah.

Which you probably would, but Yeah.

That one small chance where you don't

die, something hasn't happened and

you need to escape a helicopter.

Yeah.

You're in that situation

where you need it.

Mm-hmm.

You know, it's better to have it,

have those skills and not need it.

Yeah.

Than need it and not have it.

Surely.

Yeah, a hundred percent.

And I think also like people

think of like, oh no, I'm combat.

As in, you know, you, you're sort

of, you're there, your weapon

system's failed and you now you

got your C commander dagger out.

Yeah.

Do you what I mean?

Yeah.

That's, you know, but it's like you could

be on a boarding, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Where you just need to arrest andin

this, this person, or like detain

them, or do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And like in a world now where everyone's

got a video camera, you know, the default

setting for lads, if they don't know

what they're doing, they're gonna be

using the fists or the feet, you know?

And all it takes is someone to film

that, you know, blast it all over.

And that's, and as well, like some

of the, it's always overlooked

is when the lads are off duty.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

They're at home with their

family and their kids and they

get involved in a situation.

They need to have the confidence and

the skills and drills to be able to

deal with that the most efficient,

effective way, pro possible.

And, and the, the best thing about

it all is that actually when you

have spent a lot of time in those

situations on the map with your mates.

You don't find yourself in those

situations weirdly, because it is

still a martial art though, right?

Isn't it?

Yeah.

And one of the biggest parts of it

is de deescalation, deescalation.

And before you situations,

before the even happen.

Yeah, absolutely.

And if you can't manage in your

distance from it without Exactly.

You, if I lead to, because I think

especially with young lads and

there's a lot of ego, I think there's

an element of proving themselves.

Yes.

Do you know what I mean?

The, the need to prove themselves or

the need to dominate in a certain way.

But I think when you are on the map on

a regular basis, that just goes away.

Do you know what I mean?

So digressed a little bit.

So going back I just saw the need for

all Royal Marines to be doing Brazilian

jiujitsu, whether that is in a work

sense in combats or as a sport, you know?

So I approached various different

people and everything I got

back was like super negative.

Like, yeah, we've tried that before.

It's not gonna happen.

Wasting your time.

Don't bother.

You know?

And I think if you maybe didn't have

that desire, you know, and that belief,

you'd probably at that point be like, all

right, Roger, and, and you just crack on

doing your little secret squirrel club.

But my desire, my want, you know,

for this to be an official sport was.

So much that I just kept on and on and on.

And it got to the point where I

was in front of the Deputy Command

General, the Royal Marines at the

annual general meeting for all sports.

Yeah.

At Limestone.

And basically for those that don't know,

this is where if you are the head of

rugby, you'd go and you'd say, right

sir, you know, for rugby this season,

you know, we need this, we need that.

It's gonna cost this,

it's gonna cost that.

It's a bit of, you know so for me it

was my opportunity to basically pitch

juujitsu and get the authority to

trial it as a core sport for 12 months

to see if there was the interest.

And then at the end of that, if

we proved it's worth, we'd get

core sport status, which Yeah.

Came with all the the benefits.

So weirdly, I ended up going after this

office who was there bidding for Zap cat.

Right.

And for those that, don't dunno what

Zap cat is basically speedboat racing.

Right.

And I was like, this is perfect.

Right?

Yeah.

Because he, he's there saying yes we need

this for mowing fees and we need trailers

and we have fuels gonna cost this.

And you know, I'm like, this is brilliant.

Yeah.

Right.

So it gets to me and it's like,

right, yeah, I understand.

You know, you want to have authority

for Brazilian jujitsu, you know,

and, what do you need from us?

I said I just need permission, sir. He's

like, yeah, you know, what do you need in

terms of, you know, kit financial support?

I said, nothing sir. Like,

what do you mean nothing?

You know, you must need something.

I'm like, no.

Said every commando unit has mats.

And I said, even where there is no mats,

we can use the grass use outdoor areas.

The lads can do it in PT rig, but no, gee.

And they can also do it in their

combats for gee techniques.

So we can use the colors, we can use

the sleeves just like we do in gee.

So that was it.

I got the authority on that day and

within 12 months we grew it to the

biggest sport in the raw Marines.

So more raw Marines doing Brazilian

jiujitsu than football, boxing, rugby,

all your traditional speed boating.

Speed boating.

Yeah.

Just because we made it part

culture, do you know what I mean?

Like, we'd go do troop fizz or company

fizz and you know, while we're running

around the trim trail, not a man 40

commander, you know, we'd stop, we'd do

pickup drills, do technical standups.

Yeah.

You know, pinning drills.

Yeah.

You know, and and then we'd crack on

the run do pullups and it just made it

like part of what we did, you know any

opportunity I got, you know, like on the

ranges and as you know, there's loads of

waiting round on the ranges, isn't they?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'd be like, well, they're not

on the point, you know, get 'em

practicing jujitsu, you know?

Yeah.

I remember like going away on

like skydiving experts and whilst

you're waiting, you know, to go up

on your, your, your, your lift I'd

have the lads practicing like, you

know, armbars and, you know, escape

drills and all this kind of stuff.

You know, in 12 Amps, the biggest sport

in a room reason is a phenomenal effort.

You know, it's, it, it's brilliant

for one, for the core and two

for, for the lad's mental health.

Mm-hmm.

And to an extent, like just who they are.

Yeah, I think it absolutely, if anyone

ever hasn't tried it, you should try it.

It makes you a better person.

Absolutely.

One of the best things I've done, only

regret I have is I didn't start sooner.

Oh, no regret.

No regrets, mate.

Yeah, no regrets.

You were, you were, you were busy

building the combat fuel empire.

We were.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Fair, fair.

On the back of that end, where did

the idea of real charity come about?

Yeah, so I suppose talking about

R and BJJ it's a nice segue

into that, I guess, really.

So, you know, during that time you know,

we were like, you know, you obviously got

friends who've like left the, the call and

stuff like that and you'd be like inviting

them back on a camp to like train with

us in squash courts and stuff like that.

And we just started to see like

there was something special there.

Do you know what I mean?

You know, lads.

Who kind of, they've

left that brotherhood.

Yeah.

You know, and they'd left the

core and they've maybe gone off

into like a really good job or

whatever, you know what I mean?

But there's all, I think when you've been

a part of something special, like the

military, you know, and no matter how long

you've served, you know, whether that's

a couple of years or you know, whether

it's a full career, you know, there's,

there's been something there that's

been a big part of your life, you know?

And then, you know, that day comes where

you hand in your ID card, you hand in

your kit and you walk out that gate

and it's gone, gone forever, you know?

So we were inviting lads back

on the camp just to train with

us, like, you know, no questions

asked, just come along and train.

And what we always found is that

after training we'd like have a wet

or a brew in your case, you know?

Yeah.

And and we'd catch up

and all the rest of it.

And, and I think firstly like you've

got a very special bond because you boot

next you Royal Marines, you, you know.

But secondly, and you touched on this,

when you're doing Jiujitsu, you develop

a special relationship with your training

partners because you've gotta trust each

other that when you get me in a Reena

choke, if I tap, you're gonna let go.

Because if you don't let go, I'm

gonna sleep, I'm gonna unconscious.

Right.

And if you still don't let go.

I'm not waking up, you know?

Or you get me in an armbar and I tap.

If you don't let go, you're

destroying my elbow job.

Yeah.

You know?

So I think as a result, you develop these

very strong like bonds and relationships

and a respect, like a mutual respect

where you feel you can share and open up.

And, you know, I've had conversations with

lads on the mats after training or over

a coffee afterwards, and they've told me

stuff and they're like, never told that.

I never, I've never said

that to anyone else.

You know?

So I think we knew we'd touched

on something quite special.

And Royal Marine Brazilian jujitsu

was burning and turning, you

know, like that was murdering.

We had like clubs in every commando unit.

We had a team now that was going out and

competing and because it was a core sport

that meant lads had on-duty status, you

know, they could go represent the core

in I-B-J-G-F competitions got Vegas, all

this cool stuff, you know what I mean?

So I could focus on veterans, you know?

Yeah.

And, and, you know,

getting them into jujitsu.

And weirdly I'd, I'd kind of, I,

I'd also connected with a veteran,

a US Special Forces veteran.

Who's now become a very, very

special friend of mine, almost

like a brother called Alan Shiro.

And he founded, we Defy foundation

over in the US who basically

did what I, I was looking to do.

Yeah.

But in a formal, official capacity, right?

Yeah.

Which was getting veterans training

jujitsu through scholarships.

Right.

We were just doing it in an

informal sense where just

inviting lads on training jujitsu.

So they were over in the uk Alan and

Chris weer another USMC veteran and

an absolute jujitsu legend, you know.

So I went and met them and offered

them the opportunity to basically

come and have a visit within the

Royal Marines and, you know, we'd show

'em around and, and what have you.

So I was at 30 commando at the time,

so I brought 'em down and you know,

showed him round and we, we got

'em on the kit and showed him round

the, the mess and they taught some

Jiujitsu seminars and we did like a

mess dinner, you know, in the evening.

Then we went to CTC

and did the same there.

And we just, I think like most

veterans, especially if you've got a

shared passion like Jiujitsu, we just

formed this really strong, kinda like.

Bond, you know?

And Alan very kindly kind of turned

around to me and, and offered me

the opportunity to build like a,

a UK arm of weed Defy foundation.

Yeah.

Which just blew me away.

I was like super honored and privileged

that he'd offered me to do that.

And he'd obviously been, he'd seen what

I'd done with Rome, Marine Juujitsu,

and, and, and, and he had a lot of, you

know, nice things to say about that.

So I thought on it, but I thought

it was really important that we kind

of had our own identity because even

though, you know, the UK and the US

were great allies, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And, and, you know, we served

together and, you know, we've fought

together and got some great history.

We've still got our own cat

badges, do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And, you know, we've got our own

history and our own identity.

So I thought it was important

that if we were forming our own

organization, we we did the same.

And I explained that to him and he

is like, yeah, completely get it.

You know, completely

understand that, respect it.

He said, look, I'm here to help

and support anything that you need.

He said, but one bit of advice, he is get

the name right and get the logo right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So so I went away and I, I kind of got

my sketch pad out and my, yeah, my, my.

Crayons, you know, started

coming with some ideas.

Yeah.

And and obviously I, I think I was

like a purple belt at this point.

And I, I was looking at different,

like, ideas and I was looking at like

jiujitsu sort of techniques, you know,

like reversal or switch, you know,

because I was wanting it to go from

like bad to good, like dark to light.

Yeah.

Because we were sort of taking him

from this place and through Juujitsu

taking him to this place, you know, but

we're trying to appeal to lad to never

done Juujitsu before, so we wouldn't

get that, do you know what I mean?

So, and started looking at

different military terms.

And I, I ki I kind of rested on reorg.

And I imagine the majority of people

listening to this knows what a reorg is.

Yeah.

But for those who don't you know,

we, we've got an objective and

we fight through that objective.

We clear the objective, we shout the

word reorg, and everyone in the section,

the team, they echo the word reorg.

We come together in all round

defense, we check each other off.

No matter what's just happened,

good or bad, we move forward

with a positive mindset.

And I thought, well, that's it, you know?

Yeah.

We are using jujitsu as a vehicle

to reorg and move forward.

So.

Just like use the word reorg, put the

commando dagger down the middle 'cause of

our commando heritage, because obviously

at this point it's just raw marines.

Yeah.

You know, commando train ranks that

we is in our kind of little community.

And I bounced it around

different lads, you know?

Yeah.

I kind of trusted and respected and

they were like, yeah, nailed it.

Nailed it.

That's great.

You know?

And, and we formed it as an

initiative under the umbrella

of the Rome Marine charity.

And that was it.

We just kinda, we just went off

on this thing just kind of helping

Rome Marines, you know, getting them

to juujitsu academies, getting 'em

training, and, and at that point, you

know, these like Juujitsu academies,

the black belt instructors were

like, yep, we'll just train 'em.

We'll just, you know,

we'll just get 'em in.

We'll just get 'em training.

Yeah.

You know, there was no kind of no

fees involved or anything like that.

It was just, we were just

bumbling along, just like Yeah.

Making it work, you know?

And because we were under the umbrella

of the Royal Marine Charity, we,

they were like top cover anything

that we raised, like funding wise.

So we, we very quickly started

like banging out kit so lads could

train in reorg kit to kind of feel

like they had some, a new uniform.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

They, they had a new uniform by

wearing this Rio kit and Gareth from

Tami fight where he was amazing, you

know, kind of just working with me on.

Designs and kit and, and,

and all the rest of it.

So the money we were generating was

going to the Royal Marine Charity.

So if we did need to help any

veterans, you know, with any kind

of funding or membership fees or

anything like that, we'd use the

money from that to, to, to do that.

So yeah, that, that was the start of it.

But I suppose I very quickly realized

that it's not just raw Marines

that needed this, it was the wider

military the wider veteran community.

And then, you know, we realized that

our first responders, so police,

fire paramedics kind of would benefit

from this too, which I think again,

is commendable that you can see the

bigger picture of like, actually

there's more than just the core.

And you know, a lot of us in the

military, very much like it's the

military and only the military.

You're not part of our community.

You're not, we're not helping you.

Yeah.

And not even like being a

nasty way, like no, we're not

helping you, but no, you're not.

You're not one of us.

Yeah.

Whereas I think we did really

well with real, because it doesn't

matter what your background is.

Yeah.

And it is just, if you have served Yeah.

Then we'll support you.

Mm-hmm.

You need to support.

Yeah.

And it's, please do share.

I don't wanna say you say it, you,

you, the real motto supporting those

who, so helping those who help us all.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's it.

And it, it is absolutely brilliant.

You know, and it's, it,

it brings people together.

Absolutely.

So let's fast forward, you,

you eventually say eventually.

Become a black belt.

Right.

My first black belt in the Royal

Marines ever, which is wicked.

So first serving black

belt, you know, serving.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

First serving black belt.

So, and what, what I mean by that is I

went from white belt to black belt, you

know, while serving in the Royal Marines.

Yeah.

Obviously, you know, over the years

before me, there will have been lads

who have done grizzly in jiujitsu

and then maybe left and, and then

got a black belt and started an

academy and all that kind of stuff.

So first guy who's been

in service to, yeah.

So, yeah, so first to go from white

to black, which was, I mean, the, the

day that I got it, it was just, I, I

can't quite remember it if I'm honest.

You know what I mean?

It was a bit kind of, you never think,

like, as a white belt, you never

think you're gonna get a black belt.

No.

Did you expect to get

it on the day you did?

Oh, no.

Not at all.

It was very, no, no.

So, so Mark instigated it all and

he said that it was a 40th birthday.

Shark Tank, basically, it was like to,

to sort of commemorate my 40th birthday.

Yeah.

They were basically the whole

roaming jiujitsu team and reorg

kind of guys at that point.

Were basically just gonna Shark tank

me, so, so I was like, yeah, brilliant.

No, no better way to

celebrate your 40th birthday.

You know what I mean?

So, yeah.

That, that's, and it was at CTC as well.

Yeah.

Ston, which is obviously where my

Juujitsu journey started back in 2004

and Close Comeback instructors course.

So, yeah, I mean, super special in,

in so many ways, you know, having,

having the lads around me, many of

who I suppose I got into jujitsu, you

know, whether they liked it or not.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because in the early days, you know,

I'd basically, you know, just if, if I

didn't have anyone to train with, I'd just

go find someone, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

I'd be like, Hey mate, have you, have

you ever done Brazilian juujitsu?

They're like, no.

I'm like, come on, you're about

to, lemme, lemme, lemme show you

what it's all about, you know?

Did you still get sharks hanged on

that day though, on your birthday?

Oh yeah.

Good.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I wouldn't have had it any

other way either, so, so yeah.

So got shark tanked and then

just quickly explain for those

that dunno what shark tanking is.

Yeah.

So basically you are,

you are in the middle.

And basically you do a round with one

of the lads, and then at the end of that

round he jumps out, next guy jumps in

and he just, it just keeps going and

going and going until, until it ends.

Yeah.

But there's nothing greater, you

know, to to really kind of exercise

your juujitsu because Yeah.

You know, exercising your juujitsu when

you are depleted, tired, hurting, you know

that's when your juujitsu comes through.

You know what I mean?

So yeah, it was, it was brilliant.

Yeah.

Love it.

And obviously then you were

awarded your black belt.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So 2019, that was, and

now you are 2, 20, 25.

The Bag Rules Gone.

Wild Festival, you received

your second degree black belt.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I didn't expect that at all.

Yeah.

Was brilliant.

And, and I mean, what on

occasion to receive it.

So, you know, as, as you

know, we attempted the world's

biggest jujitsu lesson.

Didn't make it unfortunately, but we

did have 1040 and it was still people.

The biggest in the uk, the biggest

in Europe, I think was, it was

second biggest in the world.

Second biggest in the world, you know?

Yeah, yeah.

So it's, yeah.

It, it wasn't it wasn't fatal.

It was, it was brilliant and so

many people were so into it, like.

Moms kids.

Yeah.

The dad, everyone just,

and everybody loved it.

That, that was the win for me.

Yeah.

It's like, you know, me and Bra

after, after the fact, you know, sort

of getting into the, you know, the,

the people, you know, and, and, and

chatting to him and people coming

up to us and, and saying, that's our

first experience of Brazilian Jiujitsu.

We're gonna go home, we're gonna find

our local Brazilian Jiujitsu school.

Yeah.

And train as a family.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Dad's, mom's, kids, you know.

So the fact that we'd given

them the gift of jujitsu on

that day was just outstanding.

Yeah.

It was so good.

At some point though, around here, before

the Bear Worlds Gone Wild Festival,

your career ended in the Royal Marines.

Mm-hmm.

As I said it, like it

came to a close Yeah.

After your full service.

Mm-hmm.

How was that coming about you?

You're like, I'm done.

This has been your entire life.

Yeah.

Since, since 19.

Like your, your whole adult life.

Yeah.

Of service to, to queen and country.

Yeah.

And that done.

Mm-hmm.

How did you feel knowing that

you were, my service is finished.

It's an interesting question and it's a

strange feeling because I always said,

like, during my career, my goal, my target

was to do 22 years, my full service.

And I didn't have like an

aspiration or desire to extend.

I think I was very lucky and I

was very fortunate that I achieved

and accomplished everything that

I ever dreamed of as that kid.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

You know, that kid kind of like

reading the Combat Survival magazines

and watching the commando documentary

or, or whatever, you know, you know.

So to have done my full career and

achieved and accomplished what I

had, and that's from becoming a PTI,

you know, skiing down the mountains

and the frozen frozen lakes in

Norway and, you know, operating

in all the different environments.

And then, you know, I suppose becoming

a PT school instructor, that was

a massive, massive thing for me.

You know?

'cause my uncle was a PT school

instructor, so, you know, to, to

do that myself and be able to shape

the next generation of PTIs, you

know, sort of giving them what

I knew as a PTI, you know, that

was a massive part of my career.

So, so yeah.

So I got, got to the end of my

22 achieving and accomplished

everything that I wanted to.

Yeah.

So and having.

Formed Reorg whilst I was in,

but under the umbrella of that Ro

Marine charity and then subsequently

forming it as an official charity.

You know, I got given the

opportunity to do that full-time.

So I suppose retire from the Royal

Marines and then re run reorg full time.

And that was, I've gotta be honest, and a

lot of my good friends will tell you this.

That was never the intention.

So my intention was always to leave

reorg with the RO Marine charity.

Yeah.

Them carry it on and then I go off

and do my own thing, whatever that is.

But everyone around me that I trusted

and respected were pretty much slapping

me around the face and saying, Sam,

you cannot leave reorg with the RO

Marine charity and let someone else

run it like you've created reorg.

Like you are, you are the kind of fire

that's burning in the middle of it.

And without that it will just

fizzle out and just fade.

And it took me a while to get my

head around that because it didn't,

didn't sit well with me that I

would be doing that full time.

Do you know what I mean?

But then again, good friends

around me, people I trusted and

respected, they managed to change my

mindset in the way I looked at it.

And effectively that if you are

not doing it, no one's doing it.

And.

All the people you've helped along

the way, that wouldn't have happened.

Do you know what I mean?

So yeah.

So I suppose I was, again, lucky I've

used that word a lot during this chat

that I had that to progress into.

Do you know what I mean?

And I suppose taking those 22 years

of experience and injecting it into

this new mission, you know, where

we can carry on the fight to help

more of our community through reorg.

But it felt weird to, to your

question, it felt very strange that

something you've done for 22 years,

you're not, you're not it anymore.

Do you know what I mean?

So you, you were a Royal Marine commander,

you're not now, you know, and that those

commander units you used to just bimble

into, you know, remember like running

in and outta camp, it's your home.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

You can't do that anymore.

You know what I mean?

You get stopped.

Excuse me, sir. Yeah.

What, what do you want?

And it's like, oh no, I used to live here.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

Did you have any loss

of identity coming out?

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

And yeah, because it, it, it's like

you're battling with who am I now?

Yeah.

I'm not, I'm not Call sergeant.

Sam Sheriff anymore, you know what I mean?

A Mr. Sam Sheriff.

Yeah.

And it's exciting and it's a new

chapter and all the rest of it.

But yeah, there is, there is

that kind of, I mean, I, I, I was

in the raw brains longer than I

was alive before it, you know?

So it made me who I am.

Like I grew up in the Royal

Marines, like without a doubt.

Like when I, even though I was 19

when I joined, I was still a kid.

Do you know what I mean?

Like Yeah.

You don't think you are, like,

you pass out limestone, you think

you're a, you're, you think you're

an alpha, you know what I mean?

Like you're raw marine commander.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You just a kid.

You know what I mean?

You're just a kid who's done a course

and that's no dis no disrespect lads

if you've just passed out a ster.

But when you get to my age, you'll see it.

And you don't realize till you get older

and you get more experienced, you know?

And so yeah, you can, you do all

your growing up in the raw Marines

and you, you go through a lot of

different experiences, you know, highs,

lows achievement, accomplishments,

loss of those that you love.

Yeah.

It's yeah, it definitely

makes you who you are.

You won't be, if you took it away,

you won't be that same person.

Yeah.

You know?

And.

I think that's where a lot of lads and,

and girls, you know, a lot of men and

women, they do struggle with that when

they leave and support's been not just

from the lads, but home life as well.

Mm-hmm.

And your wife.

And it's, yeah, it is very, I

don't wanna say it's very rare.

I think the better way to phrase it is

divorce and the loss of relationships

for those that serve is common.

Mm-hmm.

How do you maintain a relationship

through all of your deployments, reorg,

everything you're given to everyone else.

How do you, how do you even have time

to, to commit to a relationship as well?

And, and, you know, still

happily married today.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you know what, like, I think

again, I, I'm, I'm, I'm tired of

using this word now, but lucky

I think I, you know, I've met,

I've met someone very special.

Yeah.

You know and you know, me and my wife Amy

been through a lot, you know, both of us.

You know, she's been,

she's been through a lot.

I've been through a lot.

But I think we've done it together.

I think that's the main thing.

You know what I mean?

And I think it's, I think

when you find someone who

you understand each other and you.

You can navigate the space and you

can listen and understand and and

yeah, ultimately, you know, if, if

I didn't have Amy you know, holding

the, for, you know, she's the one

who's keeping everything together.

And you know, I've got, as you know, Alex,

I've got an older daughter who's happily

married, you know, and living her life.

And I've got two young boys at home

and, you know, whilst I'm away flying

the reorg flag, you know, doing

what I'm doing, she's the one at

home kind of boots on the ground.

Yeah.

You know putting the work in.

And, and I, I do attempt to remind

her of that, you know what I mean?

And, and, and let her know how

much she's appreciated, you

know, and all the rest of it.

But I think it's just, it's

understanding, isn't it?

It's like it is a relationship.

It's give and take.

It's like understanding when

maybe you've been a bit selfish

and you need to ease off.

And a good friend of mine used

the analogy keeping the port

and starboard engine aligned.

Good old Royal Marine.

Yeah.

You know, saying, and, and what that,

what I mean by that is, you know, you put.

Engine is work, your starboard

engine is home life, you know?

And if you put too much into one, you're

gonna go off your bearing, you put too

much into your other, you're gonna go

off the bearing the other direction.

And it's trying to maintain both

your port and starboard engine to

keep aligned on a true bearing.

And it's hard and it's a

challenge, you know what I mean?

It takes work on a daily basis

because life is hard, isn't it?

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And just when you think smooth

sailing, you get a rogue wave.

Yeah.

And might flip your butt.

Do you know what I mean?

And it might take a bit of effort to

to, to get that boat back even keel

and get back on that bearing again.

But if it was plain seas, easy sailing

life would be boring though, right?

Yeah, a hundred percent mate.

It would be boring.

Yeah, absolutely.

Have you got any advice for anyone

else, especially the military guys

that are going for a tough time in,

in relationships, you know, where the

easy thing to do is just, do you know

what we'll call that a day, whatever.

Yeah.

I mean, I dunno if I'm the best

person to give advice, but I'll I

suppose I'll, I'll give what I know.

I think the big thing is

communication, you know what I mean?

And I, I think that's not

just like relationships, I

think that's just in life.

I think when communication falls

down, everything falls down.

You know what I mean?

And, just talking.

Do you know what I mean?

I think a lot of the time people hold

things in, they bottle it up, they

let it get to a point where you red

lining and then it just comes out.

You know, I think the minute things

are getting difficult, just

talk about it, you know?

Because there's nothing worse than

keeping it in and not sharing.

I mean, that's why you're

in a relationship, isn't it?

You're in a relationship.

Yeah.

So you can share things

with each other, you know?

Yeah.

And nothing good comes from hiding things,

being secretive, not letting people know.

Do you know what I mean?

Good or bad.

Talk about it.

And I think you're on the right way then

to, I mean, like an injury, isn't it?

Do you know what I mean?

If you, if you pick up an

injury and you just crack on,

you don't treat that injury.

And whether that's a physical

injury or psycho injury, you

know, a physical injury or mental

injury need to treat it, you know?

Yeah.

And you know, if you go over your

ankle and then you just crack

on, it's just gonna get worse.

Yeah.

You know, you need to get it looked at

by a, a medic, you know, you need to see

what damages in there and then you need

to treat the cause, not the symptoms.

Yeah.

You know, brilliant stuff.

However, there has been a failure,

Sam, in your relationship.

Oh, you never got her on the mats.

No.

And do you know what?

I never will.

You know, and, and Amy will tell

you this, you know, herself.

You know, at the end of the day,

as much as it pains me to say Jiujitsu is

not for everyone, do you know what I mean?

So yeah, no, we, we won't

get my, my wife on the mats.

But the boys are on the mats.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

The boys are on the mats.

What?

Your daughter, any chances

of her ever stepping foot on?

I don't think so.

No.

I think she's like her mum.

They both like their nails,

you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Wouldn't, yeah.

They're like their nails and yeah.

That's no good for grappling, I think.

No.

Yeah, no.

Cut your toenails and your finger nails.

Exactly.

Yeah.

That, that's where it as Matt inspection.

Let me see your nails.

She's like, okay.

Yeah, no problem.

Well, yeah.

Real is a charity though.

Yeah.

Money isn't, it doesn't

grow on trees and No.

The guys and girls that yourself

and the real team support.

Mm-hmm.

The money has to come from somewhere.

Yeah.

You know, there's, and I'm not

trying to blow on trumpet, but

there's business like us Oh yeah.

Army.

There's a lot of businesses support reel.

Yeah.

You raised a lot of money yourself.

You're still involved in fundraising

and you seem to have a weird fetish with

ropes, and we're gonna call it a fetish.

So the first two things, you un

unhealthy relationship, let's call

it unhealthy, unhealthy relationship.

See, you've done a hundred rope

climb, but I think out of the recent

things that you completed was your 24

hour rope climb in your back garden.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I think this unhealthy relationship

all comes from being a PTI.

Yeah.

You know, and, and I think I need to

caveat this by saying that all roll marine

PTIs, you know, I've got a love of ropes.

Yeah.

And probably a lot of Royal Marines do.

Yeah.

You know, there's maybe a lot of Royal

Marines that have got a dislike of ropes.

Yeah.

And maybe you give them nightmares,

but you know, ultimately we

all get taught to climb ropes.

Yeah.

And as a PTI, you teach Royal Marines,

and I just personally developed a love

of it, you know, and I at a hundred

percent record of my recruits you know,

teaching them and getting them to the top.

And we used to do like a

remedial session on a Saturday.

Yeah.

And some lads like hated that,

but I was like, I was positive.

That was like my thing.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Like, I'd have all these different

ways to like teach 'em the techniques.

It's all technique, like juujitsu, you

know, it's, it's, it's all technique.

So that's where the, the love came from.

And my first one was at four five

Commando when we were raising

funds for the Memorial Garden

at four five Commando Garden of

Light reflection and Remembrance.

So the CEO set us as a unit a mission to

go out and raise funds for this garden.

So true r Marine fashion, like lads

are like knocking out the park.

Do you know what I mean?

Doing all these mad sort of things.

So because I was a PTI, you know, I

was unit PTI and unit ERI, I thought

I'll do a rope challenge, right?

So I set myself the challenge of

climbing higher than the world's

tallest structure, which was at that

time the Birch Khalifa in, in Dubai.

So I think it was like

2,600 and something feet.

And I thought, well, I'll round it

up to 3000 feet, which is a hundred

rope climb on a 30 foot rope, right?

So I start climbing on the ropes

at four five Commando and I'm doing

a few sessions and I'm thinking,

God, I'm doing all right here.

Like, you know, I'm doing like,

I think one session I did like 40

climbs and it was like, not too bad.

Do you know what I mean?

I did it over a weekend, like

when I was at, at R Condo.

And and then I stopped on,

on one of my commutes on my,

one of my runs at the line.

I stopped at my brother's.

Who at the time he lived in Halifax and

his daughters were there, my nieces,

and I was showing them rope climbing.

Right.

To show 'em what this

challenge was that I was doing.

And it was recruits at CTC

climbing the 30 foot ropes.

And you know, when you have

like a moment of dread Yeah.

You know, where it's

like you've messed up.

Do you know what I mean?

You get that like, cold

feeling in your stomach.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And I was watching this video and I

was wa I was looking at the length

of the rope and instantly I just

knew those ropes were longer than

the ones at four five Commando.

Yeah.

It'd been so long since I've been at CTC.

Yeah.

I just, I just assumed that every

single gym in the Royal Marines,

they'd be the same, they'd be 30 foot.

Right.

Yeah.

So I've been like, nailing

these ropes, right.

Thinking I'm smashing this.

So I'll go back to go back after

weekend leave and I got one of

my mates and I was like, mate,

we need to measure these ropes.

I was like, you hold the bottom,

I'll climb up and, and tell me

what it's, I'll climb up this

rope and, i'm like, what is it?

He's like, oh mate, you're

not gonna like this.

I'm like, just tell me what is it?

Said it's 22 foot.

I'm like, no, like eight feet short.

Right.

Which doesn't sound like much, but it is.

Right.

So I come down, I'm like,

right, you climb up.

Let me, I wanted like confirmation.

Yeah.

Right.

So he climbs up.

Yeah.

22 feet.

I'm like, no.

So I had to order a new rope.

Right.

So I ordered a 30 foot rope.

And then one of the lads who did like, one

of the, he did like high access rigging.

He like rigged himself up, you

know, with black Marlow and,

and climbing gear and that.

Yeah.

And he basically worked his way

along and we had like a slowing roof.

Yeah.

At the gym at four five commando.

So it went from where the ropes went

at the lowest end to the highest end.

Right.

So he is climbing along, climbing on,

and this is 30 foot, this rope and

there's still loads of it on the floor.

Right.

And he's going, going, going, going.

And he had to go right to the very

far end, the highest point of the gym.

And that was 30 foot.

And it was just massive.

It just like completely

dwarfed this other rope.

Right.

And I did my first session on it.

I was like, oh, what have I done?

What have I done?

You know what I mean?

It was just honking in comparison.

Do you know what I mean?

To the other one.

So, so yeah, I was training.

I, and I decided to do it.

I set the date and it was just before

we went on Christmas leave and we

actually had Wig and Warriors up.

I was taking them for preseason

training prior to you know,

us going on Christmas leave.

So they came up, did some preseason

training with us, and it was really

interesting actually, 'cause I,

I was taking 'em for the week

and then I took him in the gym.

We did an IMF session, taught

'em to climb ropes and got 'em on

the ropes and all the rest of it.

So they had an understanding of

how challenging rope climbing was.

And I said to him in the morning, I

said, oh, I won't, I said, tomorrow.

I said, I won't be able to

take you for the preseason.

I said, the other lads will do it.

I said, I'm doing a challenge.

I'm climbing that rope

for a hun a hundred times.

And they were like, what?

They couldn't get their

head round it, you know?

And they, throughout the day they'd

come in and like, just check in on me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then so yeah, I got to, got to

my 99th climb and like lad's were

like coming in and out throughout

the day and all the rest of it.

And I got to my 99th climb and

a load of lads had come in and

life on the ocean wave came on.

Which for those that don't know, that's

like ass song, the raw Marines, you know?

Yeah.

So I just felt this surge of, right.

I'm gonna go back up.

Right?

Yeah.

But I'd just done a climb.

So I'd just done a climb and life

on the ocean waves came on and

against my judgment, like my brain

was telling me not to do it, but

I thought, I'm just gonna go.

So I went and, and I got

like one shift from the top.

Right?

Yeah.

And I've never ever experienced

this in my whole career.

I, I was like fully extended and

I just had to do one more shift.

Yeah.

But I just could not move.

Like my body just wouldn't move.

It was like I was, I must have just ran

out of like energy or the lactic acid

was just built up too much, whatever.

I dunno.

But I'd seen recruits do it at ton.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah.

And I, and I was always like, I couldn't

get my head round what was happening.

Why you just stopped.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

So I like a split second to decide

I ever attempt this and potentially

freeing from the whole unit.

Right.

Or suck it up, come back

down and deal with it.

You know what I mean?

And that's what I had to do.

I had to come back down and I

was, oh, I was just ashamed.

Like I was ashamed, I was devastated.

And I thought, is this it?

Have like, have I failed the challenge?

You know what I mean?

And I had one of the lads there,

one of the medics, and he was

like, mate, you'll be fine.

He said, let's just shake

you out and go again.

Do that climb again.

So I just shake out and,

and and all the rest of it.

And I did that.

99th climb again.

Did it.

And then I had one more climb to

do that 'cause I'd I rectified

my wrong, I knew I was good then.

Yeah.

And then I did my 100th climb and oh, that

last climb, I just like flew up and I got

to the top and just hung on one handed and

just like the whole unit just went mental.

Yeah.

It was just such a, a, an awesome feeling.

And because of what we were doing it

for as well, you know what I mean?

Like raising funds for the memorial

garden of the CEO there, the R rs

m and yeah, it was brilliant mate.

So yeah, I, I vowed that I'd never

do a challenge like that again

because it was just disgusting.

It was awful.

But yeah, they say you

forget pain, don't they?

Yeah.

So naturally you've thought it

wasn't hard enough, so you'd not

only do it for 24 hours, but you'd

add some weight to it as well.

Well, yeah.

So the, the next challenge was yeah,

so 10 years had passed since that and

and our trustee, mark Ormo had done

some, like, mental challenges for reorg.

Yeah.

And I just thought, you know,

I, I want to contribute to this.

So I thought it has to be like rope

related, do you know what I mean?

To continue the theme.

So, so yeah, I thought I'd do

an endurance thing this time

and yeah, I was chatting to.

My wife actually, and I, I was

thinking of doing like 10 climbs on

the hour, every hour of 24 hours.

And she's like, yeah, that sounds awful.

I said, yeah, but I know I can do that.

Like I've got, even though

I've never done that Yeah.

Before in my life, I just had

a feeling that I could do it.

Whereas I didn't actually know if I

could do 20, like to me, 20 on the hour.

Every hour just seemed

a bit more impossible.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

She's like, well, why are you doing that?

Then?

I says, well, 'cause I

don't know if I can do it.

And it's a challenge, you know?

So it was Halloween.

Yeah.

And I thought, it's no better

time to announce an absolutely

gooping hideous challenge.

And I found, and I thought, once I've

announced it, then I've gotta do it.

Then you gotta do it.

You know what I mean?

So yeah.

So I announced it on that day.

I, I do 20, 20 climbs on the hour

every hour of 24 hours outdoors

on an outdoor rope in my garden.

So yeah, the, the i in my training

building up to that, you know,

I had like days where it was

snowing, I'd do it at night.

Yeah.

I'd do it at like random, I'd just set

my alarm and just go out like three

in the morning, just climb, you know?

'cause I knew I had to

be doing it for 24 hours.

So day the risk came and, and

BBC got on board, you know, they

came and covered it and you guys

very kindly supported me on that.

So thank you so much for

supporting me on that.

And yeah we, I, I started at

10 o'clock in the morning.

Started climbing and yeah.

I did my first 20 and that was all right.

And, but then I, I, I did say

as well, 'cause people were

saying, are you gonna use gloves?

And I said, no.

You know, we don't use gloves

in the raw Marines to climb,

so I'm not gonna use gloves.

And we, in the first sort of few

hours, my hands started to go shiny.

Yeah.

And I thought, Ooh, have

I made an error here?

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

But now I cracked on and, and yeah.

And then later on in the day, you

know, mark came, mark was kinda like

supporting me and the support online.

Do you know what I mean?

So like, people like online Yeah.

We like sending me messages and

we'd do like lives, you know?

Yeah.

When I was climbing and just the fact

that people were staying awake Yeah.

You know, to watch me.

Yeah.

It just like, it fueled me, you know?

Yeah.

It's like, it, it kind of

energized me every time.

Like someone commented or kind of said

something, it just give you that bit of,

bit of like energy, you know what I mean?

To kind of get back on it.

But the worst thing was like

that little bit of in between.

So when I first started, it was

taking me like 25 minutes to do the

climbs and then, so I'd have a bit

of like 40 minutes of admin time.

Yeah.

Before the next client.

So that would be giving me time to.

I have some combat fuel.

Yeah.

And you know, got the heads

and, you know, just administrate

myself, whatever I needed.

Yeah.

But then obviously as it progressed,

like that would take longer, you

know, so it got to the point where

it was taking like 40 minutes to do

the 20 climbs which was less time.

And then in the dark hours, like,

you know, me and Mark, we like sat

round, like we had like a fire going.

So we'd like sat around this fire.

'cause it was a really clear night.

Yeah.

Which was brilliant.

'cause it meant it wasn't raining.

Yeah.

But it was ices.

Yeah.

Not as ices as it is in here,

but it, but it was Ices.

Right.

And so we're like round this fire.

And Mark was like, played

all these different songs.

Like it went for every genre of

songs, do you know what I mean?

Like, keeping going.

And and we'd be like, round the fire,

we'd settle our alarms just in case

we'd nodded off and we would nod off.

Do you know what I mean?

But you know, like when you're in the

field, like you nod off and then boom.

Like your alarm goes off and

you're like, but it was enough

time to like completely cool down.

So like, you've gone

from like fizzing Yeah.

To like ices.

Yeah.

You know, like, and you cold,

you know, like sweat, like

you sweat's gone all cold.

Yeah.

And like so I'd get up out of this chair.

Like the tin man.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

Like with no oil and like, oh, like

walking over to the, to the rope.

I remember getting on the rope and

like doing that first shift, like

bringing my knees up onto the rope.

Yeah.

Oh, it was just honking pain.

The pain, like inside my knees, ear.

'cause you know, you squeeze the rope,

you know, so it was like my legs had

been tenderized with a hammer, you know?

So those first five were like

dropping, you know, but then

I was like, warmed up then.

Yeah.

And I'd get the, the remaining 15 done.

Yeah.

And I hit like two walls, you

know, during the 21st wall was,

I think it was about like, two in

the morning, something like that.

And even though I was like eating loads,

getting loads of kind of calories on

board, I think I was just like depleted.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

So I just like ran into the kitchen,

just like smashed like all this different

stuff down, you know what I mean?

I like pouring honey

in my mouth and, yeah.

And and then, yeah, I, I cracked

on then, and then next wall was

like, it was about half, five in

the morning, something like that.

And weirdly, Amy had come down.

Someone had woke her up and she came

down and I said, Amy, please can you just

go down to McDonald's, drive through?

We've got one like five minutes down

from where we live and get me a black

coffee like ash browns, two egg muffins.

You know what I mean?

Just something to Yeah, just like fat.

I just needed like fat fuel.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And so she, she drove down there,

got that comeback and I smashed it.

And you know, like on a video game

when it's like you, you get like

a power up and it's like b Yeah.

That's literally what it was.

Like, you know what I mean?

And I'm not for one minute advocating

McDonald's for athletes, by the

way, but if you are doing a 24

hour rope climb challenge Yeah.

It hit the mark.

Yeah.

So and then the sun came up

and I thought, that's it.

You know, we brought the back of this.

Yeah.

Done.

Easy is done.

Yeah.

But yeah, see at home, I think one of

the, one of the highlights was probably

I, so my, my boys came and saw me when

they came home from school, right?

Yeah.

And then they got into the pajamas,

came out and said goodnight to me.

Yeah.

Went to bed.

And then in the morning they got

up and looked out the curtains.

Yeah.

And I, and the, the sh they shouted to

my, my wife, his dad's still climbing.

Has he been climbing all night?

And I just think like, I suppose

really, and I've not thought about

this before, to be honest, like.

To what we were talking at the

beginning where I had those memories.

Which I mean quite

dramatic really, I suppose.

Do you know what I mean?

Like with my dad and his alcoholism to

replace that with those memories Yeah.

That my boys have got,

do you know what I mean?

Of like waking up?

Is dad still climbing?

Yeah.

You know, that like, just kind of

just giving them them experiences

that maybe might inspire them.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

When, when they're older.

Yeah.

I, I hope you kids look at

you as you, you're their hero.

Would you say that's, that's fair.

It's hard to look at yourself and

say, oh, I am to someone else.

But it's depends what mood they're in.

It depends if you're sitting

to bed early, it, it depends

what's going on at the time.

But no, I mean, yeah.

I mean, you'd, you'd never

sort of admit that, would you?

But I think I think, well,

let's put it this way.

Everything I do is for

them, you know what I mean?

And you know, if I, if I can sort

of in spite motivate ent, use

them just by doing what I enjoy,

then that's a, a bonus in it.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

And maybe replace some of those

negative memories I have, you know,

with positive memories and, and I think.

Like most of the people that are

gonna be listening to this, you

know, that are part of your combat

fuel community who live healthy

lifestyles and good positive habits.

You know, I think that the big

thing for me is when like I'm in

the garden cracking a circuit, and

then they just come and join me.

Just come and join in.

Do you know what I mean?

Or I might be in the kitchen, I'll

look outside and they're just cracking

their own circuit, like copying.

Love it, what they've seen me do.

Love it.

Do you know what I mean?

In fact, I must, I must say this actually.

So my boys tell me very

little from school, right?

But the, the other day I learnt from

one of the other parents, right?

That they had a, an indoor pe day

and they got the old gym kit out.

They got the ropes out in the gym, right?

And my son Elliot and his friend

Will, were the only ones in the

class to get to the top of the ropes

because obviously, you know, Elliot's

always messing about on the ropes.

And Will his friend came outta

the house and I give him a little

rope climbing lesson and they

were messing about on the ropes.

Yeah.

So they were both like super, super

pleased with that, you know what I mean?

So I think, yeah, it's just giving those

little, little nuggets, little skills,

but by proxy, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah.

Just through doing your own

actions and that spreading out.

Into them in a positive way, I guess.

Yeah.

This rope climb challenge back onto

that is, it was gooping, wasn't it?

Oh, it was awful.

Wasn't for me.

It was awful.

Better say horrendous.

Fair to say.

That's rope climb challenge.

That's is done's to bed.

It's gone.

Yeah.

You're doing enough one.

Yeah, I'm, but different,

different to the last one.

In the respect of if, if you're scared of

heights, don't listen to this next bit.

Yeah.

So it's obviously another passion

of mine through my career in

the Marines was skydiving.

So before jujitsu, that was my passion.

That's what I did.

Like, before I met my wife Amy,

you know, that is what I do.

You know, I'd go away skydiving on a

weekend, I'd go to the drop zone and jump.

So I loved, I loved it, you

know, that was my thing.

So obviously then I got into

jujitsu and like most things

you kind of, when something else

becomes your All encompassing.

Yeah.

Like the other things get

left a little bit, don't they?

Yeah.

So so yeah, I'd still kept my hand

in like every now and then I'd go

away on a skydiving expedition or

what have you, and stuff like that.

So I thought, wouldn't it be amazing to.

Merge the worlds of rope

climbing skydiving somehow.

Right?

So I thought of, what I'd like to

do is the world's biggest skydive

or the world's highest skydive.

And what I mean by that is at the

point where I finish the climb, I'm

at the highest point that I can be.

So I thought in order to do that, I need

a helicopter or a hot air balloon where

I can hang this rope for me to climb up.

So I was thinking, you know, how,

how could I, how can I do this?

This is just like an idea.

I'm dri again lot of my

ideas when I'm driving.

Yeah.

So I'm just like going through

this in my head, this idea.

And then weirdly, I had a conversation

with a lad who got in touch with me

about different projects, you know?

And he said to me yeah.

So anyway that, that there is

like a fitness event, you know?

And it's like before I go, if you know

anyone who wants to do like any mad

challenges we're really looking for

people to do like a crazy challenge,

you know, the bigger the bear.

Yeah.

And I'm like, that's

interesting you say that.

And basically just explain to

him what I've just explained to

you, thinking he's gonna be like.

No.

You know, you're too not interested.

Quick cost analysis yet.

No.

Yeah.

And he went, you know what?

We've got a he, we've got a he eye

balloon and we've got a helicopter.

Yeah.

Let me, let me pitch it

to the rest of the team.

Yeah.

So as you know, this is Grenade.

Yeah.

And the owner of Grenade

Allen had a helicopter and he

had a hot air balloon Yeah.

In the shape of a grenade.

Yeah.

So they, they get a meeting, right.

So I go up to their HQ and we've got

like the hot air balloon pilot dialing

in and Allen's there and all this,

and, and they're discussing it all

and they're like, yep, sounds amazing.

Let's do it.

And all this.

Yeah.

And I'm like, oh, I

actually need to do this.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

So yeah.

So that built and but the biggest

challenge that we've had throughout

all of this has been weather, like,

you know, living in the UK Yeah.

You know, the weather has

just not been right for us.

And we have had some we've had

some kind of challenges outside

of the weather, you know.

So, you know, one of the D Zeds,

there was a terrible, tragic incident,

you know, that, that put a stop on

the project for a period of time.

So respectfully, you know, we just

kind of let them deal with that.

And then.

We had other kind of ins, we had

other issues, just all like behind the

scenes issues, do you know what I mean?

And then it had been going on

that long that we had a changeover

of hot air balloon pilot.

Yeah.

So yeah, we've got a new hot

air balloon pilot on now.

So we're just waiting for the CAA

paperwork to come back through and

once that's done then hopefully

we can pull the trigger on it.

Yeah.

And the new hot air balloon pilot is

pretty confident that we should have some

good early morning winter clear weather

that we can get it done early morning.

I don't think I've actually

explained what it is.

So essentially we're going up to 10,000

feet in a hot air balloon and we're

gonna lower an abs sail rope and we're

gonna lower a 100 foot climbing rope.

I'm gonna abs sail to the

bottom of the black Marlow.

Grab hold of the climbing rope.

I'm gonna unclip.

Then the black Marlow be pulled

up to the hot air balloon.

I'm now free hanging, so I'm hanging

at 10,000 feet on the bottom of a

100 foot climbing rope weighted.

So I've got a parachute on my back,

helmet, all the gear the parachutes

for safety, obviously if I fall Yeah.

I can pull my own parachute.

And then basically I just set off an

attempt to climb a 100 foot weighted

rope, climb back to the hot air balloon.

And I get to a hot air balloon.

I'll jump off.

Do a free fall.

Yeah.

Deployment parachute and.

Well, I'll have a cup of tea.

Yep.

That's the plan.

Yeah.

Brilliant.

Oh mate.

And good luck for, you

know, it's been a long time.

Current.

I'm sure when it comes

about it'll be, yeah.

Thanks mate.

Exceptional.

I mean, as you know, and you know,

many, many good friends and, and

people that are involved in this,

you know, it's been a long time

coming, but I just really appreciate

everyone that's sticking with it.

Do you know what I mean?

Because we've invested a lot in this now.

Yeah.

And and people that know me well know

that I will not stop, you know, until

I've achieved this and, you know,

we just want to get it done now.

You know, there's a lot of people who

are invested in it and a lot of time and

energy and importantly, you know, a lot of

people have very generously donated Yeah.

To, to the challenge, you know, so

I want to do it for them, but most

importantly, do it for our community

that we're raising the money for.

And you, you know, which is commendable.

You've also, you've always been a bit of

a mad man like searching for adventure,

which brings it back to something you

did in Africa when you were seven.

Ah, yeah.

Yeah.

That was a long time ago.

I mean, the story, you got so close,

I can only assume you wanted to

try and see jujitsu work on Lion.

But please share the story, Sam, about

how you wanted to go and look at lines.

Yeah.

So at the end of an operational

deployment, I had about

seven weeks leave to take up.

So I'd kinda like done a bit of

a bucket list of things that I

wanted to achieve and accomplish.

And I suppose they were

like childhood stuff.

Do you know what I mean?

So, you know, I wanted

to go to South Africa.

I wanted to go cage

diving with great whites.

I wanted to do a walking safari.

You know, I was big into

animals when I was a kid.

You know, I wanted to go Australia.

I wanted to dive the Barrier Reef

and go visit the, you know, the

parks where they have the crocodiles

and all this kind of stuff, right?

So I've met this list and I'd planned

it all out and I'd, I'd costed it

all up, you know, in terms of flights

and where we'd stay and all this.

And I, I pitched it to the, the

lads who were with me at the time

and one of the lads was like,

yeah, that sounds outstanding.

Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll do that with you.

So basically me and another boot

neck went on this trip, right?

And the specific part you're talking,

I won't talk about the whole thing

'cause that's podcasting itself,

but the specific part that we're

talking about is we're now on a walkin

safari in the Kruger National Park.

And there's basically

me another boot neck.

We're young, young lads at this point.

We're Marines, right?

So me and two, so two Marines

and these our ranger, right?

And he's ex South African parachute

regiment who became a ranger

when he left the service, right.

And he said to us, he was like.

I'm not gonna put on a

South African accent.

I kill.

Right.

Please do.

I wish I could.

It's, it's a, it's an awesome accent.

But he was like, lads, you dunno

how happy I am doing this with you.

He says, because normally I've got

a big group of like mixed ability.

Some are old, you know, some can't

manage this, some can't manage that.

He says, but you guys, you're fit, you're

strong and you just want to do stuff.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

And again, if I told you everything

again, it's a podcast at itself, but we'd

basically, we'd wake up in the morning

and we'd go and do like a morning drive

so you can never go on foot in the dark.

Yeah.

It's just too dangerous.

Like obviously all the predators

are out hunting at at night.

So you do a drive in the morning

before the sun comes up, right.

And then you come back, you

have your breakfast and then

you do a walking safari, right?

So you go on foot.

So during breakfast it'd say, right

boys, what we're looking for today.

And that particular morning

I was like, lions, like I

wanna see some lions on foot.

Right.

So we, we set off and

he was amazing, right?

He'd like pick up their spo,

which is basically Yeah.

Their footprints and their like

their poo, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Stuff like that.

And he'd bit a tell by his

tracking skills were incredible.

So he'd bit a tell from like the paw

print, like, you know, what angle it

was, how much sand settled, like how

long it had been since it had gone

through there and stuff like that.

So we're following these two

male lions who are following a

herd of African buffalo, right?

Yeah.

Of those who don't know, like

African buffalo themselves

are like super dangerous.

Mm-hmm.

Do you know what I mean?

They're like, they're known for like

causing fatalities to, to people

over there and they, they're nails.

Do you know what I mean?

They are nails.

So you think of like Africa and you think

of just grasp, don't you like savanna?

Like you can see forever, but it's

not, it's like where we were, it's

like, it's like thick bush felt, right?

So a bit like gze, you know, like

on like what we have in the uk.

You've got gze bushes, don't you?

Yeah.

It's like that.

But 10 x So the thorns on these

things are like super, like

massive, you know what I mean?

So like, we're going through

these and they're like high,

do you know what I mean?

Like higher than us and we're going like

through this bush felt right, bearing in

mind that we're tracking two male lines

that are tracking a herd of buffalo.

Right?

Yeah.

And we're following them, right?

So, you know, like when you're

on patrol and like you, you

open your mouth, don't you?

So like, so, 'cause when you

open your mouth, it opens up

your ears so you can hear better.

Yeah.

I'm just not making a sound.

I hardly breathe.

You can just hear like the

crunching, you know what I mean?

Of like under your, under your boots.

And so we're going through these

like these thick bush felt right.

And then we come to a bit of

a clear it and there's this

herd of African buffalo, right.

Just like scran on, on, on the ground.

Right.

And he's like all the way through,

he is like giving us running

commentary, just like updating us on

what's going on and stuff like that.

So we're obviously like downwind from

these so that they can't smell us.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So obviously if they could

smell us, it would spook us.

So he's making sure at the

right angles and all that.

So obviously they've stopped, so we know

now there's somewhere these two lions

like keeping eyes on these buffalo.

And now we are in that vicinity too.

You know what I mean?

So we are there and we're kind of

looking at these buffalo and then

one of them, one of the buffalo

just turns and faces us, right?

And it just like puts its

head up like this, right?

It's like starts snorting and

then all of them, the whole

herd just turns and faces us.

So now we've got a herd of

African buffalo facing us.

Right.

And if they like went at us, we're done.

That's, do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

We're done.

And he, he says to us, right, if

they run at us now, you leg it and

you get up the nearest tree that

you can find and get up that tree.

Right.

So it's something like qbo

os, do you know what I mean?

All the way through.

It's like Qbo os of what we're doing.

And one of them like stamped its

feet like this and it, it went as

though it was gonna come at us.

Yeah.

So he cocked his rifle Right.

To, to scare them.

Right.

So he cocked his rifle

and it did the trick.

They all ran back probably

about 10 meters, I'd say.

Right.

And what I realized is when he cocked his

rifle, he got a blockage to the round.

Yeah.

Like blocked in the, so he's

like, does like his drill?

Yeah.

But I'm thinking if that had actually

ran at us, then he wouldn't have been a

clear his rifle and then get a round off.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

So I'm like, so anyway, so he, he sorts

his rifle out and then we back off then.

Right.

And then basically we go like left

flanking and we go down into this dried

out river bed, gets this dried out river

bed and he like goes like this and we drop

onto, onto our knees and he just points.

And about fif, no, probably about 80

meters away is this male lion on his back.

Right.

Know, like your dog does it, huh?

Yeah.

On his back.

Just add some scrap.

Yeah.

You know it's on his back.

Yeah.

And he's just on his back.

His tail's like going like this.

And I'm like, oh my God.

It's like a male lion.

Right?

So he says, he says right boy, he says,

do one or two things, either radio the

Land Rover and we'll go right next to it.

You can be as close as

like we, we are now.

You know what I mean?

Because when you're in the Land

Rover, they don't see you as prey.

They just see the vehicle.

It's weird.

And so I was like, no,

no, let's, so sorry.

That was option one.

Option two was we go as close as we can

on the foot, which is a, a safe distance.

So I was like, as close as we can on foot.

Yeah.

And me mate, he was like, no,

no, no, let's get the Landover.

Let's get the Landover.

So I'm like, right.

I had a, we had a, a video camera.

I'm like, Hey, you take the video camera.

I said, I'll, I'll go with the ranger.

Right.

So me and this ranger, and he's behind us,

we start creeping up on this like lion.

Right.

And we're in the dried out riverbed now.

Right.

So it's just sand.

Yeah.

So just sand.

And then this lion's on the other side

next to an embankment on its back.

And we got to within

about 50 meters, right?

About 50 meters between us and this lion.

And he knew then if we got any

closer, like it was too close.

Do you know what I mean?

So we there and he.

He said that he's going to like

alert the lion to our presence.

Yeah.

Right.

So he gets up and he

coughs like really loud.

And this lion right just jumps up.

Yeah.

And sprints behind this bush, right?

Yeah.

And it's looking over this bush at us and

he must be thinking, who are these guys?

Do you know what I mean?

Who are these Nicky guys like?

But it just, it blew my mind mate, like

looking at this like natural born killer

that kills on a daily basis to survive.

Do you know what I mean?

Like you, you see lions in zoos

and that and Yeah, it's almost

like on, is it Madagascar?

Some where he like does his hair

and he is all preed and everything.

So this thing honestly mate,

scars like all of its face.

Do you know what I mean?

Where on every day it's

fighting to survive, you know?

And so we're just staring at this.

It's staring at us, I'm staring

at it in the eyes and it was just

an unbelievable experience mate.

Like the adrenaline rush

from that, like unbelievable.

So then he is like, right,

we're gonna walk back now.

He says, do not take your

rights off that line.

He says, because when you are looking

at it, it sees you as a predator.

Yeah.

Treats you the same.

I dunno if you've noticed, but.

Predators have eyes in

the front of their head.

Yeah.

So, you know, us Lions, chimpanzees Yeah.

But prey animals, they're

in the side of the head.

Yeah.

You know, like sheep

and zebra and all that.

And it's so that they can

see things that are coming.

Yeah.

Right.

So it says, do not turn away from that

lion and whatever you do, do not run.

Right.

Yeah.

So we're like walking backwards, right.

And we get round this corner, radio's

in the Land Rover, we get in the Land

Rover and it pulls up right next to it.

So then we're like super close to it then.

And that's when I was seeing

all the scars and, and all that.

Yeah.

And it was just, what an

incredible experience.

Do you know what I mean?

So yeah, that was, that was the date.

That was the d There's many others,

but yeah, long time you really have

had a life of time adventure and

call it an adrenaline junkie.

Yeah.

I think I, yeah, I think, I think it's

fair for most lads in military Yeah.

I can do that mate.

Yeah.

I think that's fair to say.

I could like a lot of

military guys and girls.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

So I wanna touch on really

quickly is the real open.

Yeah.

So, you know, there's a lot of

charity fundraising efforts for real.

It directly supports the guys and

girls that need it through Juujitsu

gym CrossFit another and, you

know, should have been done sooner.

Took cages to get done, but yeah,

we're now what, the fifth real open,

we're hit about to hit the sixth one.

Sixth, yeah.

And when this comes out,

it'll be a week away or so.

Yep.

21st of March.

Yep.

Yep.

And it.

Every time it's sold out.

Mm. It, it is fantastic.

And an open for jujitsu.

Anyone can turn up if you've trained.

Yep.

Trained for one day if you want.

Yep.

Goes to your professor club

owner, we'll call them.

Because I know some

people don't like that.

Enter, go and compete.

You pay your entry fee.

Yeah.

And all of that money that they've

paid, you get to go and fight.

Have fun.

Yeah.

Enjoy it in a safe environment.

Yeah.

Win some cool medals

if you're good enough.

And all that money goes

directly to sport and charity.

It does.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I probably would say I wouldn't

recommend entering a competition

after one day of training.

No, no.

I, I wouldn't recommend that.

But you definitely come

along and spectate.

We do have spectators too.

But yeah, absolutely echo everything

you just said there, mate.

It is an absolutely phenomenal day.

It really is.

And I think the reason for that

is the people that come to it.

Yeah.

And make it people like yourselves, you

know, combat fuel, you know, our friends

and partners and supporters, you know,

that reorg family all coming together.

And, and the jujitsu community, you know.

Yeah.

We've got 188 supporting Jiujitsu

academies now across the uk.

You know, we've helped, you know,

since we started as an initiative,

you know, we've helped thousands Yeah.

You know, of men and women find jujitsu.

Yeah.

So it's a really great opportunity

for all those people to come together.

And also those people who've.

Actually never experienced anything

to do with reorg because the

reorg open is open to everybody.

You know, it's not just for our military

emergency services and veteran community.

Yeah.

You know, we have kids competing.

Yeah.

You know, adults, masters, gee, nogi

people who've never been involved with

the military or emergency services,

but they just want to go to a great

jujitsu competition where what they pay

is going to help those who help us all,

you know, through our reorg programs.

Yeah.

And it's a brilliant way of doing it.

I, I competed after 12

weeks, like compete.

Mm-hmm.

As soon as you can.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

You know, you, you're pretty safe.

You, you know.

Yeah.

Especially it is run

by LIOs team, isn't it?

It is.

Yeah.

So the, essentially the team

that run the British Open Yeah.

Yeah.

Run our reorg open.

It's the same team, same family.

Yeah.

You know, as you know, braillos

our head ambassador, you know?

Yeah.

And I think what's really nice is

having people come up to me, you know,

whether it's their first competition or

whether they're a black belt who've been

involved in Jiujitsu for like 25, 30

years or coming along saying, this is the

best jiujitsu event that I've been to.

You know, it's, it's amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah, from, from personal experience,

I think there was, we turned

up at three of them to support.

Before I'd even started Juujitsu.

And it, you know, we've got a lot of

Jiujitsu athletes, you know, we, we

support athletes from all different

sports, but there's always that pool

of like, yeah, I really wanna do this.

Yeah.

I really wanna do this.

Yeah.

And eventually doing it.

Yeah.

Alex, you know, never looked back.

Love it.

And, and hopefully touch forward if

we get to compete at this one now.

Yeah.

I wanted to last year.

Yeah.

Unfortunately my appendix

decided to go DFY for my body.

But yeah, no, couldn't, couldn't

recommend it to anyone else.

And I think yourself, Riley have done a

fantastic job at, at, at making it such

a warm, welcoming, and safe environment

to, to go and do jiu-jitsu and they said

like, spectators are welcome as well.

And it's Yeah.

Thousands, thousands of people to turn up.

Yeah.

And it absolutely brilliant.

Thank you, mate.

But I mean, we couldn't do it

without, you know, the reorg team.

Yeah.

You know, people like yourselves, you

know combat fuel, supporting the event,

you know and, and most importantly,

you know, the competitors Yeah.

And the spectators that come along

and make the day so special, you know?

Yeah.

Brilliant.

Love it.

Sam, as we're drawn to an end, I

wanna get a piece of advice from you.

Mm-hmm.

I said it earlier, we talked about

your marriage with Amy, but to anyone

contemplating joining the military Yeah.

Like one piece of advice for

them, your 19-year-old self, Sam.

Yeah.

What would you say to them?

Prepare hundred percent.

If it was to be one word, it's prepare,

because I think the word prepare.

Covers many, many bases.

Do you know what I mean?

Mentally just as much, if

not more than physically.

Do you know what I mean?

Because I think especially for young

guys and girls now, you know, looking

for a career in the military, there's

so much out there for you, you know,

online, you know, these courses that

you can go on and, and things like that.

Ultimately, you know, when I

prepared for commando training,

I had nothing other than stories,

experiences from people who've done it.

A leaflet, you know, from the,

yeah, from the the careers office.

But ultimately most people know

what they need to do, right?

If you wanna join the military, you need

to be able to run, you need to be able to

lift your own body, body weight in space.

And what I mean by that is you need

to be able lift it up, you need to be

able to press it up, you know, so being

able to do pullups, press up situps,

you know and doing it at times where

you don't wanna do it is the big one.

Yeah.

Alright.

So it's all well and good going

to a lovely gym, you know,

you've got music on and Yeah.

You know, it's air conditioned and got

lovely shiny equipment and that, and, but.

Getting up at four in the morning,

five in the morning when the weather's

honking, you know, blowing a hooey

and raining and because you know,

when you're in the military, that's

what you're gonna have to deal with.

And I think it don't like overthink

it, you know, I think they're gonna

build you up when you get there.

And I've experienced it myself both

whilst doing it myself, but then also

in an instructional capacity, whether

that be a PT troop, PTI or whether

that be head of exercise rehabilitation

at commando training center, or

whether that being in the PT school.

We've seen it time and time again

where people have essentially tried

to do commando training before

they've done commando training.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

So that they're kind of doing weighted

runs and all this kind of stuff and

some of them end up getting injured or

they turn up too fit and then they peak.

Yeah.

They peak too soon.

Do you know what I mean?

So I'd say listen to the current advice.

Listen to those that are serving,

and listen to those who have

served and just don't overthink it.

Prepare as best you can.

Leave nothing to chance.

Do you know what I mean?

And ultimately, I think if

your desire is strong enough.

You'll do it because ultimately

everything we do comes down to choice

and making that, making that decision.

And I think the biggest one is taking

that courageous step to pick up that

phone, make that call, or getting online

and, and, and booking the appointment.

Do you know what I mean?

And, and then just roll

in with it from there.

Sam, thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you for joining us.

Thank you for your service.

For, for our country.

Thank you for the service for our Armed

Forces and Emergency Service of veterans.

Thanks mate.

Thanks for all your support.

We reorg, mate.

Oh my pleasure.

Couldn't do what we do without you

and you know, the, the Combat Fuel

products, you know, they help us to

make a difference to our community.

So thank you for all your support mate.

And where can people find you real

charity and how can they support?

Yeah.

So Reorg charity is reg charity.com.

That's the website.

So if you are part of our community

military emergency Services, please

fire paramedic or veteran and you think

one of our reorg programs can help you.

Okay.

Get on the website and hit the apply

button if you are a Jujitsu Academy

that's not already supporting reorg.

Get on there, hit the apply button to

become a reorg supporting Jujitsu Academy.

If you would like to support us in

a, in a financial capacity, whether

that's a donation or buying our kit,

then all the information is on the

website and there's regular updates.

Fire our newsletter and also

on reorg charity, socials on

the Instagram and LinkedIn.

There's a lot of stuff on there about

events we've got coming up and new

releases of kit and what have you.

Me personally, it's Sam

under sheriff on Instagram.

And I've just embark on a new endeavor

listening to people around me.

I've kind of resisted it for a long time,

but I finally caved in and I've created a

YouTube channel called Through the Mats,

and it's essentially pretty much what

we've been talking about on here really.

So it's my lessons learned

from my 22 years in the Royal

Marines and my time on the mats.

Yeah.

And essentially it's my lessons

learned through the mats.

So whether that's through the mats in a

marine sense or through the mats around

the world, training with different people.

So on there there's gonna

be juujitsu techniques.

I'll probably gonna be inviting

some friends on soon to do some

of their own jujitsu techniques.

Yeah.

My lessons learned from my time in

the military, you know, as a marine,

a recruit, a marine corporal sergeant,

core sergeant, PTI my lessons

learned from different adventures

around the world, like some of the

things we've been talking about.

So yeah, I try and every,

everything I put on there, I try

and give a lesson afterwards.

So essentially it's a place where.