Commando: Winning the Green Beret

by Hugh McManners

Do you think you could become a Commando? Or are you curious to know exactly what it's like to do the Brits' world-renowned Commando Course, and be awarded the Green Beret? Or maybe a member of your family is thinking about doing it - or is on the course right now and you'd like to understand what they're going through...? For over twenty years, this book has been studied by aspiring commandos as part of their preparations for the Commando Course. First published in 1992, it follows the day-by-day experiences of actual commando trainees as they struggle, suffer - and in many cases, fail. This ebook edition was revised in 2014, and shows that the Commando Course remains exactly the same today as it was when the book was first written. Astonishingly, despite being so widely read, this book went out of print! But dog-eared copies held together with sellotape and elastic bands continued to circulate. Some Commando Units even made photocopies to help their men pass. But far from being a text book, as a commando himself, Hugh brings out all the grim but often humorous humanity of both the Royal Marines recruits in the final phase of their long initial training; and the Army soldiers doing the All Arms Commando Course - which is the original Second World War course for already-trained, battle-hardened volunteers. The Royal Marine recruits are inexperienced and we see them losing focus under the pressure of exhaustion and appalling weather. The soldiers on the All Arms course - plus a few hardy sailors and an RAF officer, are hard-bitten and determined, but are being forced to re-learn the way they do things. Most members of each group are nursing some kind of injury - some serious. But nobody is willing to give up. The training staff are relentless, with a cruel sense of humour. Both groups get there in the end, but it's a long painful struggle. Hugh McManners passed the Commando Course in 1972, co-produced a television documentary about it in 1992, then offered guidance from the sidelines when his son Will passed the course in 2014. So reading this book is as close to actually doing the course as it's possible to get without ending up with blisters. Buying this book won't earn you a Green Beret, but is probably the most cost effective, useful - and certainly the easiest training session you can do if you're serious about becoming a Commando.

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 5, 2014

About the author

After 18 years in the British Army including the Falklands War working with the SBS, Hugh became a non-fiction author and television producer. He was the Defence Correspondent of The Sunday Times from 1995 -2000. Hugh started writing fiction in 2022.
Hugh says: "I'm a campaigner and enthusiast. Having written a wide variety of non-fiction books, I'm now writing fiction - "military historical thrillers".
He's starting with a five book series running from 1980 until the end of the Falklands War in 1982. The first book "The Sunday Service" about the SAS and PIRA in Northern Ireland, is now published.
"I'm writing fiction as with all my books, to explain the reality of extreme situations to people who haven't experienced it for themselves," Hugh says.
"Fiction that uses action and violence with military characters and settings needs to be accurately portrayed. The brave people who risk life and limb for our security deserve this.
"Plus, I really dislike the word 'thrill" -dictionary definition: "a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure". It's superficial, vicarious and simple, totally unlike the reality of military operations. But if you've not been a soldier on operations, how could you know that?
"I'm not quite sure where this gets me with writing "thrillers". I'll leave further comment to my readers."

Hugh is also a musician: a guitarist and songwriter. He was Director of The Scars of War Foundation at the University of Oxford, a pioneering research into the cognitive neuroscience of combat-related PTSD and brain injury in war veterans.