NAM.2017-12-27-1

Filmed oral history interview with Sir Julian Brazier TD 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (1977-1982) and Member of Parliament for Canterbury East (1987-2017), conducted by Justin Saddington at the National Army Museum for the Special Forces Exhibition project, 13 Dec 2017. Associated with the Cold War (1945-1989). Interview contains an outline of his service with the Army which began with a year in the Royal Engineers and was followed by service in Territorial Army 1972 - 1982, with 131 Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers, 4th Bn The Royal Green Jackets and 21 SAS, where he attained the rank of Captain; his career as a Member of Parliament, in particular his service on the Defence Committee His family’s military background; his motivation for joining the army and going into politics; his early experiences in the Army, with comments on how he was criticised for being disorganised but was very fit; his comments on the contrast between the low-levels of fitness amongst reservists in his day compared with the high-level today; his comments on how the physical challenge was a motivation to join 21 SAS His experiences parachute training; his application to join 21 SAS; the criterion for joining and how, at that time, this was open to men with no previous military experience; the selection process for the SAS reserves and and how this differed from the regulars; details of continuation training and how long the process took; the training required for the role of 21 SAS in the event of war with the Soviet Union; his experiences during selection training, including comments on what he found difficult and what he found easy; his views on what it takes to make it through the selection and why so many candidates do not make it; his feelings on passing and experience being ‘dined in’ with the regiment His views on women being able to join special forces, with comments on how he has no problem with this but does not want to see standards lowered; his experience weapons training including comments on the shortcomings of the L86A1 SA-80 LSW (Light Support Weapon); his experience close quarter combat training including a near miss incident; his experiences during escape and evasion training; his experiences with vehicles and boats; stories from a training exercise undertaken in Denmark, including an incident during training with rockets near a transformer farm when a transformer was accidentally blown up and a training attack on a power station that went wrong when one of his comrades was electrocuted A further story about his selection training; details of the role of 21 SAS, which was to operate behind enemy lines in Germany in the event of war with the Soviet Union Comments on the security threats facing the United Kingdom today; criticism of the Ministry of Defence Report into the deaths of SAS candidates in 2013; comments on the secrecy that that surrounds special forces, with his view that it is important that a high level of secrecy is maintained although the secrecy is, in some ways, detrimental to the special forces reserves. Digital video file.

Cold War (1945-1989)