THE SCHOOL OF INFANTRY WARMINSTER

Historically I think the defining event in 1967 which had ramifications for the future was the Six Day War when Israel took on Syria , Jordan , Lebanon , Iraq and Egypt capturing the West Bank , Old Jerusalem , the Golan Heights and Sinai . It has ever since left the Arabs with a deep inferiority complex . It certainly had a deep affect on those Arab students we had at Warminster at the time ; they simply could not believe Israel had knocked out all their air forces on the ground .

For Alan Elliott Thompson I took my third oath of allegiance , this time "till death us do part ! " and became a Dad as Douglas launched himself into the World on 30th of September in Bradford on Avon .

My tour at Oswestry was cut short by about eight months so I could take up this new appointment as a captain instructor on the Platoon Commanders Division (PCD) . Newly commissioned infantry officers out of Sandhurst were meant to complete a course with PCD within six months commissioning .

As an instructor one was responsible for a syndicate of ten students which you looked after throughout the course but also for certain exercises , lectures , syndicate discussions and TEWTS usually linked to core subjects . I for example was responsible for : gaining intelligence , tracking , chemical warfare and air photography . In addition to having a captain instructor each syndicate also had an NCO from the Small Arms School Corps (SASC) . Many year years later I became responsible for this small Corps .

In order to make sure we were up to date on our teaching this took me on visits to the RAF School of Photography , School of Military Intelligence and the Royal Army Veterinary Corps . Much of the knowledge I gained put me in good stead in subsequent appointments .As an intelligence officer in Londonderry I was able to establish a good rapport with the RAF photo interpretation unit at RAF Aldergrove . Combat Tracker Teams were formed in Borneo combining the skills of visual trackers and tracker and pointer dogs. Over the years dogs have taken on many more tasks in detecting drugs and mines .

Instructors came from different regiments but we also had a Royal Marine and an Australian major . Although the youngest instructor I think I had a degree of credibility with the students having been in Borneo and Aden . Basil Hobbs who was our boss still lives in Warminster and must be in his 90s . Others were not so fortunate , Ian Corden Lloyd was a 10th Gurkha , transferred to the Green Jackets and then got killed in a helicopter crash in Northern Ireland as a commanding officer.

Most of our exercises took place on Salisbury Plain but the final exercise was held in Wales in Sennybridge . This could be pretty miserable in the winter . I remember trying to persuade one Arab student to complete the course by offering to give him a £1 for each day he stuck it out , potential outlay of £3 !  This student listened intently but went on to explain his father was worth £3m . He jacked it in before nightfall .

I kept up parachuting at Netheravon for a bit and played rugby for Bath ( Fourth Team ) .

What else was going on in 1967 ? In Mar Stalin's daughter Stevlana requested asylum in the USA .Aug saw British troops pull out of Aden . In Canada De Gaulle made his famous speech " Vive Quebec Libre ." and in Oct Che Guevara was executed in Bolivia . In medicine we saw the first heart transplant by Dr Christian Barnard in South Africa .

We spent two years at Warminster in our first Army quarter so that was through to 1968 . In that latter year US troops in Vietnam reached 486,000 . That year also saw the assassination of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King . The Russians invaded Czechoslovakia and in Northern Ireland the first indications of trouble were on the horizon , a conflict which was to last thirty years .

Two years at Warminster gave me a solid foundation on many aspects which included co-operating with other arms , armour and artillery . I also started learning how to be a Dad !