This is the story of how 1,500 soldiers
from eight regiments of the British Army
join together to create one of the greatest military ceremonies on Earth...
There is only one standard that's acceptable, and that's excellent.
Stand still...now!
Everybody has to be absolutely perfect.
..a ceremony where mistakes will not be forgiven.
Get in! Get in!
Don't drift out!
This year, one regiment in particular is in the spotlight...
Halt!
..the First Battalion Grenadier Guards. They will have the honour
of leading the Queen's birthday parade, trooping the colour.
The best way to describe it is organised chaos.
But these men have precious little time to prepare. As fighting soldiers,
they've just spent six months on the front line in Afghanistan.
HIGH-PITCHED WHISTLING Stop!
By the time we troop the colour through the ranks on Horse Guards,
nine weeks before that we'll have been fighting the Taliban.
EXPLOSION
For two and a half centuries, with few exceptions,
the dazzling spectacle of trooping the colour
has marked the Sovereign's birthday.
It brings together 1,100 soldiers,
200 horses,
and 400 musicians from seven military bands.
In 58 years of the Queen's reign,
she's attended every June, apart from 1955, when there was a national rail strike.
She even survived an attack in 1981.
Not even the torrential rain in 2001 was to stop the ceremony.
See the water shooting off their bearskins!
The parade must go on, and without a hitch.
Trooping the colour, the Queen's birthday parade, is fabric of the nation stuff.
It's iconic, really, across the world.
If you ask anyone... an image they recall about London,
they'll normally tell you a guardsman is one.
Big, black hat and a red tunic. But for the Household Division,
this is our link with the Sovereign. We are Household Troops,
and it's our own personal tribute to her.
Shoulder...arms!
And at the heart of the parade
is the regimental flag, called the colour.
In history, the colour was the rallying point in battle for a regiment.
It was important that the regiment would recognise their own colour,
so that in the thick of a battle,
they could rally round their one instead of somebody else's.
Trooping the colour is the way of taking it round the battalion,
outside battle, showing them what it looks like.
This Saturday, it's the task of the First Battalion, Grenadier Guards,
to troop their colour...
something they haven't done for six years.
Halt!
It's May, and the Grenadier Guards have just five weeks to train for trooping the colour.
At Knightsbridge Barracks, one veteran of the parade is already prepared -
a brown mare called Burniston.
Burniston -
she came into her element three or four years ago, trooping the colour.
It was a last-minute thing.
We put her on to one of the rehearsals and she took to it like a duck to water.
Burniston is about to meet the man who will have the central role at the parade -
the commanding officer, Lt Col Roly Walker of the Grenadier Guards,
who has never led the troop before.
Good morning, how are you?
Very good. A little bit long, but I'm comfortable with her.
'It's 7am, Tuesday morning, and it's the beginning of May.'
This is part of the preparations,
and I've got to learn some of the more complicated mounted moves,
and that's what these are.
Walk on!
One of the most difficult moves is called the rein-back,
where the horse is asked to walk backwards,
exactly ten lengths, in a perfectly straight line.
This is what it should look like.
On the big day, Roly will have the eyes of the world on him.
Today is his first try.
There's quite a long way to go, Colonel.
Hell of a long way to go.
Feel the horse, feel the horse...
Right leg, right leg, right leg.
'This will be the first time I've done a parade on a horse,
'so I've got to get Burniston in the right place,
'give her the right signals, so that she knows what's coming next.'
At the moment, I am not confident
that I have a full understanding of the parade and my part in it.
But that's why we're doing these rehearsals, and why I'm here today.
Roly's not a man used to being out of his depth.
His usual role is a world away from dressage.
Just a few weeks earlier, Roly and the Grenadier Guards were stationed
in one of the most hostile regions on Earth,
at a military base deep inside southern Helmand, Afghanistan.
In the summer months it gets incredibly hot - up to 50 degrees,
which, when you're carrying 80lb or so,
is a real challenge.
As a senior infantry regiment of the British Army,
their mission was to join international forces
to prepare the country for a hand-back to Afghan control.
With 18 years' military experience, Roly, a father of three from Hampshire,
oversees a battle group of 1,300 soldiers, including 540 Grenadiers.
There are two main groups of insurgents that we will face over the summer.
'When we first arrived on the tour,'
we were facing anywhere between 10 to 15 significant gunfights a day,
which, across the battle group,
meant that most people, most of the time, were engaged in combat
with the insurgents.
Regarding the police,
I'd like you to verify whether the police that are missing
have been taken away for the District Governor-led eradication programme.
Early into their tour of duty, the Grenadiers saw mass casualties,
when an Afghan policeman they'd been training assassinated five soldiers.
Among the dead
was the regimental Sergeant Major, Darren Chant,
leaving his pregnant wife a widow.
Ian Farrell took over Darren's role.
Part of the job of the regimental Sergeant Major is to send the dead back home.
That's the most difficult part of it. It's knowing that someone else
has paid that price for the good of this place,
and it always hurts to put one of your soldiers, on your watch,
on the back of a plane back to UK.
Ian is Roly's right-hand man.
At the troop, he'll be in overall charge of discipline.
As accords his rank, he has a few privileges here,
including the right to live inside a metal shipping container.
I've got a bit of power plugged in here,
so I've managed to get a light in and a power socket,
so I can run a couple of things off the electric at a time.
Here's my washing line,
where I hang my gear.
As you can see, I've a bit of space. I've liberated a cabinet there,
so I can put some personal things in there at the side,
and I've got on there a thing that I carry on patrol with me
that my wife gave me a few years ago.
Um...which is a small pendant I keep in a box and take in my patrol kit.
It's like my good-luck charm, if you like, that...
well, it's served me all right so far, so it'll stay lucky,
that that she sent me, and this is home.
I've got two boys,
one 18 and one 14,
and obviously I miss them while I'm here - I really miss them.
But I'm sure they're proud of what I do and I'm proud of what they do.
The Grenadier Guards' unofficial motto is "Twice the man",
which means they're not only fighting soldiers, but ceremonial ones too.
ATTE-E-E-NTION!
It's May at the Army training camp in Longmore, Hampshire,
and these Grenadiers might be wishing they were elsewhere.
Five weeks before trooping the colour
and they are just starting on basic drill with Ian.
You there, the front rank, the fourth man in, stand still!
In between your drill movements.
What we're about to do is some mass arms drill,
which is where we... We've done the revision of it now, we were rusty from the tour.
We've done the revision of where the hands need to be, what part of the rifle they need to strike,
and what we'll do now is do it centrally, using the time of a drum,
um, so that everybody's timing is together.
DRUM BEATS
For many, it will be their first troop.
And there's barely enough time to get the complex parade right.
Full grip, I've told you before.
Full grip on the stock of the weapon. Get that now.
That's the position. Every time you're like that, full grip.
Change.
Arms!
Your arm's falling away, don't get lazy.
OK, men, good effort.
OK, we need that amount of effort
in everything we do in the build-up to the next few parades.
So keep in mind, make it as painless as possible,
and enjoy it.
Attention! Attention!
There is only one standard that's acceptable, and that's excellent.
So there can't be any, um...
compromises on that,
so everybody has to be absolutely perfect.
About...
..turn now!
Stand still. Now!
Try it again.
Second Lieutenant James Brown's role is particularly exposed.
As the ensign, it will be his task to carry the colour -
the regimental flag - in front of everyone, including the Queen.
He has no experience of the troop at all.
I'm not feeling too bad at the moment.
It's all starting to make sense now, exactly where I'm supposed to be,
where I'm going, what's happening and when, which is the main concern.
So once you start to break it down, it's not too bad.
Now it's your perfect opportunity...
Fresh from Sandhurst, 24-year-old James was just beginning his first tour of duty in Afghanistan
when he discovered he'd have such an important role.
It's a great honour to be carrying the colour during the troop.
It's a great honour for the battalion to troop their colour,
especially after coming back from an operational tour
and receiving new colours from Her Majesty the Queen.
So to be the ensign and troop it on the back of both those events
is a very special moment indeed.
For all the Grenadiers who'll be taking part,
it represents a great deal...
even while they're in the middle of a warzone.
I used to see it on TV, the Grenadiers trooping the colour last time.
Sadly, when I saw it, it rained, it rained pretty bad.
And seeing it for the first time, actually on the square,
looking at our colours being trooped,
is a really big, proud moment for me.
I know people who haven't done the troop before
will find it a lot harder to pick it up
because there's a lot of stick lifting
and a lot of marches that need to be learnt.
Because of the short time-frame we've got
from getting back from here to actually taking part in the parade
in between patrols and the normal routine work I've had to do,
I've sat and watched the DVD of last year.
A man who doesn't need the DVD
is one of the Grenadier Guards' longest-serving men of the Queen's Company,
Company Sergeant Major Steve Williams.
He's done the troop nine times.
He hasn't got a lot here, so pull forward, go and see Coxsy.
He's due to load up as much more rations and diesel as you can.
All right.
Pretty much my sort of main job
is making sure the guys get up to the required standard for the day.
Cos obviously what we produce on that day,
is a reflection of the company, and more importantly, of the battalion.
South tapper... So all they'll do is...
As the Grenadiers haven't led trooping the colour for some years,
many of the men, like James, are first-timers.
From "fall in the officers" we all come to attention,
march out in front of your Guards.
There'll be yourself and the subaltern.
You'll fall in.
So then basically what we do is troop in between the ranks
and slow march all the way round through the 7 and 6 Guard.
I'll be out the front... You'll be out the front, yeah.
You'll be out front.
That was a good overview by the colour sergeant major
as to the process of how the parade's going to work, itself, um...
It's strange thinking about that while we're still here in Afghanistan.
Um, it's going to be a long day, I think, for us,
but it was nice to get an insight into it.
At this stage we haven't put all the working parts together yet.
Steve's determined everyone should get it right and, for him,
there's another important date in his diary.
A month after the troop, he's getting married,
and it's all been arranged at a distance.
We've set a date for 20th July, so I spoke to Jo on the phone
and she informed me over the welfare phone that we're getting married on the 20th July.
So...obviously I naturally agreed.
Put that in before the first wagon...
Steve might be unprepared for his own wedding, but he must ensure the 110-strong Queen's Company
are in shape for both Afghanistan and in the UK.
He's not a man to disappoint.
Form...two ranks!
Left, right, left...still.
Not together.
Let's get it right.
It's mid May back at Longmoor training camp.
With just four weeks before trooping the colour,
Steve's piling on the pressure.
Look at me. You're stood like that at the moment.
Force it out. Present the rifle. That's why it's called "present".
Change...
..colours! One, two, three.
One, two, three. One, two, three...
No-one likes shouting, but I'm a company sergeant major,
so it's the best way to get anything out of the blokes.
You know, it's by using your voice in the correct manner.
Change arms, two, three.
One, two, three.
Things are a lot calmer at London's Wellington Barracks. You can't have a parade without music,
and to keep time, it's the job of the drum majors.
Up.
DRUMS BANG Dip...off.
The Grenadiers' drum major is Sergeant Jeff Burns.
They might look like the cheerleaders of the military world,
but in fact, they steer the parade.
On the day, hundreds of soldiers from the massed bands will follow in their footsteps.
With the band behind you,
I've got a bad habit of listening to the music when I shouldn't do.
But it's just taking a quick glance every now and again.
I have to see what the senior drum major's doing
and then pass it on to the drum major to the right of me.
COMMANDS ARE SHOUTED
It's difficult sometimes if his arm comes out and I'm not looking in that direction,
sometimes it's easy to miss.
You just have to concentrate all the time and not listen to the music.
This is Jeff on his tour of duty in Afghanistan,
where instead of a mace he wielded a machine gun on patrols
to the small villages in Helmand as part of the work to reconstruct to reconstruct the provinces.
Jeff's job is to find out what locals need to live more comfortable lives, especially the youngsters.
As a father of three, he knows it's often the small things which make the most difference.
Pens...
..for the kids.
Winter clothing packs.
For the kids as well.
Er...things like day-sacks for schools.
Radios.
Um, obviously with the radios, we've got our own broadcasting system
which allows us to broadcast messages to the local nationals
to keep them abreast of local events and things going on.
The message is we're not here to disrupt their lives, we're here
to help them and show the local nationals we're doing something for them
and not just destroy their buildings, etc.
SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE
In what is a heart and minds war, it's sometimes a struggle to get the message across.
SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE Yeah? Good?
CONTINUES IN LOCAL LANGUAGE
Back home, Jeff's in charge of the Grenadiers' corps of drums.
At Wellington Barracks, with four weeks to go before the troop,
the corps of drums are still in the early stages of rehearsal.
Barton? Yeah?
I need to the second time bar.
So da-da-da-da da-da da-da-da...
HE PLAYS FLUTE
They'll be performing on both drums and flutes
and must be step and note perfect.
Two experienced musicians are 20-year-old Dean Barton
and 23-year-old Nicholas Wintle.
And quiet.
Every step and beat must be right,
otherwise the whole parade is thrown out of sync.
If you're hearing yourself, then you're not playing it right.
'I mean literally,
'the day, two days after we got back, we had a week in work and we were practising music,'
just trying to get up to a level or a standard
and see where we were individually. We've put in quite a lot,
I mean, this is like the first week back as well,
we've just been getting hounded on it.
HE PLAYS
You hold it on for notes, like, one and a half beats.
'Originally when you're a guardsman,
'you focus on your drill, making sure you don't mess up. But with... '
being a drummer, it's a different ball game, really.
You've got to do all the same basics, which comes naturally,
and then you've got to play the flute, which can put you out.
OK, here we go.
Drummers, 'tion! Quick march!
With less than one month left,
it's time to take on one of the trickiest elements of the parade -
keeping every soldier in perfect line,
known as "dressing".
Think about your dressing!
Dressing is, er, basically when you're in a straight line,
and everybody needs to keep in a straight line without looking, physically.
'How we do it is, er, keep a rough distance'
like, you stand, before your march-off you have a certain,
two paces away from the next bloke,
and you've got to memorise that, keep that bloke in that tunnel of view.
This lot of side drummers, look to your right. Look to your right!
Look at that dressing.
The 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards
lived in Helmand for up to six months at a time.
They left the comforts of home behind, sharing a tent with up to 12 others,
and for drummer Dean Barton, it was his first time in a warzone.
As you can see, this is my bed space.
Sometimes it's a little bit untidy, sometimes it's a bit tidier.
We have to make do with what we've got.
Kit, front, as always,
just in case we have to go out and patrol
or you're crashed out for anything.
You have your Bergen at the back, your kit-bag at the bottom,
you usually have the essentials like magazines,
wash-kit, rough cleaning kit, change of clothes, miscellaneous stuff,
and make it seem as homely as possible.
My grandad was in the General Service Corps during the Second World War,
he was a truck driver, so he was just either ferrying casualties
or ferrying supplies to the front line.
But sadly I didn't tell him about me joining the Grenadier Guards or the Army,
because sadly he passed away in 1998 of cancer.
Whenever I go to my nan's house there's a photo of him.
The first photo of me in my tunic,
I asked my nan to have it next to my grandad to respect him,
because he was my influence.
The soldiers rarely talk to loved ones back home
about the daily risks they run.
For Drummer Nicholas Wintle, a mistake at the troop would be embarrassing.
In Helmand, it could be fatal.
Full inspection. Show gun's clear.
Clear.
My family don't need to know what we're doing out here.
And the troops, you know, you can sort of...
I don't know, er...
Because you're all going through the same sort of things anyway,
you sort of, like, just talk about it amongst yourselves, like.
Guarding the camp from the watchtower,
known as Sangar Duty,
was one of Nicholas's regular tasks.
But not the most popular with any soldier,
calling for hours of concentration.
'I'm looking at the governor's building, and there's a... '
An ANP police building over there.
I'm just looking in this, it's like a courtyard area down here,
and I'm just making sure that there's no suspicious activity,
because obviously this is quite a high-threat area for insurgents to attack on.
And I'm just making sure that there's no, er,
dodgy vehicles that are going to come down here.
The soldiers are trained to fight face-to-face with the enemy,
but since the Afghan war began,
a hidden threat has taken more lives than any other.
Improvised Explosive Devices - IEDs.
Home-made bombs laid by the Taliban
on roads, in fields or tin cans -
anywhere a soldier might pass.
'We have probably'
found or had reported to us, or suspect, well over 1,000 IEDs
in the time that we've been here, in five months.
So this is a daily occurrence,
and therefore it's a statistical probability
that everybody who goes out on patrol will at some stage have come across IEDs.
Recently, well in late January,
we unfortunately... We hit an IED
in one of the Ridgeback vehicles,
which just goes to show, everybody's at risk.
It was purely, you know, no lapse in drills, just one of those things.
But because of the equipment we've got, and the drills we carry out,
everybody walked out of it.
Woke up the morning after like we'd had a rugby match,
but everybody was OK.
Is that the sort of thing you'd ring home about?
No. No, I think you just say you had a small accident today, darling,
and don't worry about it, we're fine.
Right. So just remember, that's a good indicator, nice and easy to remember, and then...
The soldiers regularly practise their drill to detect bombs.
They call it "Barma training".
METAL DETECTOR WHINES Stop.
Yeah, stop there.
'Obviously, if we don't carry out these drills, there's a potential'
that we could actually step on an IED, and that's what we don't want,
so we barma to find it, and then we get the blokes
who sort it out to come and sort it out.
HIGH-PITCHED WHINE
'You're all right until it starts squeaking,'
then your, er, your arse is chewing your boxers, kind of thing.
Basically.
Since 2001, close to 300 British soldiers
have lost their lives in Afghanistan,
largely due to IEDs.
And for every soldier killed on the battlefield,
five are wounded.
This was 26-year-old Grenadier Lieutenant Garth Banks
boarding the plane to Helmand last September
to fight for Queen and country.
He returned home in January,
the survivor of an IED blast.
At Headley Court Rehabilitation Centre in Surrey,
he's now four months into his recovery.
'For me, the final goal in rehabilitation'
is to be able to walk again, unaided,
and to be able to carry out a normal life as much as possible.
Really it's just sort of mastering the balance and the technique.
Neither of which I have quite done.
But, you know, I'm getting there. Takes a while.
'It's quite clear that the fun running-around stuff
'is all over, no matter how good the legs are.'
It just...doesn't work sufficiently
for me to go running and jumping. But, er...
'But, you know, outside of that,
'there's jobs and professions within the Army that I could go into,
'so I'm not, I'm not too worried at the moment.
'I'm not too rushed into jumping into anything.'
It's just a little bit painful when that leg goes down.
Straight leg. Right?
Not quite.
For all of the Grenadiers, trooping the colour will be a proud moment.
And Garth aims to be there.
'I speak to someone every few days. They're generally...'
sort of, er, complaining about how many hours they're spending on the drill square.
And I must say, I'm not jealous of that.
I was meant to be an usher.
Now, I had planned to sort of...
as one of my goals, to keep that role.
It's going to be a close one.
Possibly not, because of...
Walking is hard enough as it is,
but in a tunic and with a bearskin on your head,
it's that little bit harder.
So, I don't know. I've got about three weeks.
Otherwise, I imagine, I'll go just as a spectator to it.
Thighs, men! Get your thighs up!
The Grenadier Guards are in the midst of the quickest turnaround
for any operational soldiers to troop the colour on Horse Guards.
But only if they get past the Garrison Sergeant Major, Billy Mott,
the man responsible for all of London's great military ceremonies
with 31 years' experience behind him.
I was on parade, it was my battalion that was trooping as escort.
When that dozy bugger shot at Her Majesty, on the Mall,
on the corner as she was coming in on Burmese, I think, she was riding.
So we were all in the area, knew there was a kerfuffle over there,
but we didn't know what it was, until later on, obviously.
But down to a good Scots Guardsman who apprehended the individual -
and I'm not going to say how he apprehended him...
No soldier marches on to Horse Guards without Billy's approval.
He's basically in charge of everything, London District-wise.
Basically, you don't want to be on the bad side of him.
And just keep him not shouting.
When you're stood to attention, you've got your heels together,
in every part of the Massed Bands!
Today, Billy gets his hands on the Massed Bands
and Corps of Drums, led by the Drum Majors.
It's their first time all together at Wellington Barracks.
Make sure you keep your dressing by the centre,
especially on the flanks!
Coldstream on our right, there, and Grenadiers on the left.
The Garrison Sergeant Major checks everything,
from the length of their stride to the trickiest manoeuvre
in military ceremony, unique to the parade, the Spin Wheel.
This is what it's supposed to look like.
The Spin Wheel's absolutely mental.
Everybody's everywhere and you don't know where you are going.
The theory on the Spin Wheel's way above me.
Spin Wheel is where the band have to wheel around
to face the guards or face away from them.
And the sheer size of the Massed Bands,
with the Corps of Drums on the end,
it's a difficult process to go through.
Too much moving around and too much talking at high tones,
heels not together. But, please, when you're on parade,
don't start moving around and fidgeting.
Remember the heels together and produce that on Horse Guards on Monday
and everybody will go away
with a spring in their step and happy as Larry.
Over at Pirbright Army Training Camp in Surrey,
the Grenadiers are on the drill square and in a week's time
they will conduct their first rehearsal on Horse Guards.
Meanwhile, Roly, the man who will lead the parade,
is trying to learn some 113 words of command.
The rumour is the horse, Burniston, knows them all.
Sergeant Major, what are we doing now?
You want to do a full rehearsal? Yes, sir.
Do you want me to give the words of command? Yes.
I know about a third of them.
'My biggest fear at the moment,'
would be one of the officers getting it wrong,
cos they're quite key on the parade
and they have to be in certain places
and give the right words of command at the right time.
And unfortunately, if one of those goes wrong,
then the boys, all their movements go wrong
and it'll be hard to regain that on the parade, after that.
Guards will retire!
No, it's form three ranks, sir.
Guards will form three ranks!
Now, sir.
Stand still! Get back! Get back!
The commanding officer hasn't got it yet
but he and Ian are used to watching one another's backs in situations
where mistakes could have dangerous consequences,
on patrol, in Helmand.
We're going to go out and visit one of the companies.
It's one of the areas that we've recently cleared.
The situation is still pretty critical down there.
And I find it very useful to go out and spend time
with the company commander with his army counterpart,
from the Afghan Army, as well as the police.
All right, sir? Yep. OK.
Where we are going today, you couldn't have stood there three weeks ago.
You'd have been in a fight straightaway.
Now we've cleared it, it's just a matter of holding it and also making it better for the locals to live in,
which we've already started doing. We've built a lot of culverts, so their roads are passable.
And we've built a lot of shops and also just made life better for them, you know, renovated what we can
to make life better for them and hopefully, in return, they'll let us know when the Taliban arrive.
HE COMMUNICATES VIA RADIO
RADIO COMMUNICATION
It's an ever-changing situation in Helmand.
Meeting with village elders is a vital part of the mission.
Up until three weeks ago, this was the front line.
This was...
Well, the checkpoints you can see behind you, that's what presents as the Taliban every morning.
And they used to come in and fight.
This village here was...
..was one of their forward staging points.
But the welcome from the community is friendly
and so is the commanding officer's message.
We are not here to fight the Taliban.
If I could talk to a Taliban commander today, I would, and we would settle our problems by talking.
Because when we can bring security together with you to your village,
you will benefit from all the rights that you are meant to have,
so that the little ones have a future
because, like you, I am also a father and the most important thing to me
is that my children are brought up safely and have a prosperous future.
HE TRANSLATES
For the men of the Queen's Company, their tour of duty has meant months on remote patrol bases.
As the senior company of the Grenadiers, they are a tightly-knit group.
Go on the tyre tracks, follow it through,
so we don't hit any IEDs.
At the parade, they'll have the prestigious job of escorting the colour.
It's a proud moment for all of them.
For 22-year-old Lance Corporal Ben Middleton, this was his first time in a warzone.
(Can't talk with my mouth full!)
'Been in Afghanistan on my first tour with the Grenadier Guards, my first tour of my Army career.
'There's been some good moments.'
A lot of challenges that you didn't think
you'd be able to do and you've done 'em.
It's always good to complete your job and know you've done it well.
There has been some low moments, obviously, casualty-wise, and that kind of stuff you have to deal with.
Obviously I miss my daughter, miss family, my girlfriend.
When you've got a lot of time on your own,
you tend to start thinking about it a bit more.
So you start to miss home and that's a bit of a low moment.
15 members of the battle group, including five Grenadiers,
have lost their lives on the six-month tour.
And it was on road patrol in February when the Queen's Company lost one of its own.
A British soldier, who was killed in an explosion in Afghanistan yesterday,
in the early stages of Operation Moshtarak has been named.
Lance Sergeant David Greenhalgh from First Battalion Grenadier Guards died
when his vehicle hit an improvised bomb
while on patrol in the Nad Ali district of Helmand.
'Never seen an IED go off, never found an IED,'
then, obviously, that day. That was a major shock for myself.
Something I don't ever want to see again.
I was out with Dave Greenhalgh when he blew up in his Jackal.
And that was horrible. The Jackal just got ripped apart.
Just went over it and he just got threw out the vehicle
and I had to go and find him and knew instantly, like, he was dead.
Dave's memory lives on,
especially for those who will troop the colour without him.
I think this one is going to be for him.
Yeah, from us here.
It is basically our company and we will be escorting the colour,
so everyone will have him in their memory.
When we get home, we will have that moment of reflection.
We'll gather round those families who have been bereaved
We will gather in those guys who have been injured and we will come back together again.
That's when it will be quite emotional for a lot of people.
But that's the way I'd like to deal with it.
# Another summer day has come and gone away... #
How was the flight? Long.
Yeah, good to be home. Good to be back. Good to get feet back on soil.
Refreshing. Refreshing, both the weather and to get home.
The blokes are glad to be back now.
Just looking forward to getting to the barracks
and meeting my mum, my brothers.
# Oh, I miss you, you know... #
If I said I was looking forward to doing the troop, I'd be lying,
but it's part of our job and it's just one of those things we have to get done
and look forward to leave after.
# Baby, how are you?
# I would send them, but I know that it's just not enough
# My words were cold and flat... #
Are you excited about Daddy coming home? No.
I'm sure you are.
It's hard, really hard.
Um, you just, I suppose...
Because he's been away before, I do get used to it,
but it was terrifying, really emotional.
He can enjoy his 24th birthday now.
The thing is you've got to think about all the other guys.
Their guys don't come home.
So, we're lucky.
# From where you are
# I want to come home
# And I feel just like I'm living someone else's life... #
THEY CHEER
# And everything's going right
# And I know just why you could not come along with me
# That this was not your dream
# But you always believed in me... #
Where have you...?
# Another winter day has come and gone away
# In Paris and Rome and I want to go home... #
At least you've got a sun tan.
# I'm surrounded by a million people
# I still feel alone
# Let me go home
# I miss you, you know
# Let me go home
# It'll all be all right
# I'll be home tonight
# I'm coming back home. #
Are you OK? Yes, are you? Yeah, I'm fine.
Short arse!
They're home
and within one week, the Grenadiers gather together at Wellington Barracks
to mark their return with a medals parade.
Those who have just completed their first tour
are awarded the Afghanistan Service Medal.
'Today is a hugely important day.'
For me and for the serving soldiers,
it's the end of the operational tour.
We go on leave tomorrow, we come back
in two weeks' time and we are absolutely, singularly focused on the parade.
So this, for us, is the end of the tour. I hope, for the families,
it's the end of the tour, but clearly, there are those who are bereaved
for whom this will never be the end
and there are those who are injured who require lots of treatment.
Lt Garth Banks is there to receive his medal from the Major General.
He managed to stand on parade for the first time since his injury.
'I'm absolutely fine with it.'
I knew the risks
of going out into Afghanistan
and I knew the IED threat.
I knew how greatly it's used out there by the Taliban.
But on the day, I was in charge of guys
and the decisions before and after the occasion were all mine.
I've no regrets.
I joined the Grenadier Guards and that's what I wanted to do
and I wanted to go to Afghanistan as a Grenadier Guards officer so...
I enjoyed my time out there. It was very interesting. I can be thankful for that.
I can be thankful that I'm still here.
Inside the Guards' Chapel,
the time had come to mourn and remember those who had never made it home.
..and the fallen of the Grenadier Guards.
Guardsman Janes, Grenadier Guards.
Warrant Officer class 1.
Regimental Sgt Major Chant, Grenadier Guards.
Sgt Telford, Grenadier Guards.
Guardsman Major, Grenadier Guards.
And Lance Sgt Greenhalgh, Grenadier Guards.
The Queen's Company's wish
to march for Lance Sgt Dave Greenhalgh at trooping the colour this Saturday
is their own special act of remembrance.
Dave made an impact
on the people around him
and that's something that makes you proud.
To think that all of those guys that are marching for the Queen
on that very special day
are going to be thinking about their fallen comrades
and in that case, particularly, Dave.
It would mean a lot to me
and would mean a lot to Dave.
At the going down of the sun
and in the morning, we WILL remember them.
ALL: We will remember them.
BUGLE PLAYS
It's May 11th at Buckingham Palace
and it's a special day for the Grenadier Guards.
You can't troop the colour without a regimental flag.
Today the regiment receive their new colours from the Colonel-in-Chief,
the Queen. It's an event most soldiers will only see once in a career
and it's the flag the Grenadier's will parade on June 12th.
The colours that I am presenting to you this morning
represent the spirit of the regiment past and present.
The battle honours which are embroidered on the colours
are a memorial to all who have given their lives, their health or their service to the regiment.
For the ensign, James Brown, it was finally his chance to hold the actual colour.
'The colour is quite heavy, certainly when you're holding it with one arm.'
The crown at the top weighs a fair bit as well as the material itself
and indeed the pole that it's mounted on.
It does weigh quite a lot.
It's not too bad when it's in the colour belt,
but once it's out and about, it weighs a fair bit.
The Grenadier Guards assemble for their official photograph
with the Queen and the Colonel of the Regiment, the Duke of Edinburgh.
The Grenadiers must soon prove themselves as the lead regiment of the troop,
but they won't be alone. A total of eight regiments have important roles to play.
The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery must prepare their horses and First World War fuel guns
to fire a 41-gun royal salute.
While the two regiments at the household cavalry, the Life Guards
and the Blues and Royals have not only to master the parade,
but they must do it on horseback.
It means hours of rehearsals in full military uniforms
under the considered gaze of Garrison Sgt Major Billy Mott.
There's no difference between dealing with Foot Guards
and troopers and gunners from the Royal Artillery,
it's the bloody horses that they're sat on that's the difference.
They don't listen to listen to words of command until I can get right on top of them.
Dress in now, by the right!
Stay covered off your barrels!
Don't drift out!
None of those people work together routinely.
So you've got this huge collective endeavour
with people of various different standards.
Some have been doing public duties for the past six months,
others have been war-fighting in operations.
And you've got to bring them all together, they've all got to achieve the same standard.
Getting the position, the self-discipline right, is actually quite a tricky business.
The Grenadiers have just days left before their big rehearsal.
Roly and Burniston are still working on the rein-back.
And today they are in front of the experts - the Household Cavalry.
For the young troopers on parade,
Foot Guardsman showing you how to rein-back.
I'm not sure about that reining back in our garrison!
That's all right, sir, that's fine.
I think he's doing very well.
The Grenadier Guards have faced danger and the demands of war.
They've spent weeks being shouted at on drill squares and army bases,
rehearsing separately, but have they reached the right standard for trooping the colour?
Today is their big test.
The first rehearsal on Horse Guards Parade.
'Things will go wrong,'
but that's why this is our chance to get it right, polish up.
The reason I stand on a chair to put my tweeds on
is so I don't drag all the dirt and dust on the bottom
as I pull them on.
This will be my tenth troop now,
in 15 years.
You think you get used to it but you don't.
You know, especially the transition from being in Afghanistan to here.
It's difficult at all levels.
Obviously being the Company Sergeant Major, it's my job
to make sure the guys carry out that transition as smoothly as possible.
So it is very difficult. It's always a challenge.
End of your magazine's looking rather rusty. That's dirty, that is.
Hey, that is not acceptable. You understand me?
Got a rusty mark.
That's one of those things they pick every now and then.
Getting pure busted on camera as well!
Work hard. You look great, you are great, go and show everybody up there
how great you are.
Work hard, let's have a good parade.
Good!
Seasoned pro, Burniston, seemed calm.
But is the commanding officer?
This is the first time I've ever been on a parade, on Horse Guards,
which for a Guardsman is quite an admission.
In that regard, it's a first for me.
We were ready, we'd done some training.
And it's been a very sharp preparation.
We haven't had that many days to prepare for this.
But first and foremost, this is a rehearsal.
So I'm happy if things go wrong,
as long as they're not absolutely drastic
and it's not something that really ought not to be going wrong.
She just wants to get on with it, doesn't she?
She knows where she's going!
But once he's out there, Roly is on his own.
Right, sir.
Fall in, the officers!
2...3...draw!
2...3...recover!
2...3...carry!
2...3...left, right, left!
Break a leg, sir. Thank you.
Guards!
Stand fast, number three guard!
Sir, we've got one down already, sir.
Yep, seen.
It soon proves far too much for one Guardsman.
There should be a stretcher-bearer over there, is there?
FANFARE
There's a little bit of fumbling,
but no embarrassment for James, the ensign, as he receives the colour.
General, salute!
Present...arms!
Great, innit?
He's in the wrong order of marks, though, now.
Right...form!
Now he's led him in.
Well done, lads.
Turn!
The core of drums and Massed Bands seem to have the dressing sorted.
But Roly performs the rein-back
perhaps not as smoothly as he might like.
Right!
Steve and the Queens Company seem to have their march in order.
But the drum majors are out of line.
The best way to describe it is organised chaos.
But they get the feel of it after this.
The ground, the texture, the ambiance.
But they're not at the minute!
Some of them!
Thankfully, they'll have a few more chances
before they have to troop the colour for real.
After the rehearsal the senior officers gather
for a frank debrief in front of the Brigade Major.
The things I notice tend to be general bearing and turnout,
confidence, that's the sort of thing I notice.
And I don't think you're where you should be.
Lots of very loose arms, swords all over the place,
taking post officers, I mean, at 16 and 32,
I think, and, I mean...there were a few more paces being taken
or people were doing it at different speeds.
So, please, let's get on top of that.
Obviously the first time I've been on parade on the Horse Guards,
so, thank you for being there!
And under the circumstances, I think, a good effort.
And I think for 1st Battalion
the excuse of having been on operations has worn a bit thin,
so that's now over.
We're back and we're with the rest of the gang,
and all at one standard.
Thanks very much.
Nice and easy, please.
The officers, gentlemen, if you would like to retire.
There is still a lot to do.
There's only one standard that we're allowed and that's excellence.
And we are far short of that. So...
Still work to do.
I wouldn't tell them... but it was a good start.
And the reason why I wouldn't
is they would become... a little bit too cocky.
The whole world is looking at you on television right now!
Training will continue until this Saturday
when the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards must perform trooping the colour,
along with the full ranks of 1,500 soldiers from eight regiments
in front of the Queen.
It's a big parade, it's the Queen's birthday.
You've only got one chance to get it right.
I think, Her Majesty, she knows exactly what's meant to happen, and when,
and I think she has very exacting standards.
I just hope that we do her proud.
The parade marks the survival
of the oldest regiments of the British Army.
Soldiers who can switch from fighting the Taliban
to presenting themselves as the best ceremonial soldiers in the world.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
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