As my grandfather was a british Royal Marine Commando, and as I have also read the book called “Castle commando” a book of only 8 copies ever published by Oliver and Boyd.
The book based on a one of the original commnado trainers Donald Gilchrist at Achancarry training camp “the orignal place where the commando’s were formed” near Speanbridge. NOT Inveraray!!!

I feel that all this information is nothing but a load of crapp! let me go in more detail and by all means google all this information yourself.

Commando’s were formed in Inverness-shire highland’s of Scotland, started in 1942 to 1945 was the ORIGINAL training camp formed to train the commando’s for world war 2. The actual property im referring to or the estate of land used for the training grounds was a place called Achnacarry owned by the Clan Cameron, a well known Scottish clann that is stillv ery much around to this day!

The person they put in charge of the training camp at achancarry was Non-other then a man called Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Edward Vaughan. A well respected man, and was army through and through, prior to this assignment he was a Seargent major in the gaurds etc…

Without goin into great detail my grandfather was in the 45 commando unit that took part in many Historical battles such as, D-DAY, Normandy, Battle of Wlachren in holland etc..

These men were harshly trained great soldiers, and belive it or not, were the elite soldier that really had a significant impact on how the war turned out. Although British royal marine command’s are still around today with the massive differnences in there training bach at the Commando Depot, at Achnacarry training camp, alls they got was 12 weeks of grueling, hard core fittness, elite soldier training, and yes believe it or not a fare few did not make it through the training, as in did not survive it!

The commando’s that are trained today are still the crown’s most Elite soldier the british have they are certainly not trained in the same harsh and unbareable condition’s today as they were back then.

BUT however theyer training today make no joke of it is still nothing less then Un-imaginable hardcore training, but you just can’t compare the different Commano’s we have today to what they were back then. And i have watched all the training video’s that the british royal marin commando training official website hosts for all to see and can get a Idea of exactly what to expect if anyone chose this path.

All in all I dont like what I see above me on how they were formed and by whom was in charge and instrcutor’s name cause it’s all a load of crapp, that need’s fixing.

These soldier’s will never be forgotten

United we Conquer!!! <- there orignal slogan )

By peter gallacher on Jul 31, 2008 at 1:49 pm

With reference to the comments above, without any disrespect to the author or his grandfather I would like to make the following comments.

David Lee’s article is about the Royal Navy Commandos, who were first called Royal Navy Beach Parties and then Royal Navy Beach Commandos before the “Beach” was dropped so to speak. So when he says “Commandos” he means RN Commandos and is not referring to the Army Commandos or those of HM Royal Marines. This may be the source of some confusion.
Also in Castle Commando by Donald Gilchrist which has been reprinted twice, Chapter two, paragraph nine reads
“You will meet ex-Commandos who will stoutly deny ever having seen Achnacarry. Prior to 1942, the system was more or less to put the cart before the horse. Volunteers were formed into their Commando groups and then given their training. This process worked well enough at the time, and in most cases, produced an excellent type of fighting man.” Donald Gilchrist is talking about the army commandos that existed before the Commando Training Centre at Achnacarry, whose training though hard was ad hoc and carried out at a number of different locations. These men would not of gone to CTC at all as the formalised training there was primarily for new commando entrants.
Going back to the Royal Navy Beach Parties some of these were thrown together from ‘volunteers’ and evolved with the job like the Army Commandos. Formalised training for beach parties started at Inverary and moved to HMS Armadillo at Ardentiny. By 1942 the Royal Navy Commandos having completed their “Beach Party” training at HMS Armadillo would then go and do their Commando Training at Achnacarry, this was the case for my grandfather’s unit NAN Commando.
As a former Royal Marine who served in Northern Ireland, Kurdistan, Bosnia and went on six winter deployments to Norway between 1986 and 1995, I would like to make the following comments on comparisons in training.
1) Back to “Castle Commando”, Donald Gilchrist writes in chapter 7 paragraph two, “Originally designed for a period of five weeks, the course had now been telescoped into four. It was, consequently tougher than ever”. The men who went to CTC Achnacarry had already completed their basic training and in most cases would have done some advanced training and or had operational experience. The Royal Marines recruits who go to CTC Lympstone start as raw civilians and do 32 weeks and come out Royal Marine Commandos, personal administration and personal skills, advanced infantry training, commando tests and King’s Squad are all rolled into one. These men can then join an operational Commando Unit. We are not comparing apples with apples.
2) The men who passed through CTC Achnacarry certainly had much more spartan facilities than those that exist at CTCRM Lympstone but you can’t say that the Royal Marines of today are lesser commandos because they have better barracks, when I did my training the toughest bit was the Final Ex which started with a mock cliff assault with weapons and finished after twelve days of living in a tactical environment, with mock assaults and forced marches, I have never been so exhausted in my entire life as when that ended, this one exercise was half the length of the entire commando course during the war!
3) There is also what is known as “The All Arms Commando Course” which is for trained personnel from the Army, Royal Navy and RAF serving with 3 Commando Brigade, 29 CDO RA, 59 CDO RE and the Royal Marines Logistics Regiment. this course I believe is about 10 to 12 weeks in duration.
4) At least one recruit died whilst I was at Lympstone and another had to be resuscitated after a troop attack in full NBC gear and respirators, training was tough even when I was in and with the recent fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan I am sure it has not got any easier!

By Griffin Turton on Sep 27, 2008 at 9:26 am

I agree with GriffinTurton’s comments above. However I just don’t see the point in trying to compare training of the army commandos during a World War to that of today. They have the time today to have a much longer course. The training given to the army commandos was new in 1942 but the principles are basically the same today. That is a benchmark on how good the planning and structure of the original courses were. It is true that not all Commandos went thru Achnacarry not just those who joined before the CTC began. When No.2 sailed to Gibralter and onto places such as Italy they sufferred heavy casualties in some actions such as Salerno. Recruits were taken on from the Army over there..tested as suitable and if so began training locally under No.2 Officers. Many did not pass and were RTU’d. Many did pass and joined the Commando. This is evidenced in the No.2 Commando War Diaries. The one thing that remains a constant since the time the Green Beret was first issued to the Commandos is that, then, and now, they can wear it with pride and in the knowledge that they are amongst an elite.

By Pete Rogers on May 9, 2009 at 5:25 pm

my father Tom Haigh was a royal navy commando on the torpedo boats he was cheif stoker he joined up when he was 17 he is now 85 and has unbelievable memories and stories, he was one of the men putting lines down in normandy before the americans landed

By jeanstainsby on Nov 19, 2009 at 5:13 pm