Steve Mathews fought with 1 Para in Iraq and went onto serve with the Special Forces Support Group. Steve explains all about the airborne brigade, the death of the military policeman at at Majar al-Kabir, how 1 Para almost jumped into battle, how the parachute course is run and his current work as a civilian security contractor in Iraq. We discuss the parachute course at Brize Norton including the skyvan and the old balloon jump, and what it like to work alongside the Special Air Force (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) and training, tactics and weapons.

Transcript snippet from podcast

Chris and Steve

C – Steve how are you brother?

S – I’m good thank you how are you?

C – I’m very well mate, thank you for asking. You’re in Iraq as we speak?

S – Yeah, currently on lockdown in Baghdad, Iraq yeah.

C – What position are you holding in there?

S – I’m basically working for a private security company. Part of the regional management team. So we basically oversee all the projects in our region and provide support for those projects.

C – If we go back to the beginning, it was 1 Para you were in?

S – Yeah, so I left school in the year 2000, always wanted to join the military, I had three other family members in the parachute regiment at the time, so my allegiance was to the parachute regiment. I was too young to join as an adult entry, so my only option was to go to the army foundation college in Harrogate…

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