Good training

Amongst the attic stuff are three boxes of books. Not your normal box,  these are rectangular, thick, many multiple layers of strong card, 38 x 58 x 23 centimetres so they contained a LOT of books, and too heavy to carry down the loft ladder so I had to bring them down in chunks, in a smaller plastic box.
So many annuals and reference books along with dozens of children's story and picture books including lots of Ladybird, Enid Blyton etc.
The two in the photograph caught my eye for a blip. It occurred to me that the Cubs and Scouts were probably a good experience for children that grew up to serve in the military, including the Special Forces such as the Special Air Service.
I have a friend who was SAS. His first conflict was in Oman, the Battle of Mirbat, which was just down the coast from Masirah, my first overseas posting, but about 3 years after I left Masirah to take up my next posting in Singapore. 
He also was the first combatant into the rear of the Iranian Embassy during the seige in May 1980, 
Parachuted into the South Atlantic to be picked up by the Royal Navy and dropped off onto the Falkland Islands in 1982. 
Some very dodgy operations in Northern Ireland during the longest war British troops have been involved in. Northern Ireland called it 'The Troubles', while the British Government referred to the war as a 'Conflict', belittling the true danger that the troops faced every single day. It ran from the late 1960's until the 'Good Friday Agreement' in 1998.
I must ask him if he was in the Scouting movement as a boy.