Lifestyle by Melissa Reynolds

Britain’s red dare devils

Skydiving candidates drop into Cyprus for an unusual job interview

Imagine a job interview where your CV wasn’t the only thing under scrutiny and you were expected to demonstrate your ability to deal with challenging occupational situations by jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet and having a few beers. In perhaps one of the world’s toughest and most unusual employment evaluations, seven candidates were recently put to the test in Cyprus, all hoping to fulfil a dream of a high-flying career with the Red Devils, the British Army’s legendary parachute display team.
The team is a select group of 20 soldiers carefully picked from three battalions of the Parachute Regiment, the tough fighting force established in 1942 on the orders of Winston Churchill, who wanted the elite troops to ‘take the battle to the enemy.’ Today, the regiment remains at the cutting edge of military conflict and provides a substantial force to the current campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Formed in 1964 to promote recruitment into both the regiment and British Army, the Red Devils team is the embodiment Britain’s Ministry of Defence’s ‘winning hearts and minds’ objective, as part of which death defying public performances are held.

Cyprus’ unpredictable and shifting winds are one reason why the team chooses the island for their annual five-week pre-season training, the weather conditions creating an ideal foil to the display jumpers’ skill in attempting tight and accurate landings. Team selection takes place in Cyprus every October once the hectic UK season closes and before the team wraps up the year with military displays in the United States.

Team Commander Major Nick Vischer explains exactly what the team expects of the candidates flown into Cyprus for the assessment: “We select the man first and the parachutist second. They’ve got to be good, strong soldiers able to deal with the demands placed on them in terms of parachuting and responsibility and we need people who can communicate with the public – they are representing the army and the regiment, it’s a privileged position to be in, particularly when you consider the troops digging trenches and fighting in other operations. Thirdly, they must have the coordination to parachute and also a degree of courage because they are going to be pushing boundaries and lastly, commitment, because the demands placed on them, especially during the season, are considerable.” Vischer outlines why these traits are vital, “they have to be aware of their position in society and that they are permanently in the public eye; they’ve got to be able to cut it and if they can’t then they are no good as a recruiting tool, which is their main role.”

Only a few paratroopers are fortunate enough to become part of the historic and popular display team and candidates are tested in everything from social skills right through to bravado in the air. “The week is based mainly on their skills in the sky, although it’s not the highest priority on the list but we’re getting a feel for what they are like, what their personalities are like, that’s the main thing,” says Corporal Michael ‘Billy’ Blanchard, a Red Devil for six years. “It’s not necessarily someone who is good at skydiving, it’s more someone we can teach, can pick things up quickly and has a bit of commonsense to be able to do a management role as well. For example, we assess how articulate they are and what their pen skills are like; we don’t want someone who can only utter three words on the phone or have loads of spelling mistakes in their emails, that just makes all of us look daft,” he says.

Business acumen and administration skills are important in a team which, aside from salaries and some travelling costs paid by Britain’s Ministry of Defence, is financially self-sufficient. Income is generated from tandem jumps, commercial displays and help from sponsors, such as Seat and Oakley. “You have to work hard to make money to pay for the team. Sponsorship is great but you can’t rely on it. What we have in parallel with our displays is a tandem programme used to cover costs in terms of replacing equipment and other associated expenses.” On average, the team helps charities raise around £100,000 a year through the tandem programme. “The caveat on that is that it’s actually raised by other people who do the jumps with us so they raise it, our operation enables people to do that,” Vischer explains.

Other candidate prerequisites are a little skydiving experience and exposure to active tours of duty. The soft spoken and imperturbable composure of 23-year-old candidate Ross Foster belies his combat credentials gained through four tours in Afghanistan over the last four and half years. A member of ‘one para’, now the support group for the elite Hereford SAS, the young soldier appears unaffected by his time in the conflict zone. “It’s one of those things, I know lots of people say it but at the end of the day you are just doing your job. There’s good and bad experiences in everything so it depends on how you look at any situation, I’ve enjoyed it to be honest.” He describes what makes the Red Devils job so appealing: “I started skydiving at the end of last year and I really enjoyed it and I want to progress; at the same time it’s a break from the battalion to try something else. It will be a big achievement definitely because if you look at the three battalions there’s probably almost 2,000 people and the team is about 20 people, only a select few, so I think if I do pass it will be a big achievement.”

Bombardier Ben Cannon, 30, serves with the Royal Artillery’s 16 air assault brigade and although a member of his regiment’s own parachute display team, The Black Knights, his invitation to join the Red Devils has the unusual distinction of being one of a handful extended to candidates from outside the Parachute Regiment. “It’s quite a big honour for me to even be allowed to try out for selection, they haven’t had anyone from my regiment since 1995,” he says. “I was working with them out here when they were here for their pre-season training last year and I got on really well with them. They asked if I had thought about coming across and if I would like to and I said yes.”

He explains why he wants to join, “they’re the best display team in the world and there have only been about 300 members of the Red Devils so that’s a select few, so to say you have done that is a big thing. Everybody knows who the Red Devils are so if you can say you’ve been on the team it’s always going to stand you in good stead, it’s something good to have on your CV and the displays they do are really awesome. I can’t wait, hopefully its going to happen for me,” he says.

On whether the selection process is difficult for the candidates, Ben answers honestly, “it’s as tough as you make it; if you want to be a jack the lad and go tearing it up with booze and all the rest of it then you know it’s probably not the right time for you. It depends on how much you want it, if you want it enough then you can probably get it.”

As far as interviews go, there are few that test your social skills while under the influence of alcohol, but in a job that involves socialising with the public, staying cool after a few drinks is essential. “They’ve got to be someone who isn’t going to be a social hand grenade when they are out having a drink because that could be 40 odd years of good public relations wasted in one fell swoop. We take them out for a beer to see what they’re like after they’ve had a drink because a big part of this job is about interaction with the public and being respectable,” Billy explains.

It will take up to a year before the recruits will be display qualified and around three when they move on to more advanced skills such as the flag jumping and canopy formation work fo

r which the Red Devils are renowned. By their fourth year, Red Devils can progress to Tandem and Jump Master qualifications and take on other specialised roles such as camera operator, but it’s not all fun in the air. Billy says, “the downside is working in the office; pulling my hair out sometimes with awkward displays and trying to get lots of the paperwork done. Often we spend twelve hours on the road to do a five minute display, but on the whole, 90 per cent of the job is enjoyable, the 10 per cent that isn’t is a good trade off as far as I’m concerned.”

One of the most critical posts in the Red Devil’s hierarchy is that of Team Leader, Sergeant Mark Scobie, effectively the group’s most experienced parachutist who acts as technical advisor to the Team’s Commander. This year has provided many poignant moments for Mark, his last as a Red Devil after eight years on the team. He describes one of the highlights, “One that stands out in my mind is the Arnhem commemoration. If you know the regimental history at Arnhem (the scene of a WWII air battle dramatised in the film A Bridge Too Far), you’d understand what that means to the guys on board so to that end they were all hyped up before we even left the aircraft. I did the freefall at 10,000 feet as the sun was setting and with little wind, the fast canopies were screaming in toward the spectators from the regiment HQ just waiting across the edge of the arena. I landed and I watched the canopy formation guys coming in and it was bang on, we did the line up, saluted and fell out but I could have just carried on marching, headed to the ferry and left the team then because it was such an outstanding display. I thought, I’ve done my job here, I can move on now knowing these guys are in good shape, it was really quite emotional.”

Mark sums up what the recruits can look forward to, “I’ve loved every minute of it and although it has its drawbacks and you need 100 per cent commitment, it’s been outstanding and I feel very privileged to have had the chance to do it for such a long time; I really do.”

In terms of success, aside from an extremely personable public-facing team, the Red Devils’ greatest strength is their unique ability to supply the ‘wow’ factor, something any skydiver would give their eye teeth to be part of. “Our job is to bring to any public event the adrenaline, the wow factor that really creates an emotional response; you catch the eye, you catch the emotion and then you exploit that in cold blooded terms by bringing in the recruitment message. It’s no different to what the Royal Tournament used to do – it was a spectacle, it was a thrill, it was fun and it was excitement; it’s a very old principle and we do that through parachuting,” Vischer explains.
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