RSA Review Spring 2020

4 rSA revieW • SPRING 2020 FOR DISCOUNTS AND SPECIALS He had been tested on the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland and on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, but Dave Benfell’s greatest test came after a free-fall jump with a Red Devils parachute display regiment went horribly wrong. on June 25, 2009. Landinghardand fast, he layon theparachute drop zone at Exeter, in south-west England, conscious, in excruciating pain, and trying to remain calm as his team-mates rallied to his side. Broken ribs down his left side had punctured his lung causing breathing difficulty, and burst fractured vertebrae resulted in instant paralysis from the waist down. Dave was an ex-New Zealand Defence Force infantryman and a member of the elite British ParatroopRegiment. Hismental determination, hardened and honed through years of military training, wouldmassage him through the next 18 months. Airlifted to Exeter’s Royal Devon Hospital by helicopter, he underwent a 10-hour operation to fit a cage to stabilise his back, then another operation to insert screws. He was encouraged to stay positive. The surgeon told himhis vertebraewere completely smashed and the nerves badly damaged. He offered no reassurance as to what lower body movement would ever return. He was paralysed for three weeks after his operation, anddescribes this periodas terrifying as a whirlwind of questions raced through his mind –Would he ever walk again? Howwould he get out of bed? Howwould he take himself to the toilet? Would he be able to have children? “But, the sort of person I am, I set positive goals for myself. There’s always a goal, always OUTDOOr THErAPY A kEY fOr SUPPOrT amission, always something towork for. If you focus on those things, it takes the edge off the bigger picture. My military and para training was absolutely key to recovery, because it’s about mindset, it’s about mental toughness – and that’s what you need in those situations.” Having grown up in a family with a lot of military history (his father had a very long military career serving in Vietnam, East Timor and Afghanistan), joining the army was the only thing Dave wanted to do. He fulfilled his dream in 1996 as a 19-year-old in 1/RNZIR and went through to 2001 when he and a mate decided to seek adventure and overseas travel. “I loved soldiering and wanted to use the skills I’d learned, but I also wanted to travel and I wanted adventure. I wasn’t rotating for East Timor again and again, which is what our prospects looked like in New Zealand.” As a childDave had read about the daring-do airborne exploits of the legendary British Paras during World War 2, the Suez Canal crisis and the Falklands War “They were heroes to a lot of military forces around the world. I wanted to go to the United Kingdom, test myself, and see if I was up to the task. I calledmy mate who’d left the army four months earlier. I told himwhat I was going to do and asked if he wanted to come too. There was silence for 10 seconds before he asked ‘When do we leave?’. That was the sum total of the conversation.” They lived in London for a year, working and playing hard in the big smoke before entering the Paras selection process. While Dave’s journey started at the end of 2002, his mate’s ended at the starting gate when a slight eyesight problem put a stop to his hopes. Under no illusion about the rigorous training ordeal ahead, Dave prepared for the selection process by watching a BBC documentary ( 480 Platoon ), which followed the training fortunes of prospective paratroopers. “I watched that documentary many times to get a flavour of what I was trying to do and, as funny as it sounds, it stood me in good stead for the selection process. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. When you join a standard soldiering unit, you’re not so much selected—you pass whatever the require- ment is. But with the Parachute Regiment, you’re specifically selected off the merits you produce.” He had done his best to keep fit during the year around London, but on hitting the ground running on Paras selection, he quickly realised he was not ready at all. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s not an ounce of fat on you and you can run all day, carry whatever weight, and be out in the snow and the rain. There’s no let-up and there’s no mercy, but what the trainers give you is mental toughness. "If you’re not physically fit but mentally tough, you can get the job done, whereas if you’re physically fit but notmentally tough, you will give in. That’s the difference between elite/ special forces selection and the regular force.” The rather innocuously called Pegasus Company (also known as P Company) is a training and selection organisation of the British Armed Forces. The five-day ‘P Company Week’ puts prospective British Paras through their paces at the conclusion of five months training. It’s notoriously gruelling, physically and mentally demanding, and includes a high-level assault course, a draining log race, a brutal form of boxing called ‘milling’, and a 'trainasium'. “There are one to two events every day. Some you just have to dowell on and others are pass/ fail – if you fail, the whole five months of train- ing has been for nothing. The only test I came close to failing—and it was a pass/fail—was the trainasium, an obstacle course 20-40 metres off the ground with no safety ropes.” Like a lot of paratroopers, Dave has a fear of heights: “It’s very odd, but I think Paras attract people who want to do the thing they’re most afraid of.” He didn’t fail, but with his knees shaking and wobbling, he didn’t make it look very good either. Having made the Paras, he remained with the elite soldiers for nine years. The unit was part of the original 2003 invasion of Iraq –Dave reckons they must have gone over the border from Kuwait on day one or two. “We were a day and a half fromparachuting into Iraq when we heard the lovely, smooth- looking drop zone was actually a minefield.” In 2004 he deployed to Northern Ireland during the marching season when the various factions defiantly encroach upon each other’s territory, resulting in bloody riots. Dave then served in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2008. He tells the story the Paras were going to parachute in, but the RAF had not budgeted for the chutes, which are abandoned post jump. So, a different means of transport had to be found. He says young military people don’t really think about the harm they might come to in a theatre of war. “When you’re in combat, you are worried— thoughyouhopenot paralysedwith fear. You’re worried when bullets are whizzing past your ears and RPGs (rocked-propelled grenades) are smashing into things around you. But you get on and do the job. “You have a very important job to do and it’s at that time you need to step up to the plate and be the best version of yourself, otherwise people are going to get hurt unnecessarily. So you’re not really worried about yourself. In fact, you’re relatively aggressive. You do want to close with the enemy and you do want to test yourself to see if you are good enough Dave Benfell knows what it's like to put body, mind and soul to the ultimate test. And he knows what it takes to fight to survive. Now he's helping others on similar journeys. RICHARD LOADER traces his story. I loved soldiering and wantedtouse theskills I'd learned...I wanted to test myself and see if I was up to the task. Dave Benfell (front) aims to build a community that provides supports through ouroodr adventures and a common mission. Support