Being a British Soldier
Speaking English
Either you love Monty Python or you just don't get it. But there's something about Monty Python that makes it so incredibly BRITISH. The accent, and the humor. Luckily for us, unlike those who portray other armies, we only have to learn English. English is alot easier to learn than say, German or Japanese. We only have to learn the accent, the differences in terminology, and the slang peculiar to WW2 Britain. Now about the humor. You may think that Monty Python has nothing to do with portraying a WW2 Tommy, but you're wrong. I've had the opportunity to work with the British Army on several occasions. Their humor is over the top, crude, and creeps into any and all situations. There is alot of overstatement, and understatement, and stoicism. Pay attention to Sean Connery in "A Bridge Too Far". Every time he's handed a mission or situation beyond reason, he's unemotional and understates the problem. He uses statements like "Some might think drop zones 8 miles from the bridge might be less than ideal" and "So no-one's getting to the bridge except by foot. Splendid." And there is so much slang, and so many inside jokes within units, that it's sometimes hard to understand what's so funny to them. So if you like Monty Python, try to work some of that into your impression.
Alot of us quote Python often when around other Python fans. And if you watch it enough, you can quote it the way it sounded during the skit. The trick is to be able to sound right during normal speech for hours (minutes?) on end. The best little nugget I've found on the net is the following advice;
The most important difference between the American accent and almost all the other english language accents is the nasal intonation all Americans use. First try to eliminate this by producing the sounds at the front of your mouth behind your teeth - not further back in your mouth. Use your lips to enhance the sounds. When you achieve this then you can attempt to copy the vowel sounds - which will come naturally by projecting your voice this way.
The following link has some good rules to follow to improve your english accent;
http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-in-a-British-Accent
So remember, to make our impression better, we've got it easy since we don't have to learn how to speak german or french, we just have to learn how to speak english.
Alot of us quote Python often when around other Python fans. And if you watch it enough, you can quote it the way it sounded during the skit. The trick is to be able to sound right during normal speech for hours (minutes?) on end. The best little nugget I've found on the net is the following advice;
The most important difference between the American accent and almost all the other english language accents is the nasal intonation all Americans use. First try to eliminate this by producing the sounds at the front of your mouth behind your teeth - not further back in your mouth. Use your lips to enhance the sounds. When you achieve this then you can attempt to copy the vowel sounds - which will come naturally by projecting your voice this way.
The following link has some good rules to follow to improve your english accent;
http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-in-a-British-Accent
So remember, to make our impression better, we've got it easy since we don't have to learn how to speak german or french, we just have to learn how to speak english.
Slang and Terminology
You're in an armoured unit, so you need to know vehicle terminology. You may already know things like a jeep hood is actually a bonnet. You may not know that the jeep itself is a Blitz Buggy though. You need to know that the difference between a tank brigade and an armoured brigade is that a tank brigade is equipped with infantry tanks, for infantry support, whereas an armoured brigade has cruiser tanks, used in a an exploitation role. And start gettiong used to things like calling a generator a dynamo, a fender a wing, and other terminology dealing with vehicles. Wrenches are spanners, and a crescent wrench is an adjuzzy. Helmets are bone domes. And so on and so on. In other areas, such as food, things like beef stew is M & V for Meat and Veggies. Biscuits are either crackers, hard tack or cookies, the only way to tell them apart is whether they're sweet biscuits or not. Typical foods are things like pilchards in tomato sauce, steak and kidney pudding, fish and chips and whatnot. I'll expand on terminology more. We might need to make a sort of dictionary for the unit.
Who Are You?
Where do you come from? Birmingham? Coventry? An orphan's work house near the docks of London? What did you do there? What are the major industries there? Farming? Coal? Did you go to a public school or a private school? You don't have to have a 5 page resume, just pick someplace out, do a little homework on what you'd have been likely to be involved in there, and stick to it. Throw it into a conversation every once in a while. Maybe you had to go take a dump in the woods. You come back with the shovel, and throw in a "Bloody Ell. I'd be better back in the coal mines in Wales digging coal. I just dug an ole to bury me own shite, and wouldn't you know it, I dug up someone else's shite!"
Class
Although class played a part in American society in WW2, it was nothing like the class distinctions present in Europe, and Britain. Enlisted soldiers were almost invariably from the poor classes. Officers were from the upper classes. Although with the crash expansion of the army during the war, some officers were promoted up from the ranks, generally, if you were an officer, you came from a well to do family. During the first world war, the officers, and particularly the higher commands, considered the rank and file as little more than cannon fodder. Although Montgomery despised the wastage of men that he experienced in WW1 and sought to treat the men differently, as a valuable resource in the second world war, alot of the officers between him and the bottom didn't feel the affinity for the men that he did. Nor did the men at the bottom feel much affinity for those above them. There was a class barrier, and it was an accepted part of life.
You are a working class laborer, either a volunteer or conscripted into the army, and you are openly skeptical of the higher class and aware of your position pretty much all the time.
You are a working class laborer, either a volunteer or conscripted into the army, and you are openly skeptical of the higher class and aware of your position pretty much all the time.
Training
Concerning your training, there was alot of controversy over the introduction of Battle Drill into the army. The british army was built around the artillery branch. Artillery dominated all planning and tactics, and Battle Drill was a new idea. There was alot of resistance to introducing Battle Drill, because many in the war office thought it would interfere with the traditional form of offensive. The infantry advanced behind creeping barrages. If they stayed close enough to the barrage, they could storm the enemy positions before the germans could react. This only required minimal training. If the infantry were trained to muck about behind the barrage going through rote-learned routines of fire and maneuver, they wouldn't be able to keep up with the barrage, and the attack would fail. Many officers thought Battle Drill should be taken back out of the books, and many simply ignored training it. Studying the Normandy campaign from the British perspective bears out which units took Battle Drill to heart, and which ones simply marched forward behind the barrage with arms at port, and paid the price.
Those units that replayed the Somme were officered by the type of men who simply considered the enlisted ranks a tool without the need for instilled independent thinking and initiative. Luckily, the airborne forces didn't fall into that category for the most part. Most of the rote spit and polish that was inflicted on airborne soldiers in lieu of training was the fault of company and squadron sergeants major accustomed to pre-war routine. But that was the exception.
The 6th AARR history written by Keith Flint mentions that the regiment tended to de-emphasize "marching up and down the square" and emphasize battle performance training. Read: Battle Drills.
Although you're better trained and have a better relationship with your officers than the usual british army unit, remember, you volunteered for the airborne, but you came from the 'other army'. Coming to the airborne for many soldiers was probably a breath of fresh air.
Those units that replayed the Somme were officered by the type of men who simply considered the enlisted ranks a tool without the need for instilled independent thinking and initiative. Luckily, the airborne forces didn't fall into that category for the most part. Most of the rote spit and polish that was inflicted on airborne soldiers in lieu of training was the fault of company and squadron sergeants major accustomed to pre-war routine. But that was the exception.
The 6th AARR history written by Keith Flint mentions that the regiment tended to de-emphasize "marching up and down the square" and emphasize battle performance training. Read: Battle Drills.
Although you're better trained and have a better relationship with your officers than the usual british army unit, remember, you volunteered for the airborne, but you came from the 'other army'. Coming to the airborne for many soldiers was probably a breath of fresh air.