chris's dad was military so thats how he got interested. the fact that guys from sf go into that sort of thing is often just down to the gap in the market or a suitable job off. they also run paintball sites and activity days because they like being their own boss. I know one ex member of 'them' who is happy spending his retirement making templates for granite worktops.
the key thing that sets 'special forces' or most military types apart is the way they are taught to teach. schools that offer instructor training also offer an military style methods of instruction weekend which teaches you to strip it down to simple points and return questioning.
special forces doesnt particularly make you good at something a lot of 'them' and paras think that being in the services automatically would make you good at close protection but the skillset is totally different. same goes for survival training. st mawgan run an awesome course which is incredibly effective and by excellent instructors who are allways supplimenting their knowledge by employing civilians like rm to see if there is anything new or recent they can learn. many troops when posted get local survival lessons so in norway its dragging yourself out of a frozen lake and igloo/quinzy building and in belize its snakes/bugs/leeches/nasties, platform or swamp beds, wet/dry routine and so on. sf guys do tend to get posted to such areas more frequently though being part of rrf or amf units. sf units also work in smaller units and work on the principles of knowledge is something to be shared so they cross train each other inorder to make each member more usefull but also to cut down on barrack boredom.
trueways main bodies are a civvy and an ex-raf helicopter pilot, they use ex military and also some home grown instructors. they work with everyone from the princes trust to the military so can teach just about anything. chris's homegrown learning probably makes him more of a bushcraft founder than anyone else in the country and more UK specific unlike most of the stuff you see and read out there which is scandanavian in origin, the only difference is he founded a survival school. mind you so did rm and about the same time too. they have similar teaching styles as well by all accounts.
no airs, no graces just simple structured chatty training over a comprehensive curriculum which enables you to carry on learning at your own pace. the main thing you learn from the military training style is to adapt your mindset to the situation so enable you to adapt to it and go with the flow rather than panic.
not connected to them other than being a forum member along with a few of the others on here and frindly with the staff. I've done military courses and civvy ones and would happily do a trueways course over a woodlore one as the saved cash would pay for all new kit and I'm not that desperate for a new spoon
just like on here members get together when they can find someone near to meet up with but if anything make less mess as contrary to biased opinion we'd rather save the woods for when they are really needed.
incidentally chefs make good instructors as well, their training is generally physically based with trading of knowledge and skills to juniors and seniors alike. plus they allready have the ccutlery for the job
