Honouring Those Who Went Before Us Through a Clinical Lens
As I write this on the 81st anniversary of D-Day, I feel the weight of history and the pride that comes with serving in the same battalion as the heroes of Pegasus Bridge.
On the night of 5 June 1944, 181 “chosen-men” of the Ox and Bucks—who would later reform into the 1st Battalion Royal Green Jackets—took off from RAF Tarrant Rushton in their Horsa gliders. Major John Howard led D Company, reinforced with two platoons from B Company, 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, on what would become the opening shot of liberation.
From joining 2nd Battalion The Light Infantry in 1987, to serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Green Jackets from 1996 to 2000, I know the calibre of men who march in The Light Division. I’ve seen that same Swift and Bold professionalism, that same unshakeable determination under pressure.
The Clinical Perspective: When Training Overrides Instinct
This year, when I look at this picture through the eyes of a clinical Solution Focused Hypnotherapist, I see something profound in those gliders landing just 47 yards from Pegasus Bridge at 16 minutes past midnight. I understand how the intellectual brain can control the emotional primitive mind.
Those 181 men had just experienced what should have triggered every primitive survival instinct—hurtling through enemy airspace in wooden gliders, crash-landing in hostile territory, disoriented and vulnerable. Their amygdala, that primitive fight/flight/freeze part of the limbic system should have flooded them with panic.
The amygdala, known as the fight/flight or freeze part of the brain, quite literally went from flight to fight. This is the controlled aggression that every Rifleman, every infantry soldier trained for knows.
But here’s what makes them extraordinary: their intellectual brain—the prefrontal cortex—maintained complete control over their primitive emotional mind. Through relentless training, these men had rewired their brains to respond to extreme stress not with freeze or flight, but with calculated, coordinated assault.
Neuroplasticity in Action
This is neuroplasticity in its purest form. The prefrontal cortex, that intellectual command centre we use for conscious thought and proper assessment of situations, stayed firmly in control. It directed their actions with the precision that secured both bridges in just 10 minutes—ten minutes that changed the course of history, executed with the precision and courage that runs through the DNA of every man who’s served in the regiment.
As veterans, we understand this process intimately. We’ve felt that moment when training overrides instinct, when discipline conquers fear, when the intellectual mind directs the primitive brain’s raw energy toward mission success.
The Brotherhood That Made It Possible
As a Chosen Man who walked in their footsteps decades later, I understand the brotherhood that made that night possible. The absolute trust in the man next to you, the training that becomes instinct, the knowledge that we all have a part to play when your mates are counting on you.
These weren’t just soldiers—they were our family. The same spirit that drove them from those battered gliders was the same spirit I witnessed during my years with the battalion. Swift and Bold isn’t just our motto; it was our way of life.
The Legacy Lives On
Every time I see images of Pegasus Bridge and especially on the 6th of June, I’m reminded that we stand on the shoulders of giants. Those 181 men didn’t just capture a bridge—they upheld the honour of every Rifleman who would follow.
This same principle applies to every challenge we face in civilian life. That strength, that ability to maintain intellectual control under pressure—it’s still there. It’s part of who we are. The courage that landed at Pegasus Bridge lives on in every veteran who chooses to face their struggles head-on, who refuses to let the primitive mind dictate their future.