How do you actually become an officer in the Royal Marines?
How hard is the training?
What does it take to be successful?
Sam, who spent 13 years as a Royal Marines officer and left as a major, with Afghanistan and Iraq deployments behind him, tells us about his journey.
We start with the reality of Royal Marines officer selection: why people fail POC, what changes when you stop trying to look “ready”, and how the Royal Marines Reserve can build the kind of fitness and resilience that holds up when everything is timed, controlled, and judged. Sam explains the parts candidates underestimate, from beep-timed gym tests and pull-ups that translate to rope climbs, to swimming standards that matter for an amphibious force, plus the long, muddy leadership grind of Brown Tuesday and Bottom Field.
From there we zoom out to what happens after training: learning to lead war-experienced Marines as a young troop commander, earning trust both ways, and making peace with mistakes so you can actually improve. Sam also shares what operations feel like at the sharp end and in joint roles, including first contact off a helicopter ramp, Iraq JTAC work, and the constant tension between mission command and rules of engagement, before touching on rapid disaster relief deployment lessons.
Finally, Sam tells the story of leaving the Corps, attempting an Antarctica crossing, getting kidney stones alone in the cold, and turning that setback into Pole To Pole, a cold weather expedition training company based out of Sweden. If you value honest career lessons, leadership under fatigue, and a clear-eyed look at service life, subscribe, share this with a mate chasing selection, and leave a review so more people can find it.