DUTCH BASIC PARA COURSE . TEXEL 1996

THE GROUP HAS STARTED TO GROW

This was a well attended course with over 50 jumpers attending. A detachment of Danish Long Range Recognisance troops from the Danish reserve forces joined the large Pathfinder group. The ground training went well. The socialising was going even better as the Danes seemed to pull out a never ending stream of beer from the boots of their cars. The British group did not complain. It would have been bad manners to refuse another nations hospitality.. The Danes were in a strange situation. Their government would not pay for Airborne reserves to be par trained. Only the regular airborne units received this training. This was embarrassing for them to turn up on an exercise with their regular counterparts and while they parachuted in the reservist were bussed into the training area. So taking the initiative many of their members attended other countries parachute courses at their own expense to gain their wings ,just to show they had as much guts as the regulars .They were a good bunch of blokes. Spoke good English and had a great sense of humour. The sticks were mixed up to encourage everyone to work together. This worked well with. Everyone helping the next guy. The group was lead by Frede Korsack a grizzled Staff Sergeant with a lot of years of military experience. We worked well together and so it was a unanimous decision to ask the Danes if they would like to join Pathfinder. This was the start of our continued partnership with the Danes. All jumps were completed with only a few bruises. Wings awarded and we hit the long road home.

This course was the start of Pathfinder Denmark with Fred as the group leader and Paul Monggaard as his 2i/c.

Sgt Roy Mobsby (Para. Reg. retired) Pathfinder UK

THE FOUNDER MEMBERS OF PATHFINDER DENMARK

Fred presents Pathfinder with a Plaque