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275lunches from the breakfast and would then go out to the students. They had anything that they could catch where they were. This usually meant nothing. I drove up in the short wheelbase Landrover towing a trailer with all our equipment the night before and checked in at the range to make sure that we had all the areas we wanted.The first day for the rest was a walk over the range to reach the first wood that we put them in. I made them build single shelters with bits of parachute. To begin with we had lots of old parachutes and they could have one each. Later they just got the bits they needed. I spent time sorting all of those bits out and getting them washed after each exercise. This took quite a while and was something else I would do whilst DSS. The Duty QFI could of course phone me if there was a problem. I would have got all the vehicles to the wood by walking back to where they had been left and driving them up so when the students arrived we had everything with us. I would then put up my own tent and would spend the first night with them. This meant that I could give help if need be, and while waiting would go down to a stream and try, often successfully , to catch a small trout. When they arrived, they would build their shelters and certainly in the winter light a fire. I let them take a small tobacco tin that they could put in more or less what they wanted. I used to tell them that they could eat anything if they put some curry powder with it. And pointed out that they probably often did. I would cook myself something to eat but not too obviously. The rest of the staff would go to a pub. For some years I would get up early, see that everyone was alright and then drive back to Mary%u2019s for a shower and breakfast. Later we gained access to a hut that had been a Victorian primary school. I would then drive down there and have something to eat and a shave. I think we also had a field telephone that we could contact the range HQ in case of an emergency. Later we gave them a mobile phone but they would have to walk to the top of a hill to get a signal.