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Their first officers were largely drawn from the ultra-swank Household Brigade, whose regiments set much store on birth and money. This circumstance made ordinary Britons grumble and suspect that the Commandos were officered by undemocratic pantywaists. The lists of Commando officers did indeed include many a prewar playboy, many an old, famous and sometimes weary name. Among them were Author Evelyn Waugh (Vile Bodies, Scoop, Put Out More Flags), who had transferred from the Royal Marines; Sir Roger's son, Lieut. Colonel Geoffrey Keyes, who last year died leading a Commando raid on Rommel's headquarters in Libya; Winston's son, Captain Randolph Churchill, who is on duty in the Middle East. But the Commandos have a hardening, unsocial leaven. When a Commando unit raided Boulogne last April, one of the officers was a onetime London police inspector who stepped ashore in carpet slippers. Said he: "I intend to invade France in comfort."
In the Scottish Highlands, officers and men get the same, tough training. All are volunteers, with at least 18 months' service in regular units behind them. Most of them are from British regiments, a few are Royal Marines, Canadians, Australians. So far as is known, no U.S. volunteers have been accepted. Commandomen have a friendly, free-&-easy comradeship unique in the British Army. To encourage independence, they are made to buy their own food, find their own lodging.
They must learn to catch, kill, dress, cook their own meat. They must know how to stalk, unseen, in woods, fields, mountains. If a man is spotted on his first stalking practice, he is orally warned. On the second, a blank round is fired at him. On the third, a live bullet spats close by him. Said a onetime Commando officer now on duty in the U.S.: "It certainly teaches people quickly."
Above all, Commandomen must learn to kill. They prefer to kill quietly. A favorite Commando weapon is a long, straight knife, both edges sharpened razor-keen, carried in a trouser sheath. Some have metal kneecaps, fitted with metal spikes, to be driven into enemy crotches and spines. They can devise their own daggers, clubs, knives. They know the uses of spiked brass knuckles. All must know a Commando equivalent of jiujitsu. Fiercely, without quarter, they battle each other in practice combat, often break each other's bones: a few nights before the St. Nazaire raid one officer had his hand cut to the bone in a scuffle. For night attack, they black their faces and shoes, wear black uniforms, partly for camouflage, partly for the effect on enemy morale.
Commando training has had a profound effect on the whole British Army. Now, in effect, every British soldier gets the elements of Commando schooling. Even in the old Guards regiments, parade-ground precision has given way to training for actual battle. The U.S. has also profited. U.S. Marines studied Commando methods, found them akin to what the Marines were already doing. Amphibious troops now being trained in the U.S. Army will have the benefit of Commando experience.