Lance Corporal Vincent Gillet

Vincent 'Gilly' Gillet joined the PARAs in 1998 as part of 644 Plt. Only 9 originals passed out on that intake.

He then joined 3 PARA based down in Dover. Gilly was placed in A Coy, 2 Plt and then was deployed to Northern Ireland, East Tyrone. He went on to do 2 more tours of duty in NI in Omar and Belfast in 2003.

Gilly was a 3 PARA Assault Engineer attached to A Coy for the invasion of Iraq. After the war he signed off and started working in the security industry. Firstly, as a surveillance officer and then a CP. In 2005 he was recalled back to the Army, for what he thought would be an Afghan tour with his old battalion, 3 PARA. However, the powers that be sent him back to Iraq on Op Telic 6. Gilly protested, but orders are orders, and he was attached to an Armoured Brigade working in the Int Cell!

4 months in on that tour a British helicopter was shot down over Basra and a cordon was put in place. Gilly was one of the last people to leave that cordon. He was involved in a contact which resulted him falling down a disused well and breaking his leg very badly.

It took a year to be able to walk again. His Army days were over with a medical discharge in 2007. Back in 'Civvy Street' Gilly started driving fuel tankers. He now currently works in the motorsport industry delivering Formula One fuel in the UK and Europe. However he still keeps in close contact with his old comrades.  Gilly is a member of the PRA. He is also a welfare officer with his local PRA branch, Ilford 84. Gilly makes it his mission to attend the two events each year held by a British Airborne Forces Club. The Pen Y Fan weekend at Brecon and PARA 10 at Aldershot are both excellent weekends.