Six weeks into their training, the marine recruits face their first pass-or-fail test. They must complete a tough series of physical challenges in the gym, culminating in three staggeringly high rope climbs. If they fail to complete it they'll have to leave their troop.
Dorm-mates Borg and Marks are each up against it, for very different reasons.
Borg, who's 22, has arrived from Malta to pursue his childhood dream of earning a green beret. He's not built for scaling ropes and he prepares by gorging himself on jelly and tins of fish. He's hanging on to his place in the troop by a thread.
Thirty-one-year-old Marks from Portsmouth is hoping to put a difficult past behind him by training as a marine. His quick wit provides endless entertainment for his fellow recruits but the trainers often interpret it as an attitude problem.
The instructors worry that neither of them may be cut out for military life; can the recruits prove them wrong?
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