A British Army reservist has made military history by becoming the first female reservist to pass the gruelling P Company selection course, dedicating her achievement to a close friend and fellow soldier who died last year.
Lance Corporal Grace Cussons completed the Reservist All Arms Pre-Parachute Selection, one of the Army’s most demanding physical and mental tests, after a year of intensive preparation.
In a poignant coincidence, she passed on the anniversary of the death of her best friend, Captain Lizzie Godwin, the first female officer to serve with the Life Guards.
LCpl Cussons said Capt Godwin had encouraged her to attempt the course during one of their final conversations.
Speaking to BFBS Forces News, she said: “One of my best friends who was in the House of Cavalry, Captain Lizzie Godwin, sadly passed away this time last year.
“She was a huge, huge inspiration for me as a woman in the military and the last conversation that we had before she passed, she said to me ‘you need to go and give it a go. What’s the worst that’s going to happen?’.
“And so after she passed it felt like my duty to try and follow in her footsteps, and genuinely I felt like she was there with me throughout the course.
“I actually passed on the anniversary of her death, which felt quite serendipitous of achieving what sadly, she was never able to do.”
P Company, formally known as Pegasus Company, is designed to identify soldiers capable of serving alongside airborne forces and is regarded as one of the toughest selection processes in the British Armed Forces.
Candidates face a series of demanding events, including a 10-mile loaded march, known as a tab, a two-mile march, stretcher and log races, while carrying a 37lb bergen alongside a rifle and other equipment.
They must also complete milling, a controlled boxing exercise designed to test courage and aggression under pressure.
For LCpl Cussons, the moment she learned she had passed came almost as a shock.
She said: “They shout out the numbers, then you come to attention, say ‘Sir!’ and then they say pass or fail. So they said ‘28’. I said ‘Sir!’ and then they said ‘pass’.
“And I, honestly, I was delayed to then say ‘Sir’ again, because I just couldn’t quite believe that it had even happened. I was still expecting to hear the fail and be marched off the parade square.”
The 28-year-old serves as Detachment 2IC with 3 Squadron, the Honourable Artillery Company, and is due to transfer to A (1st City of London) Battery, HAC, which is tactically controlled by 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery.
Her achievement follows other milestones for women completing P Company, including Addy Carter, who became the first female soldier to pass the course, and Captain Lucy Hammett, the first female doctor to do so.
LCpl Cussons said she hoped her success would encourage more women to put themselves forward for demanding military courses.
“I’m incredibly proud of myself, obviously, because it’s been a year of training and day in and day out to get here, but my overwhelming feeling is just the hope that this inspires other women to give it a go,” she said.
“We have such a massive job to do of getting more women through arduous courses.”
This was her second attempt at P Company, and she enlisted the help of former Coldstream Guards soldier and personal trainer Farren Morgan to prepare.
She said her training had taught her that running alone would not be enough and that she needed considerably more lower-body strength to cope with the demands of the course.
Her advice to others considering the challenge is straightforward.
“You’ve got to really want it when it’s lashing it down with rain outside, and you need to go out for two hours to complete a 10-mile tab,” she said.
“It can feel like the last thing that you want to do, you have to want it in the bad days and the good days. But equally, what’s the worst that can happen? Put yourself forward.”
LCpl Cussons said the reaction from the military community had been overwhelmingly supportive, with congratulations arriving from serving personnel and veterans, including one former soldier who told her he had passed P Company in the 1950s.
She has also received messages from other women who previously broke barriers on the course, including Addy Carter and Capt Hammett.
While she acknowledged there had been some negative comments online, she said she hoped they would not discourage other women from attempting the course.
Her airborne journey is not yet complete.
Having passed P Company, LCpl Cussons must now undertake the Basic Parachute Course, where she will learn to parachute from military aircraft before qualifying as an airborne soldier.
“I’ve never jumped out of a plane before, so let’s see how we get on with that,” she said.
“But I’m excited. I’m looking forward to the adrenaline rush. I’ve heard great things and people who are in the 16 Air Assault Brigade community have already told me that it’s the best part.”
She described P Company as “categorically beyond doubt” the hardest thing she had ever done.
Military service already runs through her family, with both her brother and partner serving, while she credited the support of those around her with helping her through the hardest stages of training.
For Britain’s Armed Forces, her success marks another milestone, but for LCpl Cussons it also carries a deeply personal meaning, fulfilling the challenge set for her by the friend whose encouragement stayed with her through every mile.
Captain Lizzie Godwin was unable to complete that journey herself, but her words helped another soldier make history.
Image: MOD Crown Copyright News / Editorial Licence.
