The troop 174 recruits reach the challenging halfway point in training. The second half of the course includes more challenging exercises to prepare the recruits for frontline fighting, but this is traditionally a point when many recruits leave the troop, either through failure or giving up.
This first episode follows 56 new recruits through this so-called 'shock of capture'. The recruits spend these opening weeks living in a 60-bed dorm where their every waking hour is controlled by their drill instructor, Corporal 'Froggy' Chauffour.
The raw recruits take the next step on their training and there are challenging new lessons at every turn. If they can make it through the next three weeks, their families will get invited down to witness their progress and they'll get to go home for the first time since training began.