ENDURING STRENGTH STARTS IN THE MIND
The last time I sat next to Jason Fox, I was in the passenger seat of his Range Rover, in which we were skidding sideways on to an A road in deepest Wales. For the March issue in 2022, exactly two years ago, Foxy was part of a group dragging me through the Fan Dance – a there-and-back route over the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons that forms the last test of the first week of selection for the British special forces.
A fellow former Special Boat Service operative, who cofounded ThruDark, for whom Foxy is an ambassador, explained to me mid-yomp that special forces guys tend to fall into three physical categories. There is the compact body type, who are strong for their size and quick with it. They are, I’m told, the ‘door kickers’. Then you have the rangier, lupine sort that can run all day and all night if necessary. They go wider and further to keep an eye on everything.
Finally, you have the tanks. Bigger, taller and more muscular, these chaps carry all the heaviest bits of equipment without breaking stride. If you’ve watched the SAS: Who Dares Wins television show, or follow him on Instagram, you will know that Foxy is a tank. He is the tank. Both the height and width of an American fridge-freezer and with arms like the two cartoon hams you might find in one, he is the embodiment of intimidation.
Only he’s not intimidating in the slightest. Self-effacing with a goofy smile, Foxy is honest about his past and how it has impacted him mentally. ‘The one thing that the military taught me was to have a flexible mindset when things go wrong, not get freaked out by it,’ he says. ‘
How to gauge emotion, how to understand what an emotion is. For me, an emotion is an indicator. And the military taught me not to allow emotion to be the reason why I make the next decision. It’s that tempering of emotion that has helped me deal with trauma. Like, okay, I feel sad. I’m aware of it, and I’ll embrace it, cry, whatever. But I won’t allow it to make my next decision. In the military, you get into some really bizarre situations – situations that require aggression – and they can be impacted by anger. I’ve never been
