A drunk man forced a broken glass into the neck of a trainee paratrooper who reacted after having his hair pulled at a Norfolk social club.
Luke Gladwish was at the East Harling Sports and Social Club having earlier consumed between 10 and 12 beers and also taken drugs.
Norwich Crown Court heard the intoxicated 38-year-old defendant went up to another man - who he did not know - at the venue and grabbed hold of his hair.
Danielle O'Donovan, prosecuting, said the victim reacted by going towards Gladwish and aiming a headbutt towards him.
Gladwish then replaced the pint glass he was holding with a larger glass tankard and hit the victim with it.
The glass broke but Gladwish held the back of the victim's neck and pushed the broken glass into his neck area, under the jaw, resulting in a gaping wound.
Miss O'Donovan said there was a "large melee" as a result of the incident on May 19, 2024.
The victim, who is now a fully trained member of the parachute regiment based in Colchester, suffered a large cut across his neck and had the wound treated in hospital by plastic surgeons.
Gladwish, of Bailiwick Court, East Harling, appeared at court on Thursday (September 3) after he previously admitted an offence of unlawful wounding.
Jailing Gladwish for two-and-a-half years, Judge Anthony Bate said the defendant was normally a "respected and hard-working individual" but "kicked off" having been both "intoxicated" and "wired" on drink and drugs.
He said Gladwish had "armed" himself with a broken glass which he used in the attack resulting in the injuries to the victim's neck.
Andrew Oliver, mitigating, said Gladwish accepted he was to blame for what happened, having grabbed the victim's hair.
Although he said the incident had been "exacerbated" by the victim going over and confronting the defendant.
Mr Oliver said there had not been a significant degree of planning or premeditation to the attack.
"He's frankly old enough to have known better," said Mr Oliver.
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