Educated at Tavistock Grammar School and at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, Pascoe was commissioned into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1952. He served with the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry in the Suez Canal Zone, Osnabrück and in the Cyprus Emergency; including with the 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) from November 1958 to May 1959. Following which he served in Lebanon where he learned Arabic. He served with the 2nd Battalion The Royal Green Jackets in the United Kingdom and Malaysia from 1964 to 1966, and was mentioned in despatches when serving in Borneo in 1966. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1968. when commanding a company of 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets in the UNFICYP Force in Cyprus.