Special Air Service var sc_project=353545;var sc_partition=1;  Return toopening page .  Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) is the principal special forcesorganisation of the British Army. Formed in 1941 to conduct raidsbehind German lines in North Africa, with the Long Range Desert Group,it today serves as a model for similar units fielded by many othercountries. The SAS is a small and secretive organisation, but attractsa disproportionate amount of media coverage. It forms part of theUnited Kingdom Special Forces, alongside the Special Boat Service (SBS)and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR). The SAS is widelyregarded as one of the finest and best trained special forces units inthe world. Active: July 1947- Type: Special Forces Country: United Kingdom Branch: Army Role: Counter RevolutionaryWarfare/Counter Terrorism (one regiment) CloseTarget Reconnaissance (two regiments) Garrison/HQ: Hereford (22nd Regiment)London (21st Regiment)Wolverhampton (23rd Regiment) Colonelin Chief: Colonel of the Regiment:General The Rt Hon Charles Ronald Llewellyn (Guthrie), Baron Guthrie,GCB, LVO, OBE, ADC Nickname: The Regiment Motto: Who Dares Wins March: Quick: Marche duRegiment Parachutiste Belge Slow: Lili Marlene Organisation Function Selection and Training Special Forces BriefingCourse (2 days) Fitness and navigation (4 weeks) Initial continuationtraining (4 weeks) Jungle training (6 weeks) Combat survival (4 weeks) Passing selection Specialist training Secrecy Insignia 1941-1945 1946-1979 1980-2001 2002-2005 Northern Ireland Battle honours The SAS in popular culture Other Special Forces based on the SAS See also OrganisationThere are three separate battalion-sized regiments of the SAS - 22 SASRegiment is the regular army element, with two Territorial Army (TA)regiments, 21 SAS Regiment and 23 SAS Regiment, known as the SAS(R).They are supported by a flight of the Army Air Corps (AAC) and twosquadrons of the Royal Corps of Signals, which consist of a mixture ofSAS-trained and non-SAS-trained personnel. All SAS members have to pass a rigorous selection procedure, but due tothe part-time nature of the TA, the selection process for members of 21SAS and 23 SAS is stretched over a period of over a year. 22ndSAS Regiment 21stSAS Regiment 23rdSAS Regiment HQ HQ (Regent's Park) London HQ(Kingstanding) A squadron Asquadron (Regent's Park) Asquadron (Invergowrie / Glasgow B Squadron CSquadron (Basingstoke/Cambridge/Southampton) BSquadron (Leeds) D Squadron ESquadron (Newport) CSquadron (Newcastle/Manchester) G Squadron  In addition, L Detachment (formerly R Squadron)is part of the TA, butis assigned to 22 SAS for the provision of casualty replacements. Allof its members are ex-regular SAS, or have been regular army in otherunits. R Troop does a similar task for the signals unit. The three regiments have different roles: The TA regiments specialisein Close Target Reconnaissance (CTR), while 22 SAS performs awiderrange of tasks also including Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW),Counter Terrorism (CT) and acting as a Quick Reaction Force (QRF). Therelationship between the regiments is close, with members of 22 SASroutinely being attached to the SAS(R). During the 1980s, the Directorof the SAS, Brigadier Peter de la Billière, established a rulethat an officer or senior NCO in 22 SAS who wished to gain rank had toserve time with the SAS(R). In support, not just of the SAS, but alsoof the other UKSF units is the newly formed 18 Signal Regiment. Afurther unit is 8 Flight, Army Air Corps, which is assigned to support22 SAS. 22 SAS also has a Headquarters, Planning and Intelligence Section,Operational (Ops) Research Section, CRW Wing, and Training Wing. Each Sabre Squadron is divided into four 16-man Troops with differentresponsibilities (Air Troop, Boat Troop, Mobility Troop, and MountainTroop). The CRW Wing is made up of one squadron, which rotates every 6–9months. The squadron is split up into two troops: Red Troop (Air and Mountain Troops) Blue Troop (Boat and Mobility Troops) Each of the two troops is made up of an assault group and a sniper team. The SAS has been based at Hereford in the west of England for manyyears. Stirling Lines, named after David Stirling, was initially thehome of the Regiment but in 1999 they moved to a former RAF base atCredenhill on the outskirts of Hereford. FunctionCurrent SAS roles include:• Gathering intelligence behind enemy lines. • Destroying targets far behind enemy lines. • Protecting senior British dignitaries. • Executing CRW operations to assist police units such as SO19. • Operating without official British Government involvement. • Training special forces of other nationalities. • Performing counter-terrorism operations at home and abroad Even though each troop has a designated role (Mobility, Boat, Mountainand Air), each man is expected and trained to know and to execute theroles of the other troops. This leads to companionship andresponsibility throughout the entire regiment. Selectionand TrainingCommanding Officer (CO) Major John Woodhouse introduced SAS Selectionin 1952. Before that, troopers had earned their credentials in thefield. SAS Selection and Training is the most demanding military trainingcourse in the British Army: it reportedly only has a pass rate of2-10%. It is a test of strength, endurance, and resolve over the BreconBeacons and Elan Valley in Wales, and in the jungle of Brunei. TheNamib Desert is also used as a desert training ground. 'Selection'takes around 6 months to complete.Selection is held twice a year regardless of conditions. A candidatemust be male and have been a regular member of the Armed Forces for atleast three years or a member of 21 SAS or 23 SAS (which can be joineddirectly from civilian life) for at least 18 months. All soldiers whoapply must have at least 39 months of military service remaining. Acandidate who fails any stage of the selection is 'Returned to [hisparent] Unit' (RTU'd). Candidates are allowed only two attempts atselection, after which they may never reapply. Like other sections of the British armed forces, the SAS acceptsmembers from the Commonwealth, with notable representation from Fiji,the former Rhodesia, New Zealand and Australia. The Parachute Regimentis the SAS's main recruiting area. Special ForcesBriefing Course (2 days)Over a weekend, potential candidates are shown what life in the UnitedKingdom Special Forces (UKSF) is like and are briefed on what to expectduring selection. There is a map and compass test, a swimming test, afirst aid test and a combat fitness test. Fitness and navigation (4weeks)After filing an Army General Administrative Instruction (AGAI) statingthat he is prepared for arduous duties, a soldier begins selection. Thefirst part of selection is held in the Brecon Beacons and Elan Valley.The weather there can be unpredictable and a couple of soldiers havedied during selection, mainly due to hypothermia or exposure. Theactual selection starts with the Battle Fitness Test (BFT), a squadded2.5 km run in 15 minutes, and then the same distance run individuallyin under 10.5 minutes. The first week mostly consists of runs in theneighbourhood, up and down hills with a small load in the bergen.Lessons in navigation and map reading are included. Navigation runs insmall groups in woodland areas and night tabs follow shortly. The loadin the bergen gets heavier and an SA80 rifle with no slings has to becarried. Soldiers have to keep the rifle in their hands as they climbup the slopes and jog down again. In the third week navigation is solofrom grid reference to other points on the map. At each rendezvous (RV)point, the soldiers have to indicate where they are before the nextgrid reference is given. The soldiers are not told how long the run isand where they will end up. In the last week, there is a race againstthe clock every day, with each task more punishing as the distances andload of the bergen increase. The "Long Drag" is the final test - about40 miles over the mountains in between 20 and 24 hours depending on theweather. Initial continuationtraining (4 weeks)  This consists of detailed and realistic trainingin weapons handling,demolitions and small patrol tactics. Those who are not alreadyparachute qualified are also trained in this skill. On completion ofSAS parachute training, soldiers are awarded SAS Wings, worn at the topof the right sleeve. Jungletraining (6 weeks)Soldiers are divided into patrols of four and are watched over day andnight by Directing Staff (DS). Soldiers must stand-to for one hour atdawn and one hour at dusk every day without fail and must also keeptheir knife with them at all times. After lessons in navigation throughdense jungle, boat handling, camp building and jungle contact drillsthere is a final test, where all things that have been learned must beapplied correctly. Soldiers will learn to live, fight and survive inthe jungle, and will have to take care of every cut, scratch andblister, as it could easily get infected. The rain is almost constant,which further demoralises the candidates. Jungle training is usuallycarried out in the thick rainforest of Brunei. Combatsurvival (4 weeks)There is another month of training in survival skills, living off theland and using escape and evasion (E & E) tactics. There arelessons and lectures in interrogation techniques from people who havebeen Prisoners of War (POWs). The last few days is the E & E stage.In groups the soldiers are dressed in greatcoats to slow them down andhave to evade capture from the Hunter Force, which is usually comprisedof Parachute Regiment or Gurkha soldiers. When captured, every soldierhas to withstand tactical questioning (TQ). The soldiers areblindfolded, put in stress positions, subjected to white noise,dehydrated and given no food. Common phobias are exploited, as in onestress position they put their captive in a cage no bigger than a dog'skennel, and lay iron over the top of the cage. The captors thenrepeatedly beat the iron with chains, to create a claustrophobicfeeling. The soldiers are only allowed to respond to questions with: Name Rank Number Date of birth "I'm sorry I cannot answer that question" In practice, soldiers are also allowed to tell their captors theirreligion, blood type and previous medical history. If they break duringTQ then they are RTU'd. PassingselectionAfter passing selection, soldiers lose any previous rank and becometroopers. They have to work their way up again from the lowest rank,but revert to their original rank ((called Shadow rank) withappropriate increases in rank for length of service) if they ever leavethe SAS. Officers, who must hold a minimum rank of captain, do not losetheir rank but may only serve a three-year tour with the SAS. Officersare allowed to do a second three-year tour provided they pass selectionagain. SpecialisttrainingSpecialist training includes: • First Aid, to a fairly highlevel, with stints in busy hospitals,including a week in a mortuary • Signals • HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) parachuting technique • HAHO (High Altitude, High Opening) parachuting technique • Sniping - all SAS snipers are trained by the Royal Marines at theSniper course at CTCRM (Commando Training Centre Royal Marines) • Languages • Vehicle Operating Skills - off-road, for cross-country insertion andpatrolling, and also on-road evasive driving as part of the closeprotection role • CRW Training • Explosive Method of Entry (EMOE) • VIP protection (body-guarding, or close protection) SecrecyUpon entry into the regiment, troopers have to abide by strict rules,such as not telling anyone other than close family that they are amember of the SAS. Anonymity is also provided whilst serving in theSAS. Troopers also may not give names and information to any policeauthority whilst co-operating. Troopers have the right to a 24-hour'warm down' after any firefight and do not have to give evidence to thepolice during this period. If a medal is given to a member of the SAS,such as the Military Cross (MC), the soldier is listed in the media asbeing in their parent regiment and not the SAS. If an SAS trooper iskilled in action (KIA), and if it can be avoided, the information isnot made public, and if it is unavoidable then the parent regiment isagain listed and not the SAS. After leaving the SAS, ex-members may notgive details of unofficial or black bag operations. Ex-members of theregiment often use pseudonyms such as Andy McNab. The BritishGovernment makes no official announcements concerning the SAS and whenreports are given there is no mention of the SAS. The Ministry ofDefence (MoD) has a standing policy of not discussing the SAS or itsoperations. InsigniaThe SAS, like every other British regiment, has its own distinctiveunit insignia. Sand-coloured beret (sometimes called the beige beret; the SAS do notwear the peaked cap) Cap badge - the badge is actually meant to depict the flaming Sword ofDamocles (the sword of retribution) or Excalibur, not a winged daggeras it is usually called, but the misinterpretation is now universallyaccepted SAS parachute wings (different from those used by the rest of the Army-nicknamed "Egyptian Wings" - a small parachute with 5 lines between 2wings light blue and dark blue) Silver regimental collar pins (collar dogs) Royal blue stable belt Silver belt buckle with engraved regimental badge 1941-1945  "Blitz Buggy" Left toright: Seekings, Rose, Stirling and Cooper The SAS was founded by then Lieutenant David Stirling during World WarII. It was originally created to conduct raids and sabotage far behindenemy lines in the desert, and operated in conjunction with theexisting Long Range Desert Group (LRDG). Stirling (formerly of No.8Commando) looked for recruits with rugged individualism and initiativeand recruited specialists from Layforce and other units. The name"Special Air Service" was already in use as a deception. Their first mission, parachuting behind enemy lines in support ofGeneral Sir Claude Auchinleck's attack in November 1941, was adisaster. Only 22 out of 62 troopers reached the rendezvous point(RVP). Stirling still managed to organise another assault against theGerman airfields at Aqedabia, Sirte and Agheila, this time transportedby the LRDG. They destroyed 61 enemy aircraft without a singlecasualty. 1st SAS earned regimental status and Lieutenant Stirling'sbrother Bill began to organise a second regiment, 2 SAS. During the desert war the SAS performed many successful and daring longrange insertion missions and destroyed aircraft and fuel depots. Theirsuccess contributed towards Hitler issuing his Kommandobefehl order toexecute all captured Commandos. When the Germans stepped up security,the SAS switched to hit-and-run tactics. They used jeeps armed withVickers K machine guns and used tracer ammunition and Lewes bombs toignite fuel and aircraft. They took part in Operation Torch.  David Stirling was captured by the Italians inJanuary 1943 and hespent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in Colditz Castle. Hisbrother Bill Stirling and Blair 'Paddy'Mayne (right) took command of the SAS. The SAS were used in the invasion of Italy. At the toe of Italy theytook the first prisoners of the campaign before heading deeper intoItaly. At one point four groups were active deep behind enemy lineslaying waste to airfields, attacking convoys and derailing trains.Towards the end of the campaign Italian guerrillas and escaped Russianprisoners were enlisted into an "Allied SAS Battalion" which struck atKesselring's main lines of communications. In 1945 Major Farran madeone of the most effective raids of the war. His force raided the GermanFifth Corps headquarters burning the buildings to the ground andkilling the General and some of his staff. Prior to the Normandy Invasion, SAS men were inserted into France as4-man teams to help maquisards of the French Resistance. In a reversalof their by now customary tactics, they often travelled during the day,when Allied fighter bombers drove enemy traffic off the roads and thenambushed enemy troops moving in convoy under the cover of darkness. InOperation Houndsmith, 144 SAS troopers parachuted with jeeps andsupplies into Dijon, France. During and after D-Day they continuedtheir raids against fuel depots, communications centres and railways.They did suffer casualties—at one stage the Germans executed 24 SAStroopers and a United States Army Air Forces pilot. At the end of thewar, the SAS hunted down SS and Gestapo officers. By that time the SAShad been expanded to five regiments, of which two were French and oneBelgian. 1946-1979 After the war, the British War Office did not entirely disband the SASregiments, but the French and Belgians returned to their own countries.The British SAS was no longer a regular army unit but TA unit 21 SASstill existed. However, in April 1948, the Malayan Races LiberationArmy began an insurrection which transformed into the MalayanEmergency. Two years later Brigadier Mike Calvert practicallyre-created the SAS as a commando unit reminiscent of jungle troops likeChindits. 21 SAS was redeployed from the Korean War and sent to Malaya.Many other members were recruited from the original SAS, other units,Rhodesia, and even army prisons. The intended unit name "Malay Scouts"was scrapped for the reborn SAS. Training new recruits took time. They learned tracking skills from Ibansoldiers from Borneo. They began to patrol in teams of 2 or 4 men. Lessthan sanitary conditions forced them to learn first aid. They alsolearned local languages and respect for the local customs and culture.Patrol periods in the jungle were progressively extended to threemonths. Soldiers unsuitable for jungle warfare were RTU'd. At thatstage some troopers were armed with pump-action shotguns. They alsoearned the respect of some of the indigenes by helping them. By the endof 1955 there were 5 SAS squadrons in Malaya. They stayed in mopping upoperations until the end of 1958.Many other missions followed. The SAS fought anti-sultan rebels inJebel Akhdar, Oman in 1958-1959. They fought Indonesian-supported"guerillas" during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in Borneo,Brunei and Sarawak in 1963-1966. They also tried to pacify thesituation in Aden in 1964-1967 before the withdrawal of British troops.They fought against another insurrection in Dhofar, Oman in 1970-1977.SAS troopers were involved, secretly, in the South Asia conflict in theearly to mid 1970s. Most of these deployments were unofficial. Membership, missions, andthe whole existence of SAS became a secret. The SAS's role was expandedto bodyguard (BG) training and counter-terrorism (CT) work. They alsobegan to work in civilian clothes on missions unless they could useuniforms of some other unit as a disguise. The British Secretary ofState for Defence still does not discuss the SAS or its operations. 1980-2001 On 30 April 1980, six Iranian terrorists took over the Iranian Embassyin Princes Gate, London. After six days of unsuccesful negotiations andone hostage's murder, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered anassault. At 19:26 on Monday 5 May, the SAS went in. More than thirtytroopers entered the building, including some who went in across thenow famous balcony filmed live by the BBC. A diversionary attack wasstaged and other troopers went in through the ground floor. One hostagewas killed by the terrorists, but within minutes the terrorist threathad been eliminated, with five of the six having been killed and onecaptured. Of the original 24 hostages, 22 were safe. The operation washailed as a great success and was to change the way the public viewedthe regiment. During the Falklands War of 1982, SAS teams worked alongside the SBS inmany operations before the main force landings at San Carlos and afterthe landings ahead of the Forward Edge of Battle Area (FEBA). Theseincluded operations in South Georgia, guiding Harrier attacks onStanley airport to destroy Argentine helicopters, and the destructionof eleven Pucará attack aircraft on Pebble Island. During thewar, 22 SAS, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Rose, werethe only land unit that had their own satellite communications back tothe UK.In 1987 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered an SAS team into thehigh-security prison at Peterhead, Scotland. A rebellion by inmates hadresulted in one of the prison officers being taken captive. Thesoldiers were armed with staves and entered the building by way of askylight. After violently subduing the inmates, the prison officer wasfreed and the operation ended. Some time after the incident, the PrisonService relaxed its zero tolerance attitude to drug use in that prison. In the Gulf War of 1991, the SAS's role was similar to theirforerunners in World War II: they deployed deep into Iraqi territory togather intelligence and destroy mobile Scud missile launchers. They didthe job with anything from explosives to jackhammers. Perhaps the mostfamous mission of the war, known as Bravo Two Zero, was popularised bybooks written by two participants in the mission. Their accountsdescribe an eight-man SAS patrol cut off deep in Iraq during ascud-busting raid. Discovered by the Iraqis, they supposedly foughttheir way to the Syrian border over a distance of 120 miles, killingaround 250 Iraqi soldiers along the way. Four members of the patrolwere captured and tortured, and three were killed in action. CorporalChris Ryan managed to escape across the border to Syria. The accountswritten by the survivors have received some severe criticism fromformer members of the SAS.Some troopers (officially former members of the Regiment) fought in theVietnam War and helped the Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Sovietinvasion. There was also official SAS training of Mujahideen inScotland in the 1980s, with particular emphasis on shooting downRussian helicopters. Some ex-members have also become mercenaries orprivate military contractors. In September 2000, members of D Squadron were tasked with the hostagerescue of six members of the Royal Irish Regiment and one SierraLeonean corporal in Sierra Leone. The operation was called OperationBarras. The soldiers had been taken hostage by the West Side Boys, ledby Foday Kallay, and were held in the dense jungle in western SierraLeone. Alongside the SAS, A Company of 1st Battalion, ParachuteRegiment fought in the battle. Twelve British soldiers were wounded inthe operation and one SAS Lance Corporal was killed. The operation wasa great success and many rebel leaders were captured; not long after,the West Side Boys had all but been defeated. 2002-2005 After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the SAS were involved inoperations in Afghanistan. Operation Trent employed half the Regimentin a successful attack on an $85,000,000 opium storage plant in Helmandprovince, which doubled as an Al-Qaeda local command centre.Roman Abramovich's luxury yacht Ecstasea (launched in 2004) is rumouredto have an ex-SAS crew. On 30 January 2005, an RAF Hercules crashed near Baghdad, killing tenBritish servicemen. The plane had just dropped off fifty members of GSquadron north of Baghdad for an operation to combat the increasedinsurgency. On 22 July 2005, the SAS were reported by The Sunday Times to haveaided in intelligence gathering and surveillance for the MetropolitanPolice which resulted in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes,although the use of SAS forces was later denied by Sir Ian Blair,Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Following on from the 21 Julyattacks in London, on 29 July 2005 the SAS assisted in an operation tocapture some of the terrorists who are believed to have carried out theattempted attacks. The SAS were seen arriving in unmarked vehicles andwore balaclavas throughout the operation to conceal their identities.The SAS helped with storming the flats in West London and are believedto have fired several shots in the process. On 19 September 2005, two supposed SAS members were arrested in thecity of Basra in Iraq. Iraqi police claimed the two were arrestedtrying to plant bombs dressed in civilian clothing and had shot atpolice officers. The arrests sparked clashes in which British armouredpersonnel carriers came under attack from petrol bombs. Later, officialIraqi sources said that British tanks knocked down a wall storming thecity's jail and rescuing the soldiers. The British Ministry of Defenceinitially said that the men's release was negotiated and the tanks weremerely trying to collect them. They later, however, claimed that thepolice had illegally handed the men over to Shi'a militia and it wasfrom these that they had to be rescued. Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland, the SAS was involved from the early days in whatbecame known as 'The Troubles', which started in 1969. Indeed, in theearly days of The Troubles they operated openly in uniform wearing theSAS sand-coloured beret with the winged dagger cap badge. They wereinvolved in Operation Flavius in Gibraltar in which three unarmed IRAmembers (including a woman) were killed. The three killed had beenintending to detonate a bomb during a ceremonial event. According tothe soldiers involved, they moved their hands to their pockets or bags,as if to draw a weapon or activate a detonator. A later inquest foundthat all three had been shot while laying face down on the ground.Since the official reason for British army deployment in NorthernIreland was to provide support for the Royal Ulster Constabulary,killings by the SAS generated some controversy. In 1977, Captain RobertNairac, an undercover officer, was abducted, tortured then shot dead inArmagh by a low-level IRA operative and his friends who had begun tosuspect him after overhearing him in a bar. It has been widely rumouredthat Nairac was a member of the SAS but this has been disproven byhistorian Anthony Kemp, by Ken Connor, and by others. Nairac was, infact, serving with 14th Intelligence Company when he was abducted. In the Northern Ireland Troubles the SAS were given priority in theintelligence pecking order and supplied the most credible or 'hard'intelligence. Some of which came from a £300m computer system toanalyze information on vehicles, letters, telephone calls, welfarepayments The Irish Troubles, by J. Bowyer Bell, p. 587 The SAS engagedin a Counter Revolutionary Operations (CRO) campaign to lay ambushesand place Covert Observation Posts (COPs). SAS actions were claimed tobe directed against the IRA, with some against the smaller INLA. Theirreported policy of being allowed to "shoot-to-kill" is highlycontroversial in a country that officially bans the death penalty. ManySAS men, although forbidden to follow suspects into the Republic ofIreland, nevertheless did so. Some were caught and arrested by Irishpolice. Controversially, they were rarely charged with firearmsoffences, but were returned to the British authorities (although aDublin court once fined eight SAS men £100 each). In March 1976,Seán MacKenna, an IRA commander, was abducted from his home inthe Republic by the SAS and handed over to a British Army patrol onceacross the border. Lesser quality intelligence was supplied to infantry COP teams, who,because of the tenuous quality of this intelligence, were less likelyto get a contact with the 'Players' (British forces colloquialism forIRA), but these COP teams were trained by SAS instructors. It wascommon for SAS-qualified soldiers to serve with 14 Intelligence Company(known colloquially as '14 Int' or often simply as 'The Det' becauseits members were volunteers who were detached from other units). Aspecialist unit set up specifically for Northern Ireland, 14 Int was anall arms unit, which meant they recruited from all branches of thearmed services. They served in the Province in anintelligence-gathering role, mainly operating in plain clothes. 14 Intliaised closely with the RUC Special Branch and other security forcesunits and allegedly, Loyalist paramilitaries.22 SAS boasts that its tough reputation is such that during theBalcombe Street siege, the IRA surrendered, once the SAS deployment waspublicised. But other analysts indicate that MI5 and the SAS engaged ina power struggle with MI6 and Harold Wilson's Labor Government, andprovoked the collapse of Wilson and the power sharing executive--and aneffort to restore peace--by engaging in dirty tricks designed toprovoke sectarian bloodshed--which continued for 20 years The SAS,Their Early Days in Ireland, and the Wilson Plot, by Sean Mac Mathuna,http://www.fantompowa.net/Flame/dirty_war_in_ireland.htm Battle honours Second World War: North-West Europe 1944-45, Benghazi Raid, Tobruk1941, North Africa 1940-43, Landing in Sicily, Sicily 1943, Termoli,Valli di Comacchio, Italy 1943-45, Greece 1944-45, Adriatic, MiddleEast 1943-44 Falkland Islands 1982; Western Iraq, Gulf 1991; Western Iraq 2003 The SAS in popular culture The SAS has since the early 1980s built up an almost mythicalreputation within the UK. The British media's obsession increasedenormously following the 1980 hostage rescue at the Iranian Embassy inLondon, which was seen live on the BBC. After the popularity of the SASexploded, the film Who Dares Wins was released in 1981. The SAS was greatly popularised among young people all over the worldin the extremely popular online game Counter-Strike. The SAS were addedduring the game's development as one of the CT units a player couldchoose to play. They are also featured in the computer game Battlefield2: Special Forces and one can opt to play as an SAS Trooper in theDelta Force games. In the Hidden & Dangerous games, one plays theentire game as a SAS soldier; however, most missions are fictional,with some being based on real events, such as the attack on airfieldsin North Africa. Added to all this, there is a constant stream of fictional depictionsof the SAS and of former SAS soldiers. Blurring the line betweenfiction and fact are a number of supposedly factual accounts which,some allege, are in reality highly dramatised accounts based veryloosely on actual events. Perhaps the two most well known examples aretwo books written under pseudonyms by two former SAS troopers whoserved together on the infamous Bravo Two Zero mission in Iraq duringthe first Gulf war of 1991: BravoTwo Zero by Sergeant Andy McNab TheOne That Got Away by Corporal Chris Ryan Both of these books have subsequently been criticised by authoritativesources (including the Regimental Sergeant Major of 22 SAS at the timeof the first Gulf war, Peter Ratcliffe DCM) as being highly embellisheddramatisations of actual events. In 1999, the book was made into the film Bravo Two Zero starring SeanBean as Andy McNab.Despite the alleged embellishments, these books have sold very well,and consequently started a me-too publishing bonanza by ex-SAS soldierscashing in on the clear public appetite. The British government hassince moved to prevent this in future by insisting that all who servewith the Regiment sign an agreement not to publish details of theirservice with the Regiment.Anything written about the SAS should perhaps be treated with a veryhealthy dose of scepticism because of the secretive nature of theirwork. There is even the common phenomenon of individuals claiming tohave served with the Regiment, when in reality they have had little oreven no connection whatsoever with the SAS (and sometimes no connectionwith the British Army at all). In 2002 and 2003, BBC Television further exploited the success of theSAS with a series of programmes which showcased ordinary members of thepublic being subjected to training routines and survival exercisessupposedly normally undergone by prospective members of theorganisation for selection purposes, as well as a documentary featuringformer SAS members explaining general combat and survival tactics. Thesame year also saw a new ITV drama series about the SAS, Ultimate Forcestarring Ross Kemp. Not all representations are flattering however. In the ITV comedyseries Whoops Apocalypse and the film remake, the SAS are depicted astrigger-happy idiots who destroy everything they come across. Major Zero and The Boss from the 2004 videogame Metal Gear Solid 3:Snake Eater were both members of the SAS. Most recently, in 2006 a video game called The Regiment was released inEurope by Konami. Other Special Forcesbased on the SAS Australia - AustralianSpecial Air Service Regiment. Canada - The CanadianMilitary's Joint Task Force 2 is closely modelledon the SAS. An SAS Coy was created in 1946 and disbanded in 1948. Denmark -Frømandskorpset (Naval Special Forces) andJægerkorpset (Army Special Forces). France - The 1erRégiment Parachutiste d'Infanterie de Marine(1er RPIMa:SAS), is the heir of the World War II French SAS units(French Squad, 1st BIA, 3rd and 4th SAS). Its official motto is "quiose gagne", the french translation of "Who Dares Wins". The Regimentoperators are also nicknamed "les SAS français" (the FrenchSAS). Recently, the Regiment created a Squadron (3rd Company)Patrouilles SAS or "PATSAS" (SAS Patrols), using heavily armed jeepsfor raids behind enemy lines (particularly with 22nd SAS and theAustralian SAS in Afghanistan). Germany - The German Armyspecial forces unit, the KSK, is also closelypatterned on the SAS. Hong Kong - The HongKong Special Duties Unit is a part of the HongKong Police Force and was formed in 1973. SDU was modelled on the SASand was trained by the SAS and SBS. Indonesia - DetasemenBravo Paskhas TNI AU. Israel - The SayeretMatkal, an elite unit of the IDF, is modelled onthe SAS, and shares the same motto, "Who Dares Wins." Responsible forOperation Entebbe. Japan - The NationalPolice Agency's Special Assault Team receivedtraining from British SAS operators prior to its activation on 1 April1996. New Zealand - Special AirService of New Zealand. Netherlands - The KorpsCommandotroepen. Pakistan - The SSGcommandos are also partly based on the SAS. Philippines - ThePhilippine National Police's (PNP) Special ActionForce was believed to have been based on the lines of the British SAS. Poland - GROM, partlybased on SAS. Rhodesia - C Squadron of22 SAS was composed of Rhodesian troops. Itformed the nucleus of the Rhodesian SAS Regiment after the end of theMalayan Emergency in 1953, and subsequently the British SAS neverraised another C Squadron. The Rhodesian SAS disbanded in December 1980after the country became Zimbabwe. (See SAS Rhodesia by Fourie, C.,& Pittaway, J., published Dandy Agencies, Durban, South Africa,2003.) United States - The US Army Special Forces Operational Detachment:Delta (1st SFOD-D (A)), also known as Delta Force, was originally basedon the SAS. Its founder, "Chargin'" Charlie Beckwith, having served onexchange with the SAS in the early 1960s, caught the "SAS bug" and,recognising a void in the US Army, devoted a large part of theremainder of his career to the raising and establishment of a US unitformed on "SAS lines" with SAS capabilites. See also: Iranian Embassy Siege Plot to overthrow Labour Government Could it happen today? An orthodox account of the PANAM 103tragedy at Locherbie Alternative theories into the bombingof Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie revisited - aws PANAM 103shot down from the ground? On Princess Diana's death George Arthur Frank Frost - CommandoDays MI5 MYTHS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS On Royal Nazis and the Scottishconnection On Why Judges? (The Red Book) Private Eye Royal Nazis – 2 meditations top _qacct="p-f8CLVCYuM6zUo";quantserve(); |
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