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Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) is the principal special forces
organisation of the British Army. Formed in 1941 to conduct raids
behind German lines in North Africa, with the Long Range Desert Group,
it today serves as a model for similar units fielded by many other
countries. The SAS is a small and secretive organisation, but attracts a disproportionate amount of media coverage. It forms part of the United Kingdom Special Forces, alongside the Special Boat Service (SBS) and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR).
The SAS is widely regarded as one of the finest and best trained special forces units in the world.
| Active: |
July 1947- |
| Type: | Special Forces |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Branch: |
Army |
| Role: | Counter Revolutionary
Warfare/Counter Terrorism (one regiment) Close Target Reconnaissance (two regiments) |
| Garrison/HQ: | Hereford (22nd Regiment) London (21st Regiment) Wolverhampton (23rd Regiment) |
| Colonel in 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 du
Regiment Parachutiste Belge Slow: Lili Marlene |
Organisation
There are three separate battalion-sized regiments of the SAS - 22 SAS Regiment 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 two squadrons of the Royal Corps of Signals, which consist of a mixture of SAS-trained and non-SAS-trained personnel.
All SAS members have to pass a rigorous selection procedure, but due to the part-time nature of the TA, the selection process for members of 21 SAS and 23 SAS is stretched over a period of over a year.
| 22nd SAS Regiment | 21st
SAS Regiment |
23rd SAS Regiment |
| HQ |
HQ (Regent's Park) London |
HQ (Kingstanding) |
| A squadron |
A
squadron (Regent's Park) |
A
squadron (Invergowrie / Glasgow |
| B Squadron |
C Squadron (Basingstoke/Cambridge/Southampton) | B
Squadron (Leeds) |
| D Squadron |
E Squadron (Newport) | C Squadron (Newcastle/Manchester) |
G Squadron |
In addition, L Detachment (formerly R Squadron)
is part of the TA, but
is assigned to 22 SAS for the provision of casualty replacements. All of its members are ex-regular SAS, or have been regular army in other units. R Troop does a similar task for the signals unit.
The three regiments have different roles:
The TA regiments specialise in Close Target Reconnaissance (CTR), while 22 SAS performs a wider range of tasks also including Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW), Counter Terrorism (CT) and acting as a Quick Reaction Force (QRF). The relationship between the regiments is close, with members of 22 SAS routinely being attached to the SAS(R).
During the 1980s, the Director of the SAS, Brigadier Peter de la Billière, established a rule that an officer or senior NCO in 22 SAS who wished to gain rank had to serve time with the SAS(R). In support, not just of the SAS, but also of the other UKSF units is the newly formed 18 Signal Regiment. A further unit is 8 Flight, Army Air Corps, which is assigned to support 22 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 different responsibilities (Air Troop, Boat Troop, Mobility Troop, and Mountain Troop).
The CRW Wing is made up of one squadron, which rotates every 6–9 months. 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 many years. Stirling Lines, named after David Stirling, was initially the home of the Regiment but in 1999 they moved to a former RAF base at Credenhill on the outskirts of Hereford.
Function
Current 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, Mountain and Air), each man is expected and trained to know and to execute the roles of the other troops. This leads to companionship and responsibility throughout the entire regiment.
Selection and Training
Commanding Officer (CO) Major John Woodhouse introduced SAS Selection in 1952. Before that, troopers had earned their credentials in the field.
SAS Selection and Training is the most demanding military training course in the British Army: it reportedly only has a pass rate of 2-10%. It is a test of strength, endurance, and resolve over the Brecon Beacons and Elan Valley in Wales, and in the jungle of Brunei. The Namib 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 candidate must be male and have been a regular member of the Armed Forces for at least three years or a member of 21 SAS or 23 SAS (which can be joined directly from civilian life) for at least 18 months. All soldiers who apply must have at least 39 months of military service remaining. A candidate who fails any stage of the selection is 'Returned to [his parent] Unit' (RTU'd). Candidates are allowed only two attempts at selection, after which they may never reapply.
Like other sections of the British armed forces, the SAS accepts members from the Commonwealth, with notable representation from Fiji, the former Rhodesia, New Zealand and Australia. The Parachute Regiment is the SAS's main recruiting area.
Special Forces Briefing Course (2 days)
Over a weekend, potential candidates are shown what life in the United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) is like and are briefed on what to expect during selection. There is a map and compass test, a swimming test, a first aid test and a combat fitness test.
Fitness and navigation (4 weeks)
After filing an Army General Administrative Instruction (AGAI) stating that he is prepared for arduous duties, a soldier begins selection. The first part of selection is held in the Brecon Beacons and Elan Valley. The weather there can be unpredictable and a couple of soldiers have died during selection, mainly due to hypothermia or exposure. The actual selection starts with the Battle Fitness Test (BFT), a squadded 2.5 km run in 15 minutes, and then the same distance run individually in under 10.5 minutes. The first week mostly consists of runs in the neighbourhood, up and down hills with a small load in the bergen. Lessons in navigation and map reading are included. Navigation runs in small groups in woodland areas and night tabs follow shortly. The load in the bergen gets heavier and an SA80 rifle with no slings has to be carried. Soldiers have to keep the rifle in their hands as they climb up the slopes and jog down again. In the third week navigation is solo from grid reference to other points on the map. At each rendezvous (RV) point, the soldiers have to indicate where they are before the next grid reference is given. The soldiers are not told how long the run is and where they will end up. In the last week, there is a race against the clock every day, with each task more punishing as the distances and load of the bergen increase. The "Long Drag" is the final test - about 40 miles over the mountains in between 20 and 24 hours depending on the weather.
Initial continuation training (4 weeks)
This consists of detailed and realistic training
in weapons handling,
demolitions and small patrol tactics. Those who are not already
parachute qualified are also trained in this skill.On completion of SAS parachute training, soldiers are awarded SAS Wings, worn at the top of the right sleeve.
Jungle training (6 weeks)
Soldiers are divided into patrols of four and are watched over day and night by Directing Staff (DS). Soldiers must stand-to for one hour at dawn and one hour at dusk every day without fail and must also keep their knife with them at all times. After lessons in navigation through dense jungle, boat handling, camp building and jungle contact drills there is a final test, where all things that have been learned must be applied correctly. Soldiers will learn to live, fight and survive in the jungle, and will have to take care of every cut, scratch and blister, as it could easily get infected. The rain is almost constant, which further demoralises the candidates. Jungle training is usually carried out in the thick rainforest of Brunei.
Combat survival (4 weeks)
There is another month of training in survival skills, living off the land and using escape and evasion (E & E) tactics. There are lessons and lectures in interrogation techniques from people who have been 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 and have to evade capture from the Hunter Force, which is usually comprised of Parachute Regiment or Gurkha soldiers. When captured, every soldier has to withstand tactical questioning (TQ). The soldiers are blindfolded, put in stress positions, subjected to white noise, dehydrated and given no food. Common phobias are exploited, as in one stress position they put their captive in a cage no bigger than a dog's kennel, and lay iron over the top of the cage. The captors then repeatedly beat the iron with chains, to create a claustrophobic feeling. 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 their religion, blood type and previous medical history. If they break during TQ then they are RTU'd.
Passing selection
After passing selection, soldiers lose any previous rank and become troopers. They have to work their way up again from the lowest rank, but revert to their original rank ((called Shadow rank) with appropriate increases in rank for length of service) if they ever leave the SAS.
Officers, who must hold a minimum rank of captain, do not lose their rank but may only serve a three-year tour with the SAS. Officers are allowed to do a second three-year tour provided they pass selection again.
Specialist training
Specialist training includes:
• First Aid, to a fairly high
level, 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 the Sniper course at CTCRM (Commando Training Centre Royal Marines)
• Languages
• Vehicle Operating Skills - off-road, for cross-country insertion and patrolling, and also on-road evasive driving as part of the close protection role
• CRW Training
• Explosive Method of Entry (EMOE)
• VIP protection (body-guarding, or close protection)
• 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 the Sniper course at CTCRM (Commando Training Centre Royal Marines)
• Languages
• Vehicle Operating Skills - off-road, for cross-country insertion and patrolling, and also on-road evasive driving as part of the close protection role
• CRW Training
• Explosive Method of Entry (EMOE)
• VIP protection (body-guarding, or close protection)
Secrecy
Upon entry into the regiment, troopers have to abide by strict rules, such as not telling anyone other than close family that they are a member of the SAS. Anonymity is also provided whilst serving in the SAS. Troopers also may not give names and information to any police authority whilst co-operating. Troopers have the right to a 24-hour 'warm down' after any firefight and do not have to give evidence to the police 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 as being in their parent regiment and not the SAS. If an SAS trooper is killed in action (KIA), and if it can be avoided, the information is not made public, and if it is unavoidable then the parent regiment is again listed and not the SAS. After leaving the SAS, ex-members may not give details of unofficial or black bag operations. Ex-members of the regiment often use pseudonyms such as Andy McNab. The British Government makes no official announcements concerning the SAS and when reports are given there is no mention of the SAS. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has a standing policy of not discussing the SAS or its operations.
Insignia
The SAS, like every other British regiment, has its own distinctive unit insignia.
Sand-coloured beret (sometimes called the beige beret; the SAS do not wear the peaked cap)
Cap badge - the badge is actually meant to depict the flaming Sword of Damocles (the sword of retribution) or Excalibur, not a winged dagger as it is usually called, but the misinterpretation is now universally accepted
SAS parachute wings (different from those used by the rest of the Army- nicknamed "Egyptian Wings" - a small parachute with 5 lines between 2 wings light blue and dark blue)
Silver regimental collar pins (collar dogs)
Royal blue stable belt
Silver belt buckle with engraved regimental badge
"Blitz Buggy" Left to
right: Seekings, Rose, Stirling and Cooper
The SAS was founded by then Lieutenant David Stirling during World War
II. It was originally created to conduct raids and sabotage far behind
enemy lines in the desert, and operated in conjunction with the
existing Long Range Desert Group (LRDG). Stirling (formerly of No.8
Commando) looked for recruits with rugged individualism and initiative
and 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 of General Sir Claude Auchinleck's attack in November 1941, was a disaster. Only 22 out of 62 troopers reached the rendezvous point (RVP). Stirling still managed to organise another assault against the German airfields at Aqedabia, Sirte and Agheila, this time transported by the LRDG. They destroyed 61 enemy aircraft without a single casualty. 1st SAS earned regimental status and Lieutenant Stirling's brother Bill began to organise a second regiment, 2 SAS.
During the desert war the SAS performed many successful and daring long range insertion missions and destroyed aircraft and fuel depots. Their success contributed towards Hitler issuing his Kommandobefehl order to execute all captured Commandos. When the Germans stepped up security, the SAS switched to hit-and-run tactics. They used jeeps armed with Vickers K machine guns and used tracer ammunition and Lewes bombs to ignite fuel and aircraft. They took part in Operation Torch.
David Stirling was captured by the Italians in
January 1943 and he
spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in Colditz Castle. His
brother 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 they took the first prisoners of the campaign before heading deeper into Italy. At one point four groups were active deep behind enemy lines laying waste to airfields, attacking convoys and derailing trains. Towards the end of the campaign Italian guerrillas and escaped Russian prisoners were enlisted into an "Allied SAS Battalion" which struck at Kesselring's main lines of communications. In 1945 Major Farran made one of the most effective raids of the war. His force raided the German Fifth Corps headquarters burning the buildings to the ground and killing the General and some of his staff.
Prior to the Normandy Invasion, SAS men were inserted into France as 4-man teams to help maquisards of the French Resistance. In a reversal of their by now customary tactics, they often travelled during the day, when Allied fighter bombers drove enemy traffic off the roads and then ambushed enemy troops moving in convoy under the cover of darkness. In Operation Houndsmith, 144 SAS troopers parachuted with jeeps and supplies into Dijon, France. During and after D-Day they continued their raids against fuel depots, communications centres and railways. They did suffer casualties—at one stage the Germans executed 24 SAS troopers and a United States Army Air Forces pilot. At the end of the war, the SAS hunted down SS and Gestapo officers. By that time the SAS had been expanded to five regiments, of which two were French and one Belgian.
After the war, the British War Office did not entirely disband the SAS regiments, but the French and Belgians returned to their own countries. The British SAS was no longer a regular army unit but TA unit 21 SAS still existed. However, in April 1948, the Malayan Races Liberation Army began an insurrection which transformed into the Malayan Emergency. Two years later Brigadier Mike Calvert practically re-created the SAS as a commando unit reminiscent of jungle troops like Chindits. 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 Iban soldiers from Borneo. They began to patrol in teams of 2 or 4 men. Less than sanitary conditions forced them to learn first aid. They also learned local languages and respect for the local customs and culture. Patrol periods in the jungle were progressively extended to three months. Soldiers unsuitable for jungle warfare were RTU'd. At that stage some troopers were armed with pump-action shotguns. They also earned the respect of some of the indigenes by helping them. By the end of 1955 there were 5 SAS squadrons in Malaya. They stayed in mopping up operations until the end of 1958.
Many other missions followed. The SAS fought anti-sultan rebels in Jebel 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 the situation 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 the early to mid 1970s.
Most of these deployments were unofficial. Membership, missions, and the whole existence of SAS became a secret. The SAS's role was expanded to bodyguard (BG) training and counter-terrorism (CT) work. They also began to work in civilian clothes on missions unless they could use uniforms of some other unit as a disguise. The British Secretary of State for Defence still does not discuss the SAS or its operations.
On 30 April 1980, six Iranian terrorists took over the Iranian Embassy in Princes Gate, London. After six days of unsuccesful negotiations and one hostage's murder, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered an assault. At 19:26 on Monday 5 May, the SAS went in. More than thirty troopers entered the building, including some who went in across the now famous balcony filmed live by the BBC. A diversionary attack was staged and other troopers went in through the ground floor. One hostage was killed by the terrorists, but within minutes the terrorist threat had been eliminated, with five of the six having been killed and one captured. Of the original 24 hostages, 22 were safe. The operation was hailed as a great success and was to change the way the public viewed the regiment.
During the Falklands War of 1982, SAS teams worked alongside the SBS in many operations before the main force landings at San Carlos and after the landings ahead of the Forward Edge of Battle Area (FEBA). These included operations in South Georgia, guiding Harrier attacks on Stanley airport to destroy Argentine helicopters, and the destruction of eleven Pucará attack aircraft on Pebble Island. During the war, 22 SAS, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Rose, were the only land unit that had their own satellite communications back to the UK.
In 1987 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered an SAS team into the high-security prison at Peterhead, Scotland. A rebellion by inmates had resulted in one of the prison officers being taken captive. The soldiers were armed with staves and entered the building by way of a skylight. After violently subduing the inmates, the prison officer was freed and the operation ended. Some time after the incident, the Prison Service relaxed its zero tolerance attitude to drug use in that prison.
In the Gulf War of 1991, the SAS's role was similar to their forerunners in World War II: they deployed deep into Iraqi territory to gather intelligence and destroy mobile Scud missile launchers. They did the job with anything from explosives to jackhammers. Perhaps the most famous mission of the war, known as Bravo Two Zero, was popularised by books written by two participants in the mission. Their accounts describe an eight-man SAS patrol cut off deep in Iraq during a scud-busting raid. Discovered by the Iraqis, they supposedly fought their way to the Syrian border over a distance of 120 miles, killing around 250 Iraqi soldiers along the way. Four members of the patrol were captured and tortured, and three were killed in action. Corporal Chris Ryan managed to escape across the border to Syria. The accounts written by the survivors have received some severe criticism from former members of the SAS.
Some troopers (officially former members of the Regiment) fought in the Vietnam War and helped the Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. There was also official SAS training of Mujahideen in Scotland in the 1980s, with particular emphasis on shooting down Russian helicopters. Some ex-members have also become mercenaries or private military contractors.
In September 2000, members of D Squadron were tasked with the hostage rescue of six members of the Royal Irish Regiment and one Sierra Leonean corporal in Sierra Leone. The operation was called Operation Barras. The soldiers had been taken hostage by the West Side Boys, led by Foday Kallay, and were held in the dense jungle in western Sierra Leone. Alongside the SAS, A Company of 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment fought in the battle. Twelve British soldiers were wounded in the operation and one SAS Lance Corporal was killed. The operation was a great success and many rebel leaders were captured; not long after, the West Side Boys had all but been defeated.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the SAS were involved in operations in Afghanistan. Operation Trent employed half the Regiment in a successful attack on an $85,000,000 opium storage plant in Helmand province, which doubled as an Al-Qaeda local command centre.
Roman Abramovich's luxury yacht Ecstasea (launched in 2004) is rumoured to have an ex-SAS crew.
On 30 January 2005, an RAF Hercules crashed near Baghdad, killing ten British servicemen. The plane had just dropped off fifty members of G Squadron north of Baghdad for an operation to combat the increased insurgency.
On 22 July 2005, the SAS were reported by The Sunday Times to have aided in intelligence gathering and surveillance for the Metropolitan Police 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 July attacks in London, on 29 July 2005 the SAS assisted in an operation to capture some of the terrorists who are believed to have carried out the attempted attacks. The SAS were seen arriving in unmarked vehicles and wore balaclavas throughout the operation to conceal their identities. The SAS helped with storming the flats in West London and are believed to have fired several shots in the process.
On 19 September 2005, two supposed SAS members were arrested in the city of Basra in Iraq. Iraqi police claimed the two were arrested trying to plant bombs dressed in civilian clothing and had shot at police officers. The arrests sparked clashes in which British armoured personnel carriers came under attack from petrol bombs. Later, official Iraqi sources said that British tanks knocked down a wall storming the city's jail and rescuing the soldiers. The British Ministry of Defence initially said that the men's release was negotiated and the tanks were merely trying to collect them. They later, however, claimed that the police had illegally handed the men over to Shi'a militia and it was from these that they had to be rescued.
In Northern Ireland, the SAS was involved from the early days in what became known as 'The Troubles', which started in 1969. Indeed, in the early days of The Troubles they operated openly in uniform wearing the SAS sand-coloured beret with the winged dagger cap badge. They were involved in Operation Flavius in Gibraltar in which three unarmed IRA members (including a woman) were killed. The three killed had been intending to detonate a bomb during a ceremonial event. According to the soldiers involved, they moved their hands to their pockets or bags, as if to draw a weapon or activate a detonator. A later inquest found that all three had been shot while laying face down on the ground. Since the official reason for British army deployment in Northern Ireland was to provide support for the Royal Ulster Constabulary, killings by the SAS generated some controversy. In 1977, Captain Robert Nairac, an undercover officer, was abducted, tortured then shot dead in Armagh by a low-level IRA operative and his friends who had begun to suspect him after overhearing him in a bar. It has been widely rumoured that Nairac was a member of the SAS but this has been disproven by historian Anthony Kemp, by Ken Connor, and by others. Nairac was, in fact, serving with 14th Intelligence Company when he was abducted.
In the Northern Ireland Troubles the SAS were given priority in the intelligence pecking order and supplied the most credible or 'hard' intelligence. Some of which came from a £300m computer system to analyze information on vehicles, letters, telephone calls, welfare payments The Irish Troubles, by J. Bowyer Bell, p. 587 The SAS engaged in a Counter Revolutionary Operations (CRO) campaign to lay ambushes and place Covert Observation Posts (COPs). SAS actions were claimed to be directed against the IRA, with some against the smaller INLA. Their reported policy of being allowed to "shoot-to-kill" is highly controversial in a country that officially bans the death penalty. Many SAS men, although forbidden to follow suspects into the Republic of Ireland, nevertheless did so. Some were caught and arrested by Irish police. Controversially, they were rarely charged with firearms offences, but were returned to the British authorities (although a Dublin court once fined eight SAS men £100 each). In March 1976, Seán MacKenna, an IRA commander, was abducted from his home in the Republic by the SAS and handed over to a British Army patrol once across the border.
Lesser quality intelligence was supplied to infantry COP teams, who, because of the tenuous quality of this intelligence, were less likely to get a contact with the 'Players' (British forces colloquialism for IRA), but these COP teams were trained by SAS instructors. It was common for SAS-qualified soldiers to serve with 14 Intelligence Company (known colloquially as '14 Int' or often simply as 'The Det' because its members were volunteers who were detached from other units). A specialist unit set up specifically for Northern Ireland, 14 Int was an all arms unit, which meant they recruited from all branches of the armed services. They served in the Province in an intelligence-gathering role, mainly operating in plain clothes. 14 Int liaised closely with the RUC Special Branch and other security forces units and allegedly, Loyalist paramilitaries.
22 SAS boasts that its tough reputation is such that during the Balcombe Street siege, the IRA surrendered, once the SAS deployment was publicised. But other analysts indicate that MI5 and the SAS engaged in a power struggle with MI6 and Harold Wilson's Labor Government, and provoked the collapse of Wilson and the power sharing executive--and an effort to restore peace--by engaging in dirty tricks designed to provoke 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
Second World War: North-West Europe 1944-45, Benghazi Raid, Tobruk 1941, North Africa 1940-43, Landing in Sicily, Sicily 1943, Termoli, Valli di Comacchio, Italy 1943-45, Greece 1944-45, Adriatic, Middle East 1943-44
Falkland Islands 1982; Western Iraq, Gulf 1991; Western Iraq 2003
The SAS has since the early 1980s built up an almost mythical reputation within the UK. The British media's obsession increased enormously following the 1980 hostage rescue at the Iranian Embassy in London, which was seen live on the BBC. After the popularity of the SAS exploded, the film Who Dares Wins was released in 1981.
The SAS was greatly popularised among young people all over the world in the extremely popular online game Counter-Strike. The SAS were added during the game's development as one of the CT units a player could choose to play. They are also featured in the computer game Battlefield 2: Special Forces and one can opt to play as an SAS Trooper in the Delta Force games. In the Hidden & Dangerous games, one plays the entire game as a SAS soldier; however, most missions are fictional, with some being based on real events, such as the attack on airfields in North Africa.
Added to all this, there is a constant stream of fictional depictions of the SAS and of former SAS soldiers. Blurring the line between fiction and fact are a number of supposedly factual accounts which, some allege, are in reality highly dramatised accounts based very loosely on actual events. Perhaps the two most well known examples are two books written under pseudonyms by two former SAS troopers who served together on the infamous Bravo Two Zero mission in Iraq during the first Gulf war of 1991:
Bravo
Two Zero by Sergeant Andy McNab
The
One That Got Away by Corporal Chris Ryan
Both of these books have subsequently been criticised by authoritative
sources (including the Regimental Sergeant Major of 22 SAS at the time
of the first Gulf war, Peter Ratcliffe DCM) as being highly embellished
dramatisations of actual events.In 1999, the book was made into the film Bravo Two Zero starring Sean Bean as Andy McNab.
Despite the alleged embellishments, these books have sold very well, and consequently started a me-too publishing bonanza by ex-SAS soldiers cashing in on the clear public appetite. The British government has since moved to prevent this in future by insisting that all who serve with the Regiment sign an agreement not to publish details of their service with the Regiment.
Anything written about the SAS should perhaps be treated with a very healthy dose of scepticism because of the secretive nature of their work. There is even the common phenomenon of individuals claiming to have served with the Regiment, when in reality they have had little or even no connection whatsoever with the SAS (and sometimes no connection with the British Army at all).
In 2002 and 2003, BBC Television further exploited the success of the SAS with a series of programmes which showcased ordinary members of the public being subjected to training routines and survival exercises supposedly normally undergone by prospective members of the organisation for selection purposes, as well as a documentary featuring former SAS members explaining general combat and survival tactics. The same year also saw a new ITV drama series about the SAS, Ultimate Force starring Ross Kemp.
Not all representations are flattering however. In the ITV comedy series Whoops Apocalypse and the film remake, the SAS are depicted as trigger-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 in Europe by Konami.
Australia - Australian Special Air Service Regiment.
Canada - The Canadian Military's Joint Task Force 2 is closely modelled on the SAS. An SAS Coy was created in 1946 and disbanded in 1948.
Denmark - Frømandskorpset (Naval Special Forces) and Jægerkorpset (Army Special Forces).
France - The 1er Régiment 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 "qui ose gagne", the french translation of "Who Dares Wins". The Regiment operators are also nicknamed "les SAS français" (the French SAS). Recently, the Regiment created a Squadron (3rd Company) Patrouilles SAS or "PATSAS" (SAS Patrols), using heavily armed jeeps for raids behind enemy lines (particularly with 22nd SAS and the Australian SAS in Afghanistan).
Germany - The German Army special forces unit, the KSK, is also closely patterned on the SAS.
Hong Kong - The Hong Kong Special Duties Unit is a part of the Hong Kong Police Force and was formed in 1973. SDU was modelled on the SAS and was trained by the SAS and SBS.
Indonesia - Detasemen Bravo Paskhas TNI AU.
Israel - The Sayeret Matkal, an elite unit of the IDF, is modelled on the SAS, and shares the same motto, "Who Dares Wins." Responsible for Operation Entebbe.
Japan - The National Police Agency's Special Assault Team received training from British SAS operators prior to its activation on 1 April 1996.
New Zealand - Special Air Service of New Zealand.
Netherlands - The Korps Commandotroepen.
Pakistan - The SSG commandos are also partly based on the SAS.
Philippines - The Philippine National Police's (PNP) Special Action Force was believed to have been based on the lines of the British SAS.
Poland - GROM, partly based on SAS.
Rhodesia - C Squadron of 22 SAS was composed of Rhodesian troops. It formed the nucleus of the Rhodesian SAS Regiment after the end of the Malayan Emergency in 1953, and subsequently the British SAS never raised another C Squadron. The Rhodesian SAS disbanded in December 1980 after 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 based on the SAS. Its founder, "Chargin'" Charlie Beckwith, having served on exchange with the SAS in the early 1960s, caught the "SAS bug" and, recognising a void in the US Army, devoted a large part of the remainder of his career to the raising and establishment of a US unit formed 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 103 tragedy at Locherbie
Alternative theories into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
Lockerbie revisited - aws PANAM 103 shot down from the ground?
On Princess Diana's death
George Arthur Frank Frost - Commando Days
MI5 MYTHS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS
On Royal Nazis and the Scottish connection
On Why Judges? (The Red Book)
Private Eye
Royal Nazis – 2
