The Special Air Service (SAS), the British Army’s Special Operations Force and rolemodel for almost all present Special Operations Forces around the world. Founded in 1941 as a regiment, and later reconstituted as a corps in 1950 and was later gained fame and recognition worldwide after successfully assaulting the Iranian Embassy in London and rescuing hostages during the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege, lifting the regiment from obscurity outside the military establishment. This special operations force undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action, hostage rescue and human intelligence gathering.
Special Air Service’s regular regiment (22 SAS Regiment) has four operational squadrons: A, B, D and G. Each squadron consists of approx. 65 men commanded by a major, divided into four troops. Troops usually consist of 15 men, and each patrol within a troop consists of four men, with each man possessing a particular skill: signals, demolition, medic or linguist in addition to basic skills learned during the course of his training. The four troops specialise in four different areas: Boat, Air, Mobility and Mountain troops.
Following the post-war reconstitution of the Special Air Service, other countries in the Commonwealth recognised their need for similar units. The New Zealand Special Air Service squadron was formed in 1954 to serve with the British SAS in Malaya. Australia formed the 1st SAS Company in July 1957, which became a full regiment of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) in August 1964. On its return from Malaya, the C (Rhodesian) Squadron formed the basis for creation of the Rhodesian Special Air Service in 1961.
Non-Commonwealth countries have also formed units based on the SAS. The Belgian Special Forces Group, which wears the same capbadge as the British SAS, traces its ancestry partly from the 5th Special Air Service of the Second World War. The French 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment can trace its origins to the Second World War 3rd and 4th SAS, adopting its “who dares wins” motto. The American unit, Delta Force, was formed by Colonel Charles Alvin Beckwith, who served with 22 SAS as an exchange officer, and recognised the need for a similar type of unit in the United States Army. Ireland’s Army Ranger Wing (ARW) has also modelled its training on that of the SAS, as well as Delta Force.
In Sierra Leone SAS took part in Operation Barras, a hostage rescue operation, to extract members of the Royal Irish Regiment. In the Iraq War, it formed part of Task Force Black and Task Force Knight, with A Squadron from 22 SAS were SAS carried out 175 combat missions. Operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan involved soldiers from 21 and 23 SAS Regiments. A significant force of the Special Air Service was deployed to Northern Iraq in late August 2014, tasked to trying to track down the Islamic State terrorist group. In October 2014, the SAS began executing raids against ISIS supply lines in western Iraq, using helicopters to drop light vehicles manned by sniper squads. It has been claimed that the SAS have killed up to eight ISIS fighters per day since the raids began.
OBS. Few clips and footages are with real former SAS operators and other are dramatically reconstruction’s of their former operations and activities.
