User:Drmichaelvincent/sandbox

SAS 22nd REGIMENT The Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment’s history dates back to the early 1940s when David Stirling formed a special service unit that was named L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade. The foundation of this unit (its name was deliberately chosen to be misleading in order to make the Axis forces think that it is a paratrooper brigade in North Africa) on 1st July 1941 is considered the foundation date of the SAS Regiment although it was disbanded after the end of the war.

The L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade that was commanded by Stirling was founded as a commando unit which would operate behind the German lines in North Africa. The first mission of the unit during the Operation Crusader in Egypt and Libya in the late 1941, however, was a failure and about one third of the unit was killed or captured by the Germans. But its second mission a few months later was a success. Supported by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), the unit carried out a raid on Axis airfields in Libya during which they destroyed a large number of aircraft without losing a single man.

In September 1942, the L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade was renamed as the 1st SAS Regiment which besides four British squadrons also consisted of the Special Boat Section (SBS) and one Greek and one Free French squadron. The unit continued to operate in North Africa but it also carried out several actions in Greece. In early 1943, the founder and commander of the unit, David Stirling was captured by the Germans in Libya. He spent the rest of the war in German captivity and was replaced by Paddy Mayne as commander of the 1st SAS. The unit, however, was shortly thereafter reorganized into the Special Raiding Squadron under the command of Mayne and the Special Boat Squadron which was commanded by George Jellicoe. Mayne’s unit was used for operations in Sicily and Italy along with the 2nd SAS that was founded in North Africa in the same year, while the Special Boat Squadron was used for operations in Dodecanese and the Aegean Islands. In 1944, the 1st and 2nd SAS, the Belgian 5th SAS and the French 3rd and 4th SAS were joined into the SAS Brigade which operated behind the enemy lines in France and conducted supportive operations during the Allied advance towards Germany.

The SAS Brigade was disbanded shortly after the end of the Second World War. But less than one year after its disbandment, the British government determined that the country needs a commando unit such as the SAS Brigade and decided to raise a new SAS Regiment as a part of the Territorial Army. The new The Artists Rifles is a volunteer regiment of the British Army.[nb 1] Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regiment saw active service during the Boer Wars and World War I, earning a number of battle honors. However, it did not serve outside Britain during World War II, as it was used as an officer training unit at that time. The regiment was disbanded in 1945. In 1947 it was re-established to resurrect the Special Air Service Regiment.[2] Today, the full title of the Regiment is 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve). was officially founded on 1 January 1947 and moved to the former Artists Rifles headquarters at Dukes Road, Euston. Soon, however, the need for Regular Army SAS regiment occurred. In 1952, the B Squadron, also known as the Malayan Scouts was renamed into the 22nd SAS Regiment and officially added to the British army list. In 1959, a third - 23rd SAS Regiment was created as a part of the Territorial Army.

Just like other special forces, the SAS Regiment is surrounded by a great deal of mystery because little information is publicly available. The organization of the SAS Regiment and recruitment, however, are not a secret.

The SAS Regiment actually consists of three regiments - 21st SAS Regiment, 22nd SAS Regiment and [[23rd SAS Regiment. The 21st and 22nd regiments form a part of reserve Territorial Army, while the 22nd SAS Regiment is on the list of the Regular British Army. It consists from four squadrons known as A, B, D and G, each of which consists of about 60 men who are commanded by a major. Every squadron is further divided into four troops and a small headquarters section. One troop consists of 16 men and one patrol from four men with each of them having a special skill (besides those learned during the training process) such as demolition, signals, linguist or medic. The four troops that form one squadron, on the other hand, are specialized into four different operational areas:

Air troop. Like its name suggests, this troop is specialized into air services. Men of the Air troop are specialists in different parachuting techniques including free fall parachuting, HALO High Altitude Low Opening and HAHO High Altitude High Opening. Boat troop. Men in this troop are trained maritime skills including scuba diving and Rigid-hulled inflatable boats. They train with the Special Boat Service. Mountain troop. This troop is specialized in combat and surviving techniques in the Arctic environment. Mobility troop. In contrary to the Mountain troop, this troop is specialized in desert combat but the men are also experts in motor mechanics and can repair any type of vehicle on the field.

Every squadron of the 22nd SAS Regiment is also trained in anti-hijacking and counter-terrorism since 1975 when the British government established the SAS Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) wing or the special projects team to deal with potential terrorist attacks such as the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics. The squadrons rotate in anti-hijacking and counter-terrorism training which includes hostage rescue, sniper techniques, siege breaking, etc. with each squadron going through training every 16 months.

The men who form the 22nd SAS Regiment are recruited from the UK armed forces but the majority of them comes from the airborne forces. The selection is held twice per year in summer and winter in Sennybridge in Brecon Beacons. About 200 candidates have to go through a five-week long selection process which involves Personal Fitness Test, Combat Fitness Test, hill phase ending with the so-called Fan Dance - a 14 mile long march with full equipment over 2,907 feet high Pen Y Fan (the highest peak in South Wales) which includes running 4 miles in 30 minutes and swimming two miles in 90 minutes at the end of the Fan Dance, jungle phase, combat survival exercises including escape and evasion, and resistance to interrogation which lasts 36 hours. Only about 30 candidates successfully complete all exercises and tests. The selection process for the 21st and 23rd SAS regiments is less challenging, however, the candidates have to meet specific requirements to be able to become members of either of the two reserve regiments.

Since serving in Malaya, men from the regular army 22 SAS Regiment have taken part in covert reconnaissance and surveillance by patrols and some larger scale raiding missions in Borneo.[30] An operation against communist guerillas included the Battle of Mirbat in the Oman.[31] They have also taken part in operations in the Aden Emergency,[32] Northern Ireland,[33] and Gambia.[30] Their Special projects team assisted the West German counter-terrorism group GSG 9 at Mogadishu.[30] The SAS counter terrorist wing famously took part in a hostage rescue operation during the Iranian Embassy Siege in London.[34] During the Falklands War B squadron were prepared for Operation Mikado before it was subsequently cancelled whilst D and G squadrons were deployed and participated in the raid on Pebble Island.[35] Operation Flavius was a controversial operation in Gibraltar against the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).[30] 22 SAS also directed NATO aircraft onto Serb positions and hunted war criminals in Bosnia.[36][37]

The Gulf War, in which A, B and D squadrons deployed, was the largest SAS mobilisation since the Second World War, also notable for the failure of the Bravo Two Zero mission.[38] In Sierra Leone it took part in Operation Barras, a hostage rescue operation, to extract members of the .[30] In the Iraq War, it formed part of Task Force Black and Task Force Knight, with A Squadron 22 SAS being singled out for exceptional service by General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander of NATO forces: during a six-month tour it carried out 175 combat missions.[39] In 2006 members of the SAS were involved in the rescue of peace activists Norman Kember, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden. The three men had been held hostage in Iraq for 118 days during the Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis.[40] Operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan[41] involved soldiers from 21 and 23 SAS Regiments.[4]

Various British newspapers have speculated on the SAS involvement in Operation Ellamy and the 2011 Libyan civil war, the Daily Telegraph reports that "defence sources have confirmed that the SAS has been in Libya for several weeks, and played a key role in coordinating the fall of Tripoli."[42] While The Guardian reports "They have been acting as forward air controllers – directing pilots to targets – and communicating with Nato operational commanders. They have also been advising rebels on tactics."[43]

In recent years SAS officers have risen to the highest ranks in the British Army. General Peter de la Billière was the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in the 1990 Gulf War.[44] General Michael Rose became commander of the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia in 1994.[45] In 1997 General Charles Guthrie became Chief of the Defence Staff the head of the British Armed Forces.[46] Lieutenant-General Cedric Delves was appointed Commander of the Field Army and Deputy Commander in Chief NATO Regional Headquarters Allied Forces North in 2002–2003.

Unlike most special operations groups, the SAS rotates all of its squadrons through CRW duty. Because of this, all SAS operatives are considered counterterrorist-qualified and refresher training is constant.

Organizationally, the Special Projects unit is broken down into 65-man Red and Blue Teams, each with snipers and EOD trained experts. SAS proficiency in firearms, already very high, is refined for close quarters battle in the "Killing House". The basic course is six weeks, during which troopers may fire in excess of 2,000 rounds. This skill is further enhanced during a squadron's SP duty. Adding an element of realism to the training is the use of live personnel as hostage during room clearing operations. SAS counterterrorist and hostage rescue training is facilitated by the highest members of the UK government, many of whom (including the Prime Minister) take part in actual training exercises. A Royal Air Force C-130 remains on standby at RAF Lyneham at all times should the unit require its services.

The SAS has engaged in antiterrorist operations, mostly in Northern Ireland, although reports have pointed to SAS activity in Libya as well. There are a number of organizations worldwide who also use the SAS name, such as the New Zealand SAS and the Australian SAS. There is some debate as to when Britain's other legendary special operations group, the Special Boat Service (SBS) would be used in the counterterrorist role. This issue is still a matter of speculation, however some experts speculate that the SBS would not be deployed unless a large scale terrorist incident occurred which tapped the SAS beyond their personnel levels. SAS and SBS are known to have deployed together on a bomb scare involving the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II. In any case, maritime operations are not a skill which the SAS has forgone.