h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Stuart
This is a longshot I know BUT...
are you the Stuart that opened up a network 54 forum many hills ago? It's very active yet the Stuart who owns it has gone and none of the options are being managed. if it's you- please go deal...If it's not you- sorry for bothering you. Cheers mate.
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/83655

Sorry Foxybabes, it was not me.

Stuart

Stuart
Thanx for the speedy reply hun- would have been marvellous if it was you-it's a very popular forum for current sf and guys on selevtion as well as walters and numpties...oh well never mind. I'll have a read thru the posts here and join in if I may?
cheers mate

Stuart, you write that the ability to write your name on a piece of paper is all you need to go for selection. Don't they look at your GCSEs or other qualifications?

Not at all. Previous qualifications matter not a bit. If you can pass the selection test, that is all that matters. A Commanding Officer cannot refuse and application form a serving soldier to apply for SAS selection. He can defer it, but not refuse it, which he can for transfer to other arms.

No amount of academic qualifications obtained in a civilian environment will do you any good when it comes to SAS selection. Either you have it out you don't. There is nothing in a civilian environment that can prepare you for SAS selection. That is why you have to have had some military experience to join 22 SAS.

Stuart

Many thanks. I am not sure at all how intimately you are connected with the regiment, but you seem to have a quite traditional view of what makes a SAS man. What do you think of Ken Connor's views which he outlined in "Ghost Force" that the traditional SAS has lost its role, and that the force has to redefine itself if it wants to survive?

I have no connection with the SAS other than that I spent six months on attachment with them. I have also done a couple or courses in the Army where the instructors were members of the SAS.

I have not heard of Ken Connor or Ghost Force. What does he mean by redefine itself and what is the traditional SAS. There will always be a need for the type of things that the SAS do, but then not many people really know what it is they do until they have done it.

Stuart

Ken Connor was the longest serving member of the SAS. His book Ghost Force, published 1998 by Cassell, seems a very insightful account. He thinks that the unit is increasingly marginalized and "unemployed." I am sure that is not true any more after 9/11. But there might be some underlying relevance. What can a CT unit that trained primarily to free hostages like in the Iranian embassy siege achieve against terrorists who have as little regard for their own lives as to that of others? Also, the fiasco in the Gulf war cast some doubts on the military deployment of the SAS, in particular its command and control structures. The book is worth a read!

On the Escape and Evasion stage does the time it takes to get captured affect whether you pass selection or not?

No, not unless you have stuck with the rules and have not just surrendered to take the easy way out.

Stuart

Sorry Chief - I disagree. Avoid getting a battering from the likes of the paras or the gurkhas for as long as possible. In my experience the longer you last, the less time is spent with an oil drum over your head while some SD instructor hits it repeatedly with a pipe to give you a "small headache"! With regard to earlier posts about mental torture Vs physical, you have to accept that you do more often than not take a bit of a beasting. The worst thing I have encountered though was having 2 female nco's from the int corps detachment taking the piss out of the size of my knob for 20 minutes non stop. It was cold afterall!

My original answer stands because it addresses the original question. The question was not does it affect how long you undergo interrogation if you are captured sooner, but does it affect selection.

Stuart

What is the Hearts and Minds Policy?

Hearts and Minds is just user friendly way of saying propaganda, or in military parlance, psychological warfare.

When fighting a guerilla war, having the support of the local population is essential. Without it everything is doomed to disaster. This is one the main failings of the Americans in Vietnam and something that the SAS are past-masters at. They proved it in places like Malaya, Borneo and Oman.

In Oman where my experience lies, this involved the provision of water, food, education and security - things we take for granted in the West. The SAS may not have provided all of these services but they provided the environment that allowed the civilian authorities to do so.

Feed the body and the hearts and minds will follow.

Stuart

What did the SAS men used to be before they were SAS? I hear some of them used to be Paras.

What is this - Twenty things you all ways wanted to know about the SAS but were to afraid to ask.

SAS soldiers come from all arms. Infantry, Cavalry, Signalers, Artillery, Medics, Cooks the lot and of course, some do come from the Paras but not exclusivly. Any serving soldier can apply for the SAS regardless of which arm he comes from.

Stuart

How do you know so much about the SAS?

see post 27.

Stuart

this summer i start training to go in the 1st regiment royal horse artillery. I hope to do the all arms commando course, to earn my green beret and to allow me to be attached to the royal marines. stuart, did you have to do any special training to allow you to work with the SAS? The commando course I have to do is supposed to be very, very demanding including a 30 mile march... just so i can work alongside the marines.

Sorry lads, news just in from a bloke on 23 selection at the mo - its now 4kph, and you need previous service in ta or regs (have to have done common military syllabus, dont know the exact time u need 2 serve. No civvies!)