Special Air Service - Uniform Distinctions

Uniform Distinctions

Normal barracks headdress is the sand-coloured beret, its cap badge is a downward pointing Excalibur, wreathed in flames (often wrongly referred to as a winged dagger) worked into the cloth of a Crusader shield with the motto Who Dares Wins. SAS pattern parachute wings, designed by Lieutenant Jock Lewes and based on the stylised sacred Ibis wings of Isis of Egyptian iconography depicted in the décor of Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo, are worn on the right shoulder. Its ceremonial No 1 dress uniform is distinguished by a light blue stripe on the trousers; the commanding officer and officer of the day wear a black leather pouch belt mounted with a silver whistle chain and the Mars and Minerva badge of the Artists Rifles. Its stable belt is a shade of blue similar to the blue stripe on the No 1 dress uniform.