The Special Air Service or SAS is a regiment of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world. The SAS together with the Special Boat Service (SBS), Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), Special Forces Support Group (SFSG), 18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment and the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing form the UKSF under the command of the Director Special Forces.
The SAS traces its origins to 1941 and the Second World War, and was reformed as part of the Territorial Army in 1947, and named the 21st Battalion, SAS Regiment, (Artists Rifles). The Regular Army 22 SAS 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.
The Special Air Service presently comprises 22 Special Air Service Regiment of the Regular Army, 21 Special Air Service Regiment and 23 Special Air Service Regiment from the Territorial Army. It is tasked primarily with counter-terrorism in peacetime and special operations in wartime.
Read more about Special Air Service: History, Organisation, Recruitment, Selection and Training, Uniform Distinctions, Battle Honours, Order of Precedence, Memorials, Alliances
Famous quotes containing the words special, air and/or service:
“... there has been a very special man in my life for the past year. All I’ll say about him is that he’s kind, warm, mature, someone I can trust—and he’s not a politician.”
—Donna Rice (b. c. 1962)
“There is an air of last things, a brooding sense of impending annihilation, about so much deconstructive activity, in so many of its guises; it is not merely postmodernist but preapocalyptic.”
—David Lehman (b. 1948)
“The ability to think straight, some knowledge of the past, some vision of the future, some skill to do useful service, some urge to fit that service into the well-being of the community,—these are the most vital things education must try to produce.”
—Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (1877–1965)