Wargame Articles
The SAS in Trouble IThe British SAS is in trouble. Recruitment and retention is an issue (as in recruiting and retaining the right people). There is no shortage of gung ho sorts who want to join and shoot people, but these people are less keen on the rest of the SAS role of lying around for weeks to collect information for others to shoot people.The SAS regulars are down from 450 to 200. Half of whom are on attachment. They have sufficient manpower to cope with two terrorist incidents in this country, not three. The backup plan is to borrow a unit from another country, (but I cannot remember which one…) The final plan is to use a Para or Marine unit as the assault group, To combat the staff shortage they are using private security guards (who carry guns), Gurkas, Germans (GS9) and a couple of Americans (on loan from the American Special Forces). More SAS are now on attachment from other units and have not been through the normal selection procedure (and subsequent Sabre training). How do you persuade a 6 language signals specialist to spend 3 months map reading around the Brecon Beacons to get in? Where do you find a nuclear specialist with a fitness level of a national sports team? The two entry routes are causing much friction. Being in the SAS is now very dangerous; a few years ago in Afghanistan, half of the SAS were in one battle and it was touch and go whether they were going to be wiped out. Due to manpower shortages, they are often going into battle undermanned and under equipped. New recruits think this is great; veterans are less than impressed. The power of the sergeants mess, traditional in maintaining the standards, has been eroded. If they cause no waves, they can be promoted to officer level (not warrant officer) near the end of their careers. This has major pension advantages, Long serving SAS men are hacked off that they cannot write books when they leave due to the MOD non disclosure agreements (we can stop your pension…) However, some use fiction to get around the gagging orders, including ops that are real. Finally, one or two in the British Army are less keen on ex-SAS returning to their original regiments. In addition to these men (and a few women) being big headed and over confident, some are clearly suffering from combat fatigue. If your battalion is going on operations, the last thing you need is a soldier who clearly needs 6 months off and should not be given a gun with live ammunition in it. Regular soldiering requires different skills. The sad thing is, there is nothing that could not be sorted out in a few years given the will and some more money.
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