Associate
Ironically HMS Cumberland (along with the rest of the type 22s) was on her last voyage home to be scrapped when this kicked off... turns out warships are quite useful.
SAS / Royal Navy / Royal Air force in Libya
- Thread starter Over Clocker
- Start date
Associate
- Joined
- 6 May 2009
- Posts
- 371
If you mean via tax or whatever, then yes. It's a more worthy commitment that our current one in Afghan. I really don't know what we are doing out there, As soon as all Western forces leave the country will return to infighting and the terroists who hide there will be able to regorup and replenish their numbers.
The SAS are the most experienced and trained for this, they have the highest chance of getting civilians out of a messy situation without having to fire back, avoiding escalation, seeing the dangers and avoiding them, etc.
Soldato
Irony?
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 21 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 46,269
Indeed, good on them using the SAS to get our folks out safely (or as safely as possible)
+1
how come everyone forgets about the SBS? isnt there training even harder than the SAS
Nobody does, its just that the SAS are more famous, obviously.
Associate
Maybe irony isn't the right word, but it shows how unpredictable world events can be - a few months after we decide to scrap ships we end up needing them on their final voyage home. If this had happenened a few months from now there may have been no ships available at all. Governments often come to regret defence cuts - ten year rule anyone?
how come everyone forgets about the SBS? isnt there training even harder than the SAS
They are all generally one and the same, there is also the SRR and SFSG, they make up a joint command.
People refer to them as the SAS simply because they are the most recognisable to the public. This was evident in Afghanistan when it was reported in the media that SAS elements were operating in Tora Bora, when it was in fact the SBS.
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Soldato
lets hope when they arrive to Libya they wont be seen as a threat. Secondly sky news says its a "secret" operation - well I guess its not "secret" any more since it just got compromised on sky news lol.
Its all just media speculation tbh.... The specifics of what units were involved is irrelevant and not necessarily known by the media - some planes landed, some military types might or might not have already been on the ground securing the airfield, liaising with local militia etc... Important thing is they successfully landed two planes in there, seemingly without permission, and extracted british oil workers.
Stoning an oil rig, you really are clueless.
You do realise that gangs and mobs are going around either armed to the hilt with AKs or with knives and machetes. Ye sure, nothing to worry about
Just had a mate flown out of there in a Hercules, good to know he is in one piece!
Man of Honour
how come everyone forgets about the SBS? isnt there training even harder than the SAS
It might well have been the SBS that did the job in Libya but not that many people will know about them compared to their Army counterparts.
The SAS are just more in the public eye since a certain embassy siege in 1980 and Mrs Thatcher using them to mop up a prison riot in the 1980s.
The SBS seen to be in the shadows, probably just how they like it.
As for training, a mate of mine that I have known since school joined the Marines and was extremely fit and equally switched on and mentally tough. He went for SF selection and failed and said it wasn't for him and that made me think about just how much that the SBS and also SAS must be in terms if the next evolution in military terms.
Soldato
Well the US sent a hired catamaran, despite having the biggest Navy in the world
.Very much so, they like the SAS stealing the limelight (funding maybe not so much).
Thatcher got disenfranchised with the SAS though, First into Action by Duncan Falconer covers it well.
Soldato
Good, show them who's boss.
We used to be in Libya until '69/70 when the ****ers booted us out.
The fact that we're using Malta as a staging post really does show how useful Malta is and why everyone's tried to capture Malta in the past. But Malta are our friends
.
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A massive amount of training and mental toughness is expected before you even contemplate joining, my old man served 22 during the late 70's early 80's and some of the stories make your hair curl :/
Good to see our PM make the correct call and use all available resources to get out people (and anyone else from friendly countries who wants to come along) out.
Huge contrast to how Brown handled the Iceland Ash issue, where it took the government a week to do anything and even then they never used RN ships to get people back from France (where some airports were open) back to UK.
Huge contrast to how Brown handled the Iceland Ash issue, where it took the government a week to do anything and even then they never used RN ships to get people back from France (where some airports were open) back to UK.
Soldato
As good as the SAS/SBS are their training courses are not as difficult as the Royal Navy cooks course. That is known toughest training course in the world, it's that though that no one's ever passed it.
The RN are still going to be maintaining a (relatively) huge escort fleet after the defence cuts, no doubt the Navy will be using this though as good propaganda to keep a larger fleet. Bet they're grinning from ear to ear that it was Cumberland and not one of the 13 Type 23 Frigates that we have in various places around the world.