SAS Rescue Missions

A former member of the SAS explores the elite organization’s dramatic but little-known role: as rescuers and protectors of nations, heads of state, and politicians.
 
The British Special Air Service (SAS) is famous as a fighting force, but less so as rescuers. Using firsthand accounts, SAS Rescue Missions reveals how a handful of SAS men achieved what often seemed impossible: saving a friendly power, reversing a military coup, defeating powerful rebels, and winning over an aggrieved population. It also examines the Regiment’s success in rescuing hostages, especially from militias and terrorists—including the Iranian Embassy siege in London in 1980. In addition, the book details the SAS’s role as bodyguards and the training and drills they go through, from exercises in the “Killing House” to mastering the sophisticated communications equipment carried on missions.