The last photo taken of me as an SAS soldier…1994.
In almost 20 years between the mid 70s to the mid 90s, SAS operations would vary greatly in what was asked of us and just how to achieve it. But one thing’s for sure…many of those operations were daring, and extremely dangerous, with the chance of ourselves being killed as much as our enemy.
From the Middle East to the Far East, from the Balkans to playing at home in London (Iranian Embassy Siege 1980), it was all about looking after one another first and foremost, which for us also contributed to achieving a successful mission.
By the time I was a junior rank in the SAS, I was already working out in my head that we have been taken out of the SAS soldiers’ box by politicians and Generals wearing politicians’ hats as opposed to their own military ones, simply to appease their crazy shake of the dice policies.
Can we say no? Of course we can. My squadron commander did just that over an absolutely unsound mission during the Falklands Conflict in 1982. However, for his brave call to save his squadron, he was gone and relieved of his position in no time at all.
But if a mission appears impossible at first, after mulling it over, unlike the aforementioned mission, this one could be viable…no matter the dangers involved, the lack of proper kit (in Gulf War 1, I watched mates making Claymores out of ice cream cartons and dockyard confetti!), and the absolute lack of numbers to achieve a positive result…we’ll still dig in and give it our everything.
Most of my SAS career I was taking part in missions that I’m sure Hollywood film producers would rip off arms for the operational content to ensure a blockbuster movie.
The SAS though isn’t Hollywood…it’s real…bloody real, and too many lads in this tiny unit have given all while giving their everything…I know as I visit my mates lying in their graves every time I go back to Hereford.
This is why, while too many senior officers send us off to create their legacies for them, and politicians alike, sama sama, I was only operating and fighting for my mates next to me. We would look after one another, and we would have a positive end to the operation.
Unreal scenarios in different parts of the world, in different conflicts, in different roles…given extreme tasks with extreme danger attached to it…now over 30 to 50 years ago!
And while on those SAS missions spanning almost 20 years, not once did I break the International rules of warfare, even when my enemy had no rules…no matter how up against it we were.
So…when I hear today that SAS soldiers are being hounded by both government and media alike for their part played in their dangerous operations, it really angers me.
To the members of today’s government, making those decisions to hold SAS soldiers to account for their parts played in those severely demanding operations of late, and similarly to those individuals in the BBC Panorama programme doing the same thing…try walking a mile in those young SAS soldiers’ boots first.
Just maybe, you’ll then understand what an SAS trooper goes through, and the split-second decisions he has to make on the many choices facing him coming from all angles, when he’s sent on those operations once taken out from the SAS soldiers’ box.
Bob Shepherd 
RESPECT