Sas selection how long

The Special Air Service is the longest active special missions unit in existence and has remained one of the best. Staffed with the toughest and most resourceful enlisted and commissioned soldiers the United Kingdom has to offer, the SAS only accepts the cream of the crop. Of all candidates who try to earn the coveted beige beret and the title of "Blade," only the very best make it through. In order to thin out the herd, the SAS holds one of the most arduous and rigorous selection and training programs in the modern special operations community.

Timed cross-country marches, treks through jungles, and a mountain climb are just a few of the challenges that make joining the SAS an extreme task. Typically, the SAS runs two selection periods every year, one in summer and the other in winter. While any fully-trained member of the British Armed Forces may apply for selection, the bulk of candidates tend to come from light infantry, airborne, and commando units. Selection lasts around five months and consists of multiple phases, each designed to break down every candidate and push them to their limits and beyond.

Many drop out due to stress or injury — those who remain must meet and exceed the high standards set by the selection cadre. It all begins with physical testing designed to ensure that each candidate meets the minimum requirements to join the SAS. Selection then moves forward with a series of forced marches in the Brecon Beacons, a mountain range in South Wales.

Candidates are issued rifles, weighted rucks, and rations and are then sent packing. Upon completing these 4 weeks successful candidates who opted for the SBS and SRR move on to complete different phases taken by their own units, Those opting for the 22 SAS now move on to a 4-week initial continuation training course where they are taught to fire weapons used by the regiment and other foreign weapons, demolitions, etc. Candidates are known to lose up to pounds of bodyweight in this phase.

In this phase, the final test includes candidates to evade a hunter force composed of men from the SFSG Special Forces Support Group and undergo interrogation. If they fail then they have to repeat Selection right from the beginning in their 2nd and last tryout to be part of the SAS.

Within the squadrons are different troops like Air, Mobility, Boat, and Mountain troop. Enlisted personnel revert to the rank of troopers. Officers are demoted to their previous rank and they serve an initial 3-year tour with the SAS and may return for another tour.

My respect to the British for creating what is possibly the most lethal feared and innovative Special Forces unit in the world that becomes an example for other SF units to follow. The SAS selection program is so grueling and rigorous that there have been some years that no candidates have passed selection. The demands of life in a special forces unit require each member to be self-motivated.

The endurance phase culminates with 'the long drag', a 40 mile trek carrying a 55lb bergen, that must be completed in under 24 hours. Part of a 24km tab, candidates must march over Pen Y Fan twice while carrying a 40lb bergen, rifle and water. Training takes place in Belize, in the heart of deep jungles. Candidates learn the basics of surviving and patrolling in the harsh conditions. SAS jungle patrols have to live for weeks behind enemy lines, in 4 man patrols, living on rations.

Jungle training weeds out those who can't handle the discipline required to keep themselves and their kit in good condition whilst on long range patrol in difficult conditions. Again, there is a mental component being tested, not just a physical. Special Forces teams need men who can work under relentless pressure, in horrendous environments for weeks on end, without a lifeline back to home base. The small number of candidates who have made it through endurance and jungle training now enter the final phase of selection.

The likelihood of a special operation going wrong behind enemy lines is quite high, given the risks involved. The SAS want soldiers who have the wherewithal and spirit required to escape and evade capture and resist interrogation. By the end of the month, our group had gone from down to 24 people. Following that you move on to weapons systems. Being in the infantry, I was working with weapons every day, so I was able to get dialed in quicker than most. The next test after the weapons work is living in the jungle for a month.

Our group was sent to Borneo, and there you learn how the regiment works in small four-man groups. I had never been to the jungle before then. You are just trying survive and find ways to make yourself comfortable as possible, and using the undergrowth to keep cover during your exercises between foraging and making traps. I tried to make the most of it. I vividly remember one of the times we were in the helicopter with the doors off, looking down at this wild plant life, and all I could see was green.

Once you are in there it is something different, and the bugs are massive. There is a period in there where you have to live off of what the wild provides, eating lots of roots.

But in my opinion, with all of the fresh water, the jungle is the best place for tactical fighting. That training is done with live ammunition, and every couple of years there is always someone who gets shot or killed. The instructors are watching to make sure that you can function in those small groups without supervision.

Those instructors are asked a simple question when it comes to us. They are asked whether or not they would be okay with us being in their patrol. For them it is an important question, because the instructors are serving and there is a chance you could end up in their patrol and responsible for keeping them alive. By the time we left the jungle there were eight of us left in our selection. They brought us back to the headquarters in Hereford for a week of listening to former prisoners of war.

These speakers are all people who have been captured, and share their experiences or struggles. They want us to listen, and to understand, the possibilities of what you can go through if taken. The thinking is if you hear one thing that helps you mentally prepare for the possibility of getting captured, then sitting there for a week is worth it. The speaker that affected me most was a pilot who was taken after a bomb run and spent six years imprisoned.