SAS are you tough enough 2

[Beasta]

Saw the advert for the new series last night. Looks like its gonna concentrate on jungle training of the SAS. Looks very interesting. If you fancy your chances..

[Falkens]

The guy training them was on the previous programme and certainly knows his stuff. I hope he doesnt take any bull sh*t off anyof them this time either.
I bet it isn't in borneo???

[voodoo sprout]

<Insert usual "ripping off SF is naughty" rant here>

And I am not sure about location... I'm thinking the odds are about 50:50 between Wales and Kew gardens...

[Beasta]

It was filmed in a Centre Parcs Paradise Forrest. If you look hard enough in the backround of the trailor you can see a red squirrel and just make out the silhouette of what is clearly a tennis ball.

[Falkens]

I take it it is centre parks nr thetford. There is a training ground there at Barnham, down the road from RAF Honnington. Not a bad place for a bit of night exercise action.

[TheCount]

Although the SAS interests me I can't help but hate all these "Reality TV" shows, especially since they are basically making a mockery of one of the finest fighting units in the Country.

I'll probably watch it no doubt, just to see the guy who looked like he was weeping on the previews, swear a bit, maybe throw a few cans of beer at the TV then change to another channel

[rabby]

I watched combat missions too, I was expecting the SEALS on the programe to be much better. This is probably because of their reputation as big tough mean bastards, but one couldn't even work his weapon, he got stroppy and started bashing his M16 on the ground and was almost in tears!
Yeah I think if they make a new series there should be Brits in it, after all we are working together in real life these days. I even emailed Bravo to see if there was another series with Brits in it, they didn't relpy.

[voodoo sprout]

I did actually enjoy "Combat Missions" on Bravo though. Some very stereotypical Americans, but they were all acomplished in their fields, no wannabees and I had to admire the never ending cheerfulness and optimism of Charlie Squad, who never gave up, despite losing every mission. It could have done with a few Brits on it though, to show them how it is done.

I haven't seen combat missions, but it was apparently heavily scripted so not representative of real life.

And part of my rant has been covered above, but my main concern is that by displaying the SAS like this does, in effect degrading it to a civvie standard, the standign of he real SAS is being brought down too. The SAS used to be a very mysterious, feared unit, with a reputatin of being able to do more or less anything. These days if there is a military operation which looks like SF work, it's a case of "oh, probably the SAS again. What's on TV tonight?" In effect, the whole aura of the SAS which has been so valuable in the past is being eroded. Now in the K that's not a great problem. But once our enemies start gettignit into their heads that the SAS are no better than a bunch of women trudging around a hill moaning about a blister, they'll be much more inclined to do whatever nastiness they have in mind without worrying so much that they might go to bed and never wake up.
A possible example of this is Afghanistan. From operation Anaconda onwards, there have been numerous incidens where Taliban/Al Qaeda have attacked US forces or even USSF. They've tried to asassinate the president while his USSF bodyguards were around, and generally don't seem tp be very scared. But when 45 commando, let alone the SAS sets up shop on their doorstep, not a single Taliban bloke makes himself known. And you jsut have to ask yourself why - and one possibility is that they are more cared of RM's than of the US forces in th area. And this is where the SAS comes in we can keep them under a blanket of secrecy and so keep our enemies runnig scared, or we can show the world what the SAS is "really" like and tell them they might as well get on with the task of pulling the world apart.

EDIT: and as Rabby posted while was writing this, I would say, or the reasons above and others, I would happly watch the producer of a UKSF combat missions get repeatedly run over by a fleet of busses. Well ok that's a bit over the top, but for the sake of an hours a week entertainment, it could (possibly even literally if I'm right) be the kiss of death to our troops.

[joe]

There was actually a huge backlash from the retired US spec ops community against Combat Missions. Many folk thought that is was glorifying the business of war, and although I never actually saw the show myself, I'd have to agree.

Rabby, the SEAL on the show might not have been able to work his weapon, and came across as a muppet, but that shouldn't be taken as a refelection of that unit (in the same way that SAS: Are you Tough Enough shouldn't be thought of as a reflection of the SAS selection course).

If I ever saw a Brit unit "represented" on that show, or similar, it would be a very bad thing. Someone needs to remind these people that they are supposed to be "Quiet Professionals" ....

[rabby]

Yeah I see your points, I suppose I agree with you now. Okay everbody lets boycot Combat Missions! (or is that taking it too far )

[Falkens]

Dont miss the programme on ch 4 on sunday at 9pm. It's a must. I would like to see how far they can be pushed??? The clips look interesting.

[joe]

Combat Mission is on CH4?

DelD, I appreciate the points you make, although these are the very reasons why I am against Combat Missions. The fact that it makes it out to be a game and that there is a fianancial reward at the end makes it all the worse in my opinion! One must be careful not to draw conclusions about about the real-world groups that these participants came from (they're all former operators I believe). It is, as you say, just a game. Which means it can't be compared with real-world situations, so to suggest that because on Combat Missions, one group was better than the other, and therefore it is like wise comparison with the real-world, is wrong.

I suppose the bottom line is that these kind of things aren't games, and I don't think they should be portrayed on T.V. as one.

Joe

[voodoo sprout]

CH4? Maybe in your region, though down here I haven't seen a thing about combat missions on the standard TV channels. The SAS thingy however starts at 9:00 PM on Sunday 16th Feb on BBC2.