SAS: Circus

[Artist]

Gash

Your right on that one. Negative Bullsh*t just facts. A refreshing change compared to some presenters who consider themselves the centre of attraction. And the subject an annoying extra.

Artist

[RobT]

I have to admit i have been watching the "Sunday night survival" night and the real heros of telemark program has been spot on. It was amazing to see how much weight the RM-ML's and the 2 Jaederkorps (wrong spelling i think ) had lost...such a harsh enviroment to work and try and catch anything edible.

The SAS program was pretty stupid. And to be honest i'm glad of the program's content because to be honest the stuff they have been on about isnt much different to what most people in the forces would get taught and not so much the "SECRET" facts or how the SAS operate.

How do we know the blokes who are presenting the prog are SAS or ex-SAS anyway? that sgt bloke sounds like a world class shit-talker to me

[harry hackedoff]

Don`t know what Ray Mears` exposure to survival situations is, but he does make some good progs. I thought he once had some connection with the RAF for a short while, or else he has had some training from a crab E+E instructor. He sometimes gets things wrong (Surviving The Arctic, for instance) and it keeps me on my toes trying to spot mistakes.

Any of you nice blokes want to send me copies of the latest progs, please feel free to PM me
Some of his earlier stuff was more of a Travelogue-type programme (Ray meets the "Indigenous Australians", for example) but maybe I`m being super-critical
Good luck to him, either way.

[Chaff]

The Telemark story has been good and the interviews with the men who took part in the operation interesting. Must be something about that Norwegian air, because the three still alive have stilled the sands of time, are sharp of mind and look extremely youthful for their years.

P.S. Was that a bottle of Grouse on the table to wash down the reindeer moss? Sponsorship, coincidence or my eyes?

The 'survival skills' series would be ok if it wasn't for the invasive music, the shaky camera work, the acting and the over all style in which it's presented which made me cringe slightly throughout. Personally, I would have preferred to see Eddie Stone stick to voice overs and pieces to camera, with young trim professional actors playing the part of the SAS. Although their faces would still have been blanked out for effect - it's that sort of series.

I prefer the history series on Monday nights which isn't so sensationalised.

[joe]

Harry, I think Ray Mears is just someone who has been interested in survival -type activities for most of his life. I know that he has done various treks and expeditions in harsh environments (the Sahara & the Oz outback, for example). I enjoy his shows cos they are down-to-earth and not full of bullsh!t like the SAS: Survival Secrets.

Mears' did do a show not that long ago which featured him working with some RAF pilots on how to survive whilst on E&E. I can't remember if he was instructing or not, but I"m sure he would have been qualified.

[Marina]

Sorry, err

What's E & E ?

[RobT]

Escape and Evaision ?

Methinks...

durrrrrr

[harry hackedoff]

Maybe it`s erection and ejaculation
That`s what happened to me in a pub once, I stood up and was thrown out
Mears is rather too chubby to be a survival instructor, but hey, maybe that`s his emergency food stores

[Marina]

Hi Harry,

After your experience...I have just been put off having my dinner tonight
I was looking forward to that lamb tikka and pilau rice followed by Spotted Dick !

[RobT]

Mears is rather too chubby to be a survival instructor, but hey, maybe that`s his emergency food stores

AS IF! Ray is knows his shit he keeps himself with a bit of storage just incase of an emergency situatuion.

seriously though, its a good idea. all SAS men should be forced to get to Peter kay size and then if they are on the run for days on end with no food they are just fine!

[voodoo sprout]

I think we're underestimating poor old Ray. Have you noticed how he never takes his top off? The reason is that the extra baggage is not whale blubber as it appears to be, but a cunning stash of equipment containing a sawn off shotgun (for huntin' wabbits - you don't think he really catches all that stuff with poncy litle traps do you?), a satellite telephone (if there are no wabbits, Pizza hut is never far away), a handheld GPS device (we're only doing a program on Siberia 'cos I got lost on me way to Belgium), and of course, the mandatory bog roll (he got told off for using the fluffy microphone thing you see).

[voodoo sprout]

Hmm, this is getting interesting. The SAS survival testicles from BBC two, appears to have mysteriously disappeared half way through the series. Last Sunday It was not on, being replaced by a gardening program, and this Sunday it's not on either. Perhaps the MoD has become twitchy and asked them to cut it? In any case, I'm not going to be missing it (well, not much. We all like a bit of mindless gunplay now and then ).

[harry hackedoff]

Saw a brills programme, about five years ago. It featured Aussie SAS( called SASR down here) and some Indigenous Australians( called Abos down here) and the idea was to see who could get to a water hole about three day’s march away.
The four-man SASR team had all their equipt laid out in true Pusser`s style and they had everything bar the I'M A SCAMMER SPAMMER!!! sink. You could have opened a Survival Aids shop with just the contents of their pockets! Every survival aid known to man, five days water and food, radio for casevac, solar stills for urine into drinking water, survival shelter, helli panels, the lot. One guy patiently explaining what each item was for and how "essential" it was. While this was going on, the two Abos watched intently. One had a loincloth (which he was wearing) and his mate had a loincloth and a stick (which he was leaning on) that`s all they had.
SASR take bearings, do map to ground, spend fifteen minutes deciding where they are, another fifteen deciding where they should be, before manfully striding off into the Outback. The two Abos watched intently.
At nightfall, the SASR stopped and set up camp, took out their petrol cookers and cracked on with a meal. By now, the Abos had had enough watching intently and had thinned out.
Walking through the bush was like a visit to Tesco for them. The bloke with the stick did all the talking. "See that tree? Roots good eating" furious digging with stick produced some woody thing, which they both troughed. "See them grubs? Good eating" as he shoved the stick into a hole and retrieved it covered in insects, which they both troughed. All the time they walked through the bush, our mate was knocking berries off trees, or digging things up with his stick, or prodding into rocks. "See that ground? There`s water under there" As nightfall approached, they started to hunt. In minutes, they had a snake, a Goanna and a Wallaby. All killed with the stick. Some tinder and kindling, a quick rub with the stick and a fire was blazing away. The food was just chucked on the fire with the stick up its arse as a spit, with no attempt to gut any of it. Snake was the entrée, followed by Goanna, with Wallaby to follow. Accompanied by nuts, fruit and berries that the silent bloke had been storing in his loincloth.
Meanwhile the SASR were deep in conversation about whether or not they were lost and would the food hold out. After two days, the Abos left their camera crew about two miles short of the water hole. They were going somewhere else, and had proved their point. The SASR turned up a day and a half later, saying what a test it was.
I thought, " I’ve got to have one of those sticks"
Aye,

[sneaky beaky]

Hi! Harry,
That is brilliant and just about sums up a lot of the debate "Are the SF that special"!! If I need to survive, give me an Abo as a partner anytime!

[veggie]

Ray Mears has been running survival skills training at 22, I met him last year at the Boxing night, seems a pretty ordinary decent chap to tell the truth.

veggie