New hat badge for the SBS

[El T]

I have no doubt posted this in the wrong place and some smarty pants has already posted it somewhere else ...... but just in case .....

An article from the Daily Telegraph 16/9/2002

Navy special force to have its profile raised to SAS level
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 16/09/2002)


The Special Boat Service is to get a new cap badge as part of "a corporate make-over" to give it as high a profile as its Army special forces rival, the SAS.

The Royal Navy's SBS has traditionally been part of the Royal Marine Commandos and its members wear the same green beret and cap badge as their commando colleagues, leaving the service struggling to create its own identity.

Where its presence on the ground is overt, its operations are usually credited to the commandos and when it takes part in covert special forces operations the credit invariably goes to the SAS.

"There has been a problem with the image of the SBS for some time," one senior source said. "The fact is that these days the SBS are on a par with the SAS. They often take over from each other on operational tasks and covert duties."

Although the SBS traditionally came under the control of the Royal Marines, and only recruited from among the commandos, in recent years command of the unit has passed to the Director Special Forces, who is also in charge of the SAS.

Over the past year, another link to the Royal Marines has been severed with the introduction of joint selection for both the SAS and the SBS. Now any member of the armed forces can join either unit. As a result, the unit has doubled in size to about 230 men.

A number of ex-soldiers, including a former Parachute Regiment captain, are now members of the SBS and wear their old cap badge on the green beret.

Senior officers want to replace the Royal Marines "Globe and Laurel" cap badge with a new insignia which all SBS members can wear, although the unit is expected to retain the elite green beret in recognition of its link to the commandos.

The SBS already has an unofficial emblem, which incorporates a frog, paddles and a parachute, but the new badge is expected to be a more sober image combining the traditional special forces dagger with elements of its commando tradition.

The SBS, based in Poole, Dorset, was created during the Second World War as the Special Boat Section, earning its nickname as "the Cockleshell Heroes" after a 1942 raid on German ships in Bordeaux harbour.

Five two-man teams, each paddling a collapsible canoe or "cockle", attached limpet mines to the ships. Only two of the 10 Cockleshell Heroes escaped. Six were executed by the Germans and two are believed to have drowned.

After the Second World War the SBS, now the Special Boat Squadron, was re-organised into boat units and deployed around the world. Then, in the 1980s, the name was changed to Special Boat Service.

The unit played a key role in the Falklands war when they swam ashore ahead of the Task Force to identify the beaches weeks before the main landing force arrived.

To earn the status of Swimmer Canoeist, the traditional SBS trade, potential members must be able to canoe five miles at night on the open sea in a two-man team to a landmark from where they march for 30 miles. They must also be able to swim two miles and dive underwater the length of a pool twice, before jumping off the top diving board blindfolded wearing full equipment.

The SBS plays a key role in the war against drugs, using high-powered interceptor speedboats around the British coastline to catch smugglers in support of Customs and Excise.

[Steve C]

hmmm, if all you old & bold RMs had been in the SBS would you have given up your Globe and Laurel?

-Steve C

[Rotary Booty]

I just hope Michael Smith of the Daily Telegraph has been eating weird mushrooms, and doesn't know what the hell he's talking about!! When did these ex-paras do the Commando Course, and is there really someone wearing a Green Beret with a Parachute Regiment badge in it?
This sounds like a Royal Marine's worst nightmare.

[Steve C]

A strange new hybrid, Paramanndo maybe?

-Steve C

[Si Capon]

someone wearing a Green Beret with a Parachute Regiment badge in it?

Gentlemen, lets be honest;
Inside every stinking, smelly, unwashed, crabby Pongo there is a bootneck trying to get out! :fadein:

[Calum]

''...the unit is expected to retain the elite green beret in recognition of its link to the commandos.''

..and here was me thinking they retained the green beret because they were Commando trained. Ah well, you learn new things everyday!!!!!

[Sea Soldier]

The wearing of a Parachute Regiment cap badge in a Green Beret is not without precedent,in the late 60's there was a Para Regt Sgt (Dusty Miller) attached to CTC,as an Instructor in Commando School,who did just this.He had completed the All Arms Course & was on a "cross posting",He also wore a Para Regt "stable belt" .. whereas we would wear a "Corps Belt".He supervised my particular 30 Miler & appeared in my Squad Photo,in Para Regt No 1's (I eventually passed out with 875 Recruit Squad,due to injuries,sustained as a J/Mne)

As for an "identity crisis" in S.B. .... I always thought,the lower the profile the better its Members operated,hence the higher success rate.

[Steve C]

hmmm, I maybe wrong, but since all other services have their own beret and the green lid is the commando beret , does this mean that the Royal Marines do not have a beret of their own? I know that all RM are commando trained. but still.

Is the black beret that RM recruits wear just a recruits beret or is it RM?

-Steve C

[harry hackedoff]

Steve, it`s actually a blue beret with a red flash behind the badge. It was worn by all Royal Marines till the Green was authorised during WW11. Between then and (I think) 1966, Royal wore both lids.
Now only worn by non-Commando trained ranks, which is why you may here some refer to it( incorrectly) as the "Recruit`s Beret."
JR and Owdun will tell you of times when returning from duty with the Brigade, that they were ordered to remove their Green lids and Commando flashes, and wear the Blue. The Noddy Hat, or Cap- Comforter is worn by any rank from any Service who is undergoing Commando Training.
Hope that helps you, mate

Aye, Harry

[harry hackedoff]

And to answer Derek`s point and to concurr with Kev`s
I saw a Para Major in Gardemoen in 86 wearing a Green Lid.
Kept wanting to point out that he looked like a Para with his Lid on that way
Para SNCO instructors are a regular feature of Command Cse Training Teams, though I didn`t see one with a Green Lid on mine.

Aye Harry

[Steve C]

Thanks, good to know as we have to buy an extra beret when we get there, 7 quid! lol.

What would happen if a trained RM commando rank walked around base with the RM lid instead of the Green, would they be slapped on the wrists?

-Steve C

[harry hackedoff]

You`ll get issued with the Blue, and the true cost of the Green is four tons of blood, sweat and tears. Heh heh heh

Aye, Harry

[Sea Soldier]

Steve C,

To answer your question,I need to ask one ... why on earth would a "Trained Rank" wish to wear a Beret associated with Recruit Training,despite its historical origins ?

If such a creature existed,there would be no need for a "slap on the wrist" .. the sheer contempt of ones fellow Royal Marines (Recruits only win this appellation upon Passing Out of Training & receiving the Order ... "Royal Marines,to your Duties,Quick March") ... would be enough to discourage any such experiment !

Having gone through Commando School & been "AWARDED" (Note .. not ISSUED) the coveted Green Beret ... you would indeed be hard pressed to seperate it from its justifyably proud wearer !

Hope that puts what our Distinctive,Unique (in UK Forces) & well earned Headwear means to us.

[Steve C]

I hear ya Yorky! I know if/when I get a green beret I would never take it off, but I think there still might be a place for the RM beret in my trophy cabinet!

Does anyone know if you don't pass out as a RM Commando, do they take back your RM beret? Surely if you fail the commando tests and they take back the RM beret, then all the blood and guts you're giving for the Green lid is also going towards you keeping your RM beret as all RM have to be Commando trained. Maybe i'm wrong.

-Steve C

[El Prez]

You're wrong,.......... over!