shiat. I had no idea that they were down to one. The original SAS guys helped to define the word "badass". They gave no farks about taking to the Axis.

Godspeed, Trooper.

Bless his soul, and his family and friends' precious hearts.

I wonder if any of those boring war stories were true or just more of the same Tilman or Lynch propaganda.

Dear subby:

You may not be aware of this, but MOST men are buried with their balls. Usually still attached.

Christ, after spending the war behind enemy lines or being held captive by them..he returned to Scotland to become a warder @ Barlinnie jaol ? you'd want to do that as a job? This man was clearly as hard as nails

blazemongr: Dear subby:

You may not be aware of this, but MOST men are buried with their balls. Usually still attached.

Not everyone has balls large enough to require the use of NASAs shuttle crawler in lieu of pall bearers.

blazemongr: Dear subby:

You may not be aware of this, but MOST men are buried with their balls. Usually still attached.

that's a myth. morticians have been black marketing testicles of the deceased to china as a delicacy for over 30 years now. it is best if accompanied with boiled cat.

SAS...now those are some ugly-ass shoes!


/stream-of-consciousness reaction
//all hopped up on Nyquil and Mucinex

end;

Solid Axle Swap?

Pretty sure those are still occurring amongst the off-roading community. Didn't realize several of my friends had gone tits up.

I always wonder about the people who submit these kinds of headlines. Always so eager to ruminate on the size of some dude's genitalia.

May he regress into eternal peace.

Will Kev Hawkins be attending his funeral??


/yeah...come one...you KNOW that is obscure...
//no way you know about the Tiger....

Oh I get it! They mispelled @ss in the article! BWAHHAHAHAH

Gordinho: Christ, after spending the war behind enemy lines or being held captive by them..he returned to Scotland to become a warder @ Barlinnie jaol ? you'd want to do that as a job? This man was clearly as hard as nails

A great many people who act heroically in battle return home to pretty normal, unexciting lives. The fact that they are capable of normalcy in no way negates the significance or bravery of what he and his SAS cohorts did during WW II.

The SAS is a very interesting organization in very many ways. For those interested, I recommend Tony Geraghty's "Who Dares Wins: The Special Air Service - 1950 to the Gulf War."

It doesn't cover when this guy served tho', when it was a bunch of guys behind enemy lines, cut off from support, raising hell, and bringing back intel. Yes indeed, they had big brass ones.

"There lives a prophet who can understand
Why men are born: but surely we are brave,
Who make the Golden Journey to Samarkand."

Godspeed Trooper.

Why does the guy cleaning his gun have it pointed at the other guy's head?!?

Mr. Right: Gordinho: Christ, after spending the war behind enemy lines or being held captive by them..he returned to Scotland to become a warder @ Barlinnie jaol ? you'd want to do that as a job? This man was clearly as hard as nails

A great many people who act heroically in battle return home to pretty normal, unexciting lives. The fact that they are capable of normalcy in no way negates the significance or bravery of what he and his SAS cohorts did during WW II.

SAS guys are a little different. They often have a hard time being "Returned to Unit" (ie. Going back to regular military service) let alone civilian life. These days alot of them come out of the SAS to go to work for private security firms that operate in hot zones. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Enough that it is a bit of a security concern to have SAS techniques out there for the highest bidder.

Mr. Right: A great many people who act heroically in battle return home to pretty normal, unexciting lives.

Sadly, we just buried my wife's grandfather at 92. I learned a lot about the guy in the time I knew him. At 16 he joined the civilian conservation corps. At 20 he enlisted in the Marines and was in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor happened. He went on to fight in Iwo Jima as well. General Holland "Howling Mad" Smith hand-picked him to be his personal Jeep driver. He was decorated with 8 medals and a sharpshooter award.

He returned home after WWII and ran a small grocery store and deli in New Jersey.

by Paul Byrne, Daily Mirror 1/02/2012

He died at his home in the village of Muchals, Aberdeenshire, on January 8.

SAS? I don't think so. More like PDQ

/Bach, that is.

WinoRhino: Mr. Right: A great many people who act heroically in battle return home to pretty normal, unexciting lives.

Sadly, we just buried my wife's grandfather at 92. I learned a lot about the guy in the time I knew him. At 16 he joined the civilian conservation corps. At 20 he enlisted in the Marines and was in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor happened. He went on to fight in Iwo Jima as well. General Holland "Howling Mad" Smith hand-picked him to be his personal Jeep driver. He was decorated with 8 medals and a sharpshooter award.

He returned home after WWII and ran a small grocery store and deli in New Jersey.

My father in law is 91 - he was in the Army at the start of WWII, was a drill sargeant for most of the war. Was a tank gunner at the Battle of the Bulge, earned two purple hearts in Korea and decided to retire at 45 when they tried to send him to Vietnam. He became a Christmas tree farmer. He still lives on the farm up the road from us and plants a huge garden and mows his fields regularly. His first wife died of Alzheimers (after he took care of her for 10 years or so, no institutionalizing there) and remarried a British women he met on a cruise with his older sister. She's 70 - they often brag about how often they have sex. He can still kill a groundhog at 100 yards with a .22 (that is a VERY difficult shot for anyone who knows about groundhogs. I cut him a lot of slack for some of his ancient ideas; he's earned the slack. His goal is to be the oldest WWII vet.

WinoRhino: Mr. Right: A great many people who act heroically in battle return home to pretty normal, unexciting lives.

Sadly, we just buried my wife's grandfather at 92. I learned a lot about the guy in the time I knew him. At 16 he joined the civilian conservation corps. At 20 he enlisted in the Marines and was in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor happened. He went on to fight in Iwo Jima as well. General Holland "Howling Mad" Smith hand-picked him to be his personal Jeep driver. He was decorated with 8 medals and a sharpshooter award.

He returned home after WWII and ran a small grocery store and deli in New Jersey.

I once asked a Korean War veteran who was a friend of the family and worked as a building manager how he equated the two. He said, "You just leave it there. It's like it took place on another planet."

Thank you for your bravery.

Rest in peace

He can now frolic with leggy blond stewardesses in the after life.

I didn't think SAS was that old. It's compatible with SATA.

When a man is backed up by a massive military force, can that man be called a brave hero?

It is not very brave nor heroic to be a member of massive, technologically advanced, well funded military. I'm sorry but bullying the weak to ensure adherence to fiat paper and fraudulent price discovery is not heroic.

What's next? Shall we have a ticker tape parade for loan shark leg breakers?

Eapoe6: When a man is backed up by a massive military force, can that man be called a brave hero?

It is not very brave nor heroic to be a member of massive, technologically advanced, well funded military. I'm sorry but bullying the weak to ensure adherence to fiat paper and fraudulent price discovery is not heroic.

What's next? Shall we have a ticker tape parade for loan shark leg breakers?

You're clever and effective as a troll because you're contrarian! Fight the power, Chuck!

Eapoe6: When a man is backed up by a massive military force, can that man be called a brave hero?

It is not very brave nor heroic to be a member of massive, technologically advanced, well funded military. I'm sorry but bullying the weak to ensure adherence to fiat paper and fraudulent price discovery is not heroic.

What's next? Shall we have a ticker tape parade for loan shark leg breakers?

Obvious troll is obvious.

Or mind-numbingly stupid to not realize going in behind enemy lines without support is what these guys are trained to do and that they are much more than a bunch of gun hands.

@Mr Right

The gist of my comment focussed on the fact that he chose to patrol the corridors and landings of one of Britain's most notorious prisons...you'd think after having to put up with fighting in world war, he'd have opted for something a bit more genteel...hence the "Hard as nails" reference

Fisty_McVickers: by Paul Byrne, Daily Mirror 1/02/2012

He died at his home in the village of Muchals, Aberdeenshire, on January 8.

SAS? I don't think so. More like PDQ

/Bach, that is.

UK dating convention goes with day then month, unlike US which is month followed by day.

Bio-nic: Eapoe6: When a man is backed up by a massive military force, can that man be called a brave hero?

It is not very brave nor heroic to be a member of massive, technologically advanced, well funded military. I'm sorry but bullying the weak to ensure adherence to fiat paper and fraudulent price discovery is not heroic.

What's next? Shall we have a ticker tape parade for loan shark leg breakers?

I'll give you a 6/10 just because you used complete sentences.

You... do realize the difference between a grunt solider on the field that has "massive, technologically advanced, well funded military" backing and the SAS guys that are being related in this article, right?

Of course you do, because trolling is hard, and you're bad at it.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

I like SAS 9.3 a whole lot better anyway.

What? Last I heard, Goodnight and Sall are still going strong...

KiplingKat872: SAS guys are a little different. They often have a hard time being "Returned to Unit" (ie. Going back to regular military service) let alone civilian life. These days alot of them come out of the SAS to go to work for private security firms that operate in hot zones. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Enough that it is a bit of a security concern to have SAS techniques out there for the highest bidder.

By the way, for the benefit of our resident ITF "what's wrong with pissing on enemy corpses?" types: this is why we have Rules of War. When it's all over, the people we send to endure combat and kill in our names have to come home and resume normal lives. That's a lot easier for them to do if (1) they haven't committed atrocities and (2) they know in their own minds that they kept to the rules, whatever those rules might be.

(There's some reason to suspect that these principles may have broken down among the Paras during the Falklands War, where the ratio of killed to wounded among their Argentinian enemies was suspiciously high... that and the fact that as many soldiers have committed suicide since returning home as died in combat.)

/Just for pedantry: while KiplingKat's point is true of the modern SAS, which often operates at an intensity that would make a SEAL team pay attention, in its original incarnation they were more like lurpers with a heavy dose of harrassment and attacks on enemy facilities. Not that it's any less brave, but not quite as intense as lying motionless on a hillside in Bandit Country for hours observing IRA suspects, or abseiling into the Iranian embassy in London...

KiplingKat872: SAS guys are a little different. They often have a hard time being "Returned to Unit" (ie. Going back to regular military service) let alone civilian life. These days alot of them come out of the SAS to go to work for private security firms that operate in hot zones. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Enough that it is a bit of a security concern to have SAS techniques out there for the highest bidder.

I have a friend who is married to a former SAS sniper and this is exactly his line of work.
He's been in and out of Iraq, Afghanistan and parts of Africa for the last 10 years.

czetie: By the way, for the benefit of our resident ITF "what's wrong with pissing on enemy corpses?" types: this is why we have Rules of War. When it's all over, the people we send to endure combat and kill in our names have to come home and resume normal lives. That's a lot easier for them to do if (1) they haven't committed atrocities and (2) they know in their own minds that they kept to the rules, whatever those rules might be.

(There's some reason to suspect that these principles may have broken down among the Paras during the Falklands War, where the ratio of killed to wounded among their Argentinian enemies was suspiciously high... that and the fact that as many soldiers have committed suicide since returning home as died in combat.)

/Just for pedantry: while KiplingKat's point is true of the modern SAS, which often operates at an intensity that would make a SEAL team pay attention, in its original incarnation they were more like lurpers with a heavy dose of harrassment and attacks on enemy facilities. Not that it's any less brave, but not quite as intense as lying motionless on a hillside in Bandit Country for hours observing IRA suspects, or abseiling into the Iranian embassy in London...

I'll have to ask my friend's husband about your Falklands comment. He was one of the very first boots on the ground off the back of a helo in the Falklands.
He also did most of his work in the SAS dealing with the IRA one shot at a time.

He who dares wins!

czetie: KiplingKat872: SAS guys are a little different. They often have a hard time being "Returned to Unit" (ie. Going back to regular military service) let alone civilian life. These days alot of them come out of the SAS to go to work for private security firms that operate in hot zones. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Enough that it is a bit of a security concern to have SAS techniques out there for the highest bidder.

By the way, for the benefit of our resident ITF "what's wrong with pissing on enemy corpses?" types: this is why we have Rules of War. When it's all over, the people we send to endure combat and kill in our names have to come home and resume normal lives. That's a lot easier for them to do if (1) they haven't committed atrocities and (2) they know in their own minds that they kept to the rules, whatever those rules might be.

(There's some reason to suspect that these principles may have broken down among the Paras during the Falklands War, where the ratio of killed to wounded among their Argentinian enemies was suspiciously high... that and the fact that as many soldiers have committed suicide since returning home as died in combat.)

/Just for pedantry: while KiplingKat's point is true of the modern SAS, which often operates at an intensity that would make a SEAL team pay attention, in its original incarnation they were more like lurpers with a heavy dose of harrassment and attacks on enemy facilities. Not that it's any less brave, but not quite as intense as lying motionless on a hillside in Bandit Country for hours observing IRA suspects, or abseiling into the Iranian embassy in London...

I would agree that there has been a breakdiwn of discipline, but I question whether it has been in the Regiment. There was a news story a couple years (maybe a few now) about a SAS trooper who retired rather than work with "The Coalition of the Willing" any longer. IIRC, he said it was the American led trategy of harassment he refused to execute any longer.

Recoil Therapy: KiplingKat872: The SAS is a very interesting organization in very many ways. For those interested, I recommend Tony Geraghty's "Who Dares Wins: The Special Air Service - 1950 to the Gulf War."

It doesn't cover when this guy served tho', when it was a bunch of guys behind enemy lines, cut off from support, raising hell, and bringing back intel. Yes indeed, they had big brass ones.

"There lives a prophet who can understand
Why men are born: but surely we are brave,
Who make the Golden Journey to Samarkand."

Godspeed Trooper.

Years ago I picked up a paperback called "Sterling's Desert Raiders" (or something close to that, it's at home & I'm not...) that covered at least the Africa phase of the SAS in WW2 (I can't remember if it then followed the unit through the war or Sterling onto Colditz, or both?). IIRC it was a very good read.

And thus closes out the book of one of the more extraordinary stories from an era (WW2) chock full of extraordinary stories. It's hard to comprehend that one of the world's most elite military units grew from a few guys, bored with the way the war was going, deciding to see if they could try something new.

Godspeed Trooper indeed.

/"Popski's Private Army" deals with a unit in the LRDG & is another great read

I'll have to look for that. My understanding is there were a number of small near autonomous regiments doing their thing during WWII. The SAS survived the post war purge/reintegration by sheer force of will. Ex-members pushing for it's reactivation when trouble popped up in Malaysia.

zepher: I'll have to ask my friend's husband about your Falklands comment. He was one of the very first boots on the ground off the back of a helo in the Falklands.

Be interested to hear. Presumably if he was a Para that means he was part of the 2nd Battalion? There were rumblings at the time, but little public appetite in Britain to spoil the mood with things like inquiries (or asking what happened to the log book of the Conqueror...). But in any case, the lack of care for the vets after the conflict is a little-known disgrace.

He also did most of his work in the SAS dealing with the IRA one shot at a time.

Good for him. I lived in Birmingham during the period of the pub bombings...

MissCakes: SAS...now those are some ugly-ass shoes!

Yeah, but there's gold sovereigns in the heels.

Very useful for paying off the locals when absolutely necessary.

(According to my Grandad, when returning from behind enemy lines, a certain amount of lost equipment would be accepted without question, but you'd better have every sovereign or a damn good reason why not.)

We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go
Always a little further; it may be
Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow
Across that angry or that glimmering sea

-- Inscription on the SAS Memorial Tower at Hereford

/Godspeed, Sir