SAS bump and salute!
Posted on 03/26/2003 5:21:48 AM PST by kattracks
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - They aren't getting much coverage from the international television networks, but Australia's special forces troops, heavily engaged in the war against Iraq, undoubtedly prefer it that way.
The Australian defense department has lifted the lid just a little on the type of men involved in the covert, dangerous -- and by all accounts, effective -- operations deep inside Iraq.
"This is not your Hollywood super-hero," Army chief Lieutenant-General Peter Leahy told a briefing in Canberra. "This is a quiet, resolute, very intense man who can make intelligent assessments, a man who can operate as part of the team."
According to Leahy and other briefing officers, members of the elite Special Air Services (SAS) were engaged in varied missions, at times reporting on Iraqi positions and calling in allied aircraft to take them out, and at other times engaging the enemy themselves.
"They have been active destroying enemy installations using their own resources or directing coalition air support to destroy the enemy. They are denying freedom of movement to enemy forces and generally creating havoc and uncertainty."
Once referred to as "phantoms of the jungle," they are now proving to be "phantoms of the desert," Leahy said.
While attention is understandably focused on the progress of U.S. military forces and their British allies inside Iraq, Australia - in an operation named "Falconer" - has also committed ships, planes and 2,000 army, navy and air force personnel to the campaign, among them 150 SAS troops.
The highly-trained SAS soldiers travel in modified Land Rovers, each carrying five men and "a real heap of equipment."
Their weaponry includes a range of sniper rifles, machine guns, pistols, grenade-launchers, anti-tank weapons and vision systems for day and night operations.
They are not always in radio contact, and are allowed a high degree of flexibility and discretion in deciding how to tackle the challenges and opportunities presented to them.
Infrequent radio communications with command centers protects the SAS soldiers, Leahy explained, inasmuch as "they are not emitting and are harder to find. Consequently we will not know all of the details of their actions until some time later."
Exactly what those actions are remain shrouded in secrecy.
According to military spokesman Brig. Mike Hannan, the primary role of the SAS is "long-range reconnaissance," but they also undertake "direct action" missions against enemy targets as opportunities arise.
Foreign newspaper reports have said Australian and British special forces captured an Iraqi air base at Rutbah near the Jordanian border, which was now being used by coalition forces.
Some reports said the Iraqis were suspected of moving missile launchers to that western area, the part of the country from which any missile strikes against Israel would naturally be launched.
Leahy declined to confirm this, saying only, "I wouldn't believe everything you're reading in the press."
At a separate briefing in Qatar, Australian forces commander Brigadier Maurie McNarn also wouldn't give detailed comment on the SAS activities, but did say they were in western Iraq, and that their main focus was to ensure the enemy didn't fire missiles - "in particular any with chemical warheads" - at neighboring states.
Whether those particular reports are true or not, Israel's foreign ministry has publicly thanked Australian forces for actions it said were aimed at eliminating the danger of Scud missile attack from western Iraq.
Saddam Hussein's forces fired 39 Scuds into Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, despite the fact Israel wasn't party to that conflict. Israel has braced for a repeat, although the fears have not been realized in the first week of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
While reluctant to give details about the location and timing of SAS activities - lest it help to "build up a picture that other people might be able to take advantage of" - Leahy did say the actions were "highly successful" and provided coalition forces with invaluable information about the Iraqis' bases, movements and intentions.
According to McNarn, SAS activities over the past several days had included "a rolling series of contacts" with the enemy.
'Hard men'
Media reports and footage from the Gulf have illustrated some of the difficulties experienced by coalition forces as a result of the desert terrain and weather.
While Westerners would invariably find such conditions hard, the SAS troops have trained intensively in the Outback, Australia's remote and mostly uninhabited wilderness interior.
"In many ways the sorts of conditions they're experiencing [in Iraq] wouldn't be all that different from what they've been doing here in Australia," Leahy said.
"Life's pretty tough out there, but these are hard men. They're the best that we've got in the Army."
The typical SAS trooper, he said, was married and in his late 20s or older, having served at least five years in the regular armed forces before applying for a rigorous selection course.
Only one in four applicants pass the course, in which recruiters look for men of endurance, confidence, discretion, intelligence and technical aptitude, who are going to have to make "some pretty intense decisions," including decisions involving life and death.
More tough courses follow, and then operational service in uncomfortable and challenging environments - in recent years in places like East Timor and Afghanistan.
"Don't think of them as the cliched movie special forces warrior," Leahy said. "They are normal people with extraordinary self-discipline and an ability to apply themselves to a task, enduring significant hardship not letting it distract them from the task."
Apart from the SAS contribution, Australian F/A-18 fighter planes have also been busy over Iraq, flying first on defensive missions escorting coalition tankers and other aircraft, and more recently on strike missions, dropping-guided 2000-pound bombs on various targets.
Australian Navy divers are meanwhile involved in the crucial task to clearing Iraqi mines from the water at the port of Umm Qasr, preparing the way for ships carrying humanitarian aid to dock safely.
Australian warships have shelled Iraqi coastal defensive positions and batteries, according to McNarn, who spoke at an earlier briefing in Qatar.
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SAS bump and salute!
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