Special Air Service



The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces regiment of the British Army that was formed during World War II. Its operatives were notable in their service in World War II during Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty 3 and the modern day in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Some of the functions of the SAS are intelligence collection in the deep battlespace, battlespace preparation by sabotage and offensive raids in the medium and deep battle space, counter-terrorism operations inside UK territory in conjunction with police forces, counter-terrorism operations outside UK territory, training soldiers of other nations and training guerillas in unconventional warfare, Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) activities in support of UK government Foreign Policy. It's counter terrorist role were began as a result of the 1972 Munich Olympic games where a police officer and the Israeli athletics team were killed by Arab terrorists.

Appearances
The Special Air Service was first featured in the Call of Duty franchise in Call of Duty, where SAS Sergeant Jack Evans was featured as a main character, fighting with Captain Price against the German army in various situations, including the attack on the Pegasus Bridge, the sabotage of the Eder Dam, and the destruction of the battleship Tirpitz and of some infamous V2 rockets.

Then the SAS appears again in Call of Duty: United Offensive, where you play as Sergeant James Doyle. Major Ingram leads the squad.

In Call of Duty 3, the Special Air Service appears again, and this time James Doyle and Major Ingram are back, in company of Duncan Keith and some members of the Maquis Resistance (French resistance), like Marcel, Pierre LaRoche and Isabelle DuFontaine. Their objective is to "clean" some areas of enemy concentration, in the towns of Toucy, Autun, and Les Ormes (the latter two are featured also as multiplayer maps in Call of Duty 3.

Later in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the Special Air Service was a principal force in combating the Middle Eastern hostiles and Ultranationalist Russian rebels during the six-day modern day global conflict. Captain Price's four-man SAS team was critical in the US/UK peacekeeping operation, operating alongside Marine Force Recon to eliminate the Ultranationalist nuclear threat. The main character of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was "Soap" MacTavish, an SAS rookie operative.



The SAS is featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as part of Task Force 141 with Soap MacTavish returning as an NPC and playable character. SAS members in TF 141 not as easily identifiable because of a combination of British, American, Canadian, and Australian members. Captain Price is featured as well in later missions, but not playable.

Call of Duty

 * Price (Captain)
 * Jack Evans (Sergeant)
 * Waters (Sergeant)

Call of Duty: United Offensive

 * James Doyle (Sergeant)
 * Gerald Ingram (Major)

Call of Duty 3

 * James Doyle (Sergeant)
 * Gerald Ingram (Major)
 * Duncan Keith (Corporal)
 * Pierre LaRoche (French SAS)

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

 * John Price (Captain/Lieutenant in 2 levels)
 * Gaz (Rank is never revealed although he is likley to be between Staff Sergeant and WO1)
 * "Soap" MacTavish (Sergeant)
 * MacMillan (Captain)
 * Mac (Sergeant)
 * Arem (Sergeant)
 * Paulson (Unknown)
 * Wallcroft (Sergeant)
 * Griffen (Sergeant)
 * Griffin (Private)
 * Grant (Sergeant)
 * Lovejoy (Sergeant)
 * Maxwell (Sergeant)
 * Murphy (Corporal)
 * Abbott (Private)
 * Newcastle (Sergeant)
 * Hawkins (Private)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Members of the SAS are not featured directly in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Soap, Ghost, Archer and John Price are SAS within Task Force 141, and Navy SEALs it's also notable that although not explicitly stated in Modern Warfare 2, the last surviving members of Task Force 141 are SAS.

Weapons

 * M4A1 SOPMOD (Signature weapon of Price)


 * G36C (Signature weapon of Gaz, used by Soap during the training excercise in F.N.G)


 * M16A4 (Although not seen in-game, often used by SAS patrol teams in combination with M203 grenade launcher)


 * Colt M1911 (Preferred sidearm of Price, who used one to execute Al-Asad, and Soap, who used one to kill Imran Zakhaev)


 * USP .45 (Sidearm used by Soap in Crew Expendable and Ultimatum and MacMillan and Price in All Ghillied Up and One Shot, One Kill)


 * M21 Sniper Rifle (Preferred sniper rifle used by MacMillan, Price, and Soap)


 * Barrett .50 Cal (Used by Price to cripple Zakhaev in One Shot, One Kill)


 * MP5 (Unsuppressed and Suppressed variants used by SAS operators in multiple missions)


 * M249 SAW (seen used on Death From Above, Heat, and All In)


 * R700 (Sniper rifle used by Soap in Sins of the Father and possibly Mac in Heat)


 * AK-47 (Used by some allies)


 * RPD (Used by some allies)

Trivia

 * In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the British flag insignia on Price's arm and Gaz's hat is wrong; the skewed red lines in the game are perfectly symmetrical to the opposite side, where as in truth they have no perfect lines, so there can be no lines of symmetry.
 * It is worth noting that it is uncommon, but not unheard of, for the SAS to use M4 Carbines, as depicted in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (however, Infinity Ward may just not have wanted to add another weapon); the SAS usually prefer the Diemaco C8 SFW, a Canadian equivalent of the US M4 Carbine. The SAS do use G36C rifles and M16 rifles, however they use the A1/A2 variants, which are usually attached with a M203 Grenade Launcher, but M4A1s still appear in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This site lists the current or known weapons to be used by the Special Air Service.
 * In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, most SAS players are depicted wearing a gas mask, which is redundant because there is no use of any gas grenades (excluding the smoke grenade). Only real reason for this is either as assurance or to intimidate the enemy. In real life, the SAS gas masks have darkened lenses to protect from flashbangs, but this has no effect in-game
 * There are Privates featured in the SAS. This is incorrect as they would have the rank of Trooper. This may be because of an error on the part of Infinity Ward or to prevent confusion amongst the international audience as only people with knowledge of the SAS would understand.
 * It is believed that the SAS or British army were going to make an appearance in Call of Duty: World at War, due to the discovery of British weapons built into the game that never appeared in-game, as well as a McFarlane Toys model of an SAS Trooper included in the Call of Duty series of toys. It is possible they had a campaign that was later cut out during development.
 * The British 22nd SAS Regiment was a part of Task Force 141 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
 * The SAS member Ghost is the multiplayer announcer for TF 141, despite it being a multinational army, although because the majority of TF141 is made up of British soldiers and plus the fact having a different announcer each time would get annoying it was chosen to make the commentator British.
 * The SAS are never actually mentioned in-game in Modern Warfare 2 despite their prominence in the previous Modern Warfare. The closest thing to them being mentioned is when Price's resumé is seen in a cutscene, where it says "Former SAS Captain" and on Soap MacTavish's chest on the mission Favela.

Related Links
Special Air Service on Wikipedia

Special Air Service Shirts