Special Air Service

"Who Dares Wins"

- SAS motto

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.They may also be in Call of Duty: Black Ops 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 guerrillas in unconventional warfare, Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) activities in support of UK government Foreign Policy. Its counter-terrorist role began as a result of the 1972 Munich Olympic games where a police officer and the Israeli athletics team were kidnapped and killed by Black September, a Palestinian militant organization.

Appearances
The Special Air Service was first featured in the Call of Duty franchise in Call of Duty, where SAS Sergeant "Soap" Mactavish 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 the player plays as Sergeant James Doyle.

In Call of Duty 3, the Special Air Service appears again, and this time James Doyle and Maj. Ingram are back, in company of Cpl. 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 SAS team was critical in the US/UK 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 are 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 Task Force 141 are 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.

The SAS also show up in Modern Warfare: Mobilized. One of two playable characters is an SAS operative, headed by Captain Bell and Sergeant Walker. They take part in a search for a nuke, eventually finding and disarming it.

Call of Duty

 * Cpt. Price
 * Sgt. Evans
 * Sgt. Waters

Call of Duty: United Offensive

 * Sgt. James Doyle
 * Maj. Gerald Ingram

Call of Duty 3

 * Sgt. Doyle
 * Maj. Ingram
 * Cpl. Duncan Keith
 * Pierre LaRoche (French SAS)

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

 * Captain MacMillan
 * Captain John Price
 * Gaz
 * Corporal Rankin
 * Corporal Harris
 * Private Veale(?)
 * Sergeant "Soap" MacTavish
 * Mac
 * Sgt. Arem
 * Paulson
 * Sgt. Wallcroft
 * Pvt. Griffen
 * Sgt. Grant
 * Sgt. Lovejoy
 * Sgt. Maxwell
 * Cpl. Murphy
 * Pvt. Abbott
 * Sgt. Newcastle
 * Pvt. Hawkins
 * Cpl. Stevenson
 * Pvt. Lootz
 * Cpl. Sullivan
 * Sgt. Carlyle
 * Sgt. Henderson
 * Sgt. Connally
 * Cpl. Field
 * Pvt. Collins
 * Pvt. Smith
 * Pvt. Wells
 * Sgt. Greaves
 * Pvt. Lewis

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Members of the SAS are not featured directly in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Soap, Ghost and John Price are SAS members within Task Force 141. It is also notable that, although not explicitly stated in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the last known surviving members of Task Force 141 are SAS.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Mobilized

 * Capt. Bell
 * Sgt. Walker
 * Sgt. Patrick O' Neil

Weapons

 * M4A1 SOPMOD (Signature weapon of Price and Soap)


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


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


 * M82 (Used by Price to blow Zakhaev's arm off 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)

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 M4A1 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 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, despite that there are no gas grenades used throughout the game, excluding the smoke grenade. Gas masks may be worn to protect the users face from shrapnel or other debris, whilst also serving to hide the user's identity and 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.
 * 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 likely that 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 Task Force 141.
 * 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.
 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, when choosing any Submachine Gun, in the Multiplayer, the player will appear as the Marines did in the later levels of the story mode right down to having the Marine Corps Insignia, despite playing as an SAS.
 * There are also SAS lieutenants (Captain Price 15 years prior to MW was a Lieutenant and Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley) in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 which wouldn't happen in real life as the SAS only allow Captains to apply for selection.
 * In Multiplayer, players using SMGs while on the Task Force 141 team will have an SAS/British flag skin.
 * The S.A.S. are one of the few special forces teams whose motto, who dares wins, never appears as the name of a level in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The USMC, Rangers and Navy SEAL's have all had levels named after their mottos. It is possible this motto may occur as a level name in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
 * The gas masks worn by the SAS during the mission "Crew Expendable" are part of the British NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) gear that protects the wearer from contact with dangerous and potentially lethal agents. This fact could show that the SAS knew about the nuke that was being shipped on the cargo ship.
 * The SAS generally wear a black jacket below what looks like Multicam combat gear. This could be either for comfort, or for greater camouflage effect at night, like in the book "Rainbow Six" by Tom Clancy.
 * In Call of Duty 4 multiplayer, the SAS announcer is Gaz.
 * Although in both Modern Warfare titles the SAS operatives use M1911 variants, there is no record of the modern SAS using the handgun, in fact they actually used the Bowning Hi Power and latterly the SIG-Sauer P226 instead, with the M1911 being restricted to use by the SAS in the Second World War.
 * In Call of Duty 4: Modern warfare, the SAS, unlike the other factions, have two seperate appearances depending on the level. On the map Vacant, for example, the SAS will appear in black uniforms like they do in the campaign on the first mission, whereas on maps like Pipeline they will appear closer to USMC appearance.
 * The SAS have an unfair advantage on the multiplayer map "Wet Work" as they can easily conceal themselves in darkness because of their black uniforms, unlike the Spetsnaz who wear white and can easily be seen.

Related Links
Special Air Service on Wikipedia