WHO DARE YOU!
SAS ordered to stop sending up rivals as ‘Shaky Boats Service’
SAS members have been banned from calling their rivals the Shaky Boats Service.
A top SAS officer is believed to have made the ruling after the SBS complained the nickname was damaging the unit’s morale and reputation.
One SAS man told us: “When I heard about this I thought it was an early April Fool.”
Also banned is Dope on a Rope – coined because Special Boats Service troops abseil on to vessels from helicopters. A source said the issue flared up when a US Seal Team Six special forces member asked an SBS man about Shaky Boats.
Memos about the ban then appeared on notice boards at SAS HQ in Credenhill, Herefordshire.
Our source said: “The relationship between us has always been tetchy but trying to stop the nickname is nonsense.
“We know it winds them up. It’s banter.”
Most recent animosity between the two regiments,
TAUNTS From rival SAS both founded in the Second World War, dates back to a senior SAS member calling the SBS “unprofessional” after a botched 2003 op in Iraq.
The SBS once recruited from the Royal Marines.
Today all volunteers who pass a special forces selection process can choose between the two.
The Ministry of Defence does not comment on special forces.