The animosity between the SAS and the SBS is legendary amongst special forces units. Both units seek to prove themselves the superiors. The SBS is comprised of Royal Marines who have the longest basic training of any infantry unit in the world, and we also have a longer selection process, therefore the SBS is better. Although I am slightly biased having served with them for several years. People know all about the operations of Task Force 141 and Delta Force during the war. However our operations were never documented despite the large role we played. My name is 'Tyr', Colour Sergeant of the Special Boat Service. We were 1 SBS, this was our story, this was our war. August 17 - 2016 (New York) We walked through the fire and destruction of the once mighty city. There was 20 of us in total. An unusual number of people for our operations, however due to the nature of the operations taking place all over the world Poole had decided that larger teams would be more effective. We had finally been issued our MTP equipment, ironically it had been issued in reverse order of importance, having been first issued to the TA, then to the non-combat roles, and finally to those of us on the front line. We wore our large bergens and full MOLLE webbing. Enough rations to last a few days in complete isolation. We were all armed with HK417 assault rifles, P226 pistols, and AT4-CS launchers which were secured under the lids of our bergens. Our first job was to locate an SRR operative known as "Kingfisher" who had been running surveilance operations until he had become surrouned by the enemy and had to maintain radio silence. His last recorded postion was nearby, only a kilometre away at most. Then once we got him onto an evac bird we'd go and strike deep into the enemys lines, hopefully easing the pressure on US forces in the area. As we passed yet another row of burning cars Snake began coughing violently. We had been marching for several hours and the smell of burning rubber and metal was beggining to take its toll on our latest member. "We'll have a short break, I need you guys fresh when we get there, cause we know it's gonna get hot". I walked over to Snake and put my hand on his shoulder "Drink some water mate, for your first op with the SBS you're doin' well". The rest of the unit dropped their packs and rifles so they could stretch their muscles, which as usual had tightened up due to carrying the large weight for so long. "Alright men, eyes and ears open, watch for IEDs and snipers, y'all can hear the gunfire in the distance? Well that'll be on us if we don't watch our backs". We all made our way down the road until we saw the enemy. I looked on in horror, I saw tanks crossing the road only half a mile from us. "Everyone, into the hotel" I said quietly. We rushed into the building and aimed our rifles at any potential targets inside. There was only bodys, shell casings and rubble. Once we were assured the building was dead and silent we all gathered in a circle with our packs on the ground. "Falcon, explain the situation". Falcon nodded and said "The fact is, we hadn't expected enemy armour this close to our objective. If we call in for CAS(Close Air Support) then we are gonna have the full strength of the Russian army bearing down on us. Any ideas?". Fireman, our explosives expert looked around and said "What about if we sneaked in through the sewage systems?". The unit laughed with Ninja joking "Thats a pretty shitty plan mate". Fireman frowned "Better than getting blow apart by them tanks, and also, while we're down there I can plant some PE4 shape charges underneath the road". I finally smiled and said "I agree with Fireman, we send a four man fire team down through the sewers. Fireman, Ninja, Joker, and me, shall be the ones to go down. The rest of you will wait here and provide cover fire should things go tits up. Remember, if things go wrong you are to fuckin' leg it back to the US forces. Everyone understand?". Ninja and Joker groaned but as with the rest of the unit agreed. Now relieved of our packs we were moving slowly through the dark caverns of the sewers, using the flashlights on our rifles to see where we were going. There was a splash with every step we took and a ungodly smell. "Fireman, Joker, head down there and plant them explosives. Ninja lets go". I looked down at my watch which had a built in GPS, we were finally there. We moved our way into the building, smiling as we got into the illuminated building. We silently moved through the building, Ninja had one hand on my back, a way for both of us to know we were alright without having to make any noise. As we made our way towards the elevator there was a slight glint in the corner of my eye. My heart stopped as I saw it. I crouched and looked at the thin clear line that went across the room, I followed it reached a Grenade, I inspected it and saw it was British "He's here" I whispered. Next to it there was a cardboard box, inside there was a box of white powder and cans which smelled strongly of petrol. The white powder smelled like marzipan, "It's RDX". There was enough explosive to blow the roof down. So the target should theoretically be below. We carefully stepped over the wire and made our way to the elevator. Ninja pressed the button but it was broken. He slung his rifle down by his side and pulled it open revealing the dark inside. He leaned in and looked up and then down the elevator shaft. He turned to me and smiled. "He's down there". I looked down and saw a man in MTP sleeping at the bottom of the shaft. "How'd you know he'd be there?". Ninja shrugged "That's where I'd hide". He jumped down and woke up the operator. Kingfisher looked up at him dazed and after a breif exchange they made their way back to me. Kingfisher was wearing his uniform and body armour. He carried a HK417 also. He looked pale from having spent so long in the building. He placed his hand on Ninjas back who had his hand on mine. We slowly made our way through the building and back down to where we came. When we got down their we saw the beams of two flashlights from Fireman and Joker. We all re-surfaced back in the hotel to the laughs of our colleagues. "You guys stink," Falcon said chuckling "I see you got our friend here but did you get them explosives planted?". Fireman nodded grinning, it was a little bit creepy how much pleasure he took from explosives, as was his sheer skill with them. They were his passion and he was probably one of the best explosives experts in the world. The origin of his nickname Fireman. We put our packs back on and creeped outside being careful not to alert the enemy. Now we should be able to kill two birds with one stone. Taking out this road would not only eliminate a large amount of infantry and several tanks. It would also cause confusion within the enemys ranks and stop them from using this route. As we got outside though, my radio crackled into life "SBS team? SBS team do you read me? Over!". "We read you loud and clear, over". "We need you to divert attention to your AO, NOW! We are taking heavy casulties and the CASEVAC can't enter our AO cause theres too many fuckin russians, over!". I looked around at our men "I'm afraid we can't, we have to get our objective out of -". Just then a burst of fire launched over our heads. "Fuck! Take cover, lay down suppressive fire!". "Fuck it, we are under attack anyway. We are gonna launch a counter attack and hopefully free up some room for your boys, out" "Nice one team, we owe you one, out". I lay prone on the road firing off several rounds. "Fireman, hit the explosives!". "On it!". In an instant the road ahead of us collapsed, dropping the tanks and infantry into the gaping wound in the ground. "Alright, lets pepperpot our way back to the US forces. Kingfisher, keep on Falcons arse!". Half of our unit ran back while the other half continued to lay down suppressive fire, then they stopped and took their turn to lay down cover fire. After a few times doing this we had covered a mile. "Team, ditch yer packs, lay down smoke, and then we'll launch our counter attack!". As the area filled with smoke everyone stopped firing. We began to march through the choking white cloud, everytime we saw an enemy we would fire a couple of rounds at them. Dropping them like flies. Eventually we reached the hole from where we had used explosives. Inside there was several Russian tanks and plenty of infantry, all of whom were heavily wounded. Snake kept looking between me and them, "What do we do with these guys Sergeant?". "We leave them, it uses more resources for them to evacuate soldiers than to put them in body bags". Falcon then piped up "Anyway, we've been here too long, the Russians will be moving here ASAP, and we still gotta get Kingfisher outta the conflict zone". "Okay, Falcon, get on the radio and see if you can get a team here to extract him". "On it". Falcon wandered away and made the call. He returned with a scowl on his face, "What is it?" Joker asked. "Guess who's coming to get him, it's only the bloody SAS" he said through gritted teeth. We heard the low rumble of helicopters in the background and ran back to our bergens. "Guys get them launchers ready!". We all stood ready as the huge force of Russian helicopters came into view. We all fired our launchers and cheered as we knocked everyone of their birds out of the sky and sent them crashing down into buildings and onto their ground forces. We grabbed our HK417s and all took defensive positions as we waited patiently. "3, 2, 1, FIRE!". As I shouted their was a burst of loud cracks filling the air as our rifles opened up on the enemy. The Russians sprayed rounds everywhere as they ran towards us. They used AK47 derivatives which were renowned for terrible accuracy, and their troops had shite training. As my mag ran dry I allowed it to drop to the floor and quickly replaced it with a fresh one. I took aim down my ACOG sight again and looked for my next target. However then I heard the familiar sound of a Lynx helicopter coming from behind. I turned and watched it land, 8 SAS troopers rushed out of it carrying MP5s and wearing their black kit. They fired over our heads at the Russians while their leader dragged Kingfisher into the back of the Lynx. Once he was onboard the SAS dissapeared once again. We threw grenades at the enemy to distract them from the bird. Ninja called out "Typical SAS, show up for a minute and no doubt they'll take the credit!". Falcon quickly responded "Doesn't matter, we fucking did the job and Poole knows that". Joker then shouted "Wait, how the fuck are we getting out of here?!". A loud set of explosions rumbled in the distance. "And what the fuck was that?!" Joker continued. I quickly got on the radio "What the fuck just happened? We heard that from across the city?! Over!". The same American who had been on before now sounded delighted, "We are using the subs missiles against their own fleet! Over". "Thank fuck, but how do we get out of here? The Russians are closing in fast!". "You gotta get to the coast, the USMC 2nd Division are there! Over" "Thanks for the help mate, good luck. Out!". "Alright team, deploy any PE4 you got on this side of the hotel, ASAP!". After 5 minutes of holding back the tide of Russian infantry and jeeps, we had finally deployed all of our PE4. "Pop smoke and fall back, NOW!". Smoke filled the area and we turned tail and ran. We were 5 miles from the coast. After half a mile we stopped and turned. "Fireman, use the detonator!". "Alright, everyone cover your ears". We crouched and did so as he laughed and hit the switch. We watched as rubble was launched everywhere and the sound of metal bending screeched building then collapsed and knocked over several other buildings as it did so, crushing a huge amount of enemy infantry and armour. "Okay lets get to them marines!" Falcon shouted. We began the long run to the coast which due to the large amounts of adrenaline in our systems felt like only 10 minutes. When we got there some US marines were aiming their rifles at us from behind a make shift barricade of Humvees. We all began shouting out at them "We're British!" "We're SBS" "SAME TEAM!" at them. They eventually lowered their guns as we reached them. "We're friendlys, British SBS, you must be the 2nd?". The marine looked at us strangely "Yeah," he turned to a group of marines that were behind him "Hey, Lt, we got some British!". The Leuightenant came over nodding, obviously having been informed of our presence. He reached a hand out to me "Welcome to America boys". I shook his hand and laughed "Thankyou Lt".
