Since its formation in the mid 1950s, the New Zealand Special Air Service has seen active service in Malaya, Borneo, South Vietnam, East Timor and Afghanistan, where, without exception, the Unit has served with distinction.
Like other Special Force units, the NZSAS’s mission is to respond to those grim situations where other Army units may not be able to act as effectively or efficiently. The role of the NZSAS therefore requires an extraordinary high degree of intense training following a vigorous and rigorous selection process. Their military operations require the same high degree of cunning, guise and operational flexibility.
Despite what many may think, our Special Force soldiers are not “super soldiers” – rather they are hand-picked volunteers who train long and hard and live and operate by their motto “Who Dares Wins” and
follow their ode (James Elroy Flecker – “The Golden Road to Samarkand” [1913]):
“The Master of the Caravan said:
But who are ye in rags and rotten shoes,
You – dirty bearded, blocking the way?
The Pilgrim answered:
We are the Pilgrims, Master; we shall go
Always a little further: it may be
Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow,
Across that angry or that glimmering sea,
White on a throne or guarded in a cave
There lives a prophet who can understand
Why men were born: but surely we are brave,
Who take the Golden Road to Samarkand”.
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Waiouru, New Zealand
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