Hello and welcome to the new series from our Battleground History Strand. I'm Thatchic Bishop,

and with me is Saul David. And over the next weeks

we're going to be looking into a subject that steered to the hearts of our listeners

which is the history of special forces. Those small bands of elite warriors

since they first began operating in the middle of the last century have captured the world's

imaginations.

We're talking about Britain's SAS and SBS,

America's Delta Force,

the Israelis Sayrella McTalm,

just to name a few of them.

Week by week, we'll be looking at iconic SF operations

and describing the drama of these events,

but we'll also be asking what their actual military value is. Are they really the supermen they purport to be? And what is their

actual contribution to victory? Beyond that, we'll be pondering the whole ethos in these

outfits and trying to determine what the fascination we feel for them

tells us about our own societies. But let's start with a definition. What, Saul, would you say,

makes a military unit qualify for the badge of SF? Well, I think it's interesting to look at

NATO's definition, actually, Patrick. It's quite good.

It defines special operations, as sometimes known as special forces operations as, and I quote,

military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equipped forces

using unconventional techniques and modes of employment. So let's be a bit

more specific, shall we? I mean, in my view, I mean, if you look at the sort of the long-term

...