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The Press and the SAS |
The British Government and the MOD were quite determined
that British involvement in Oman received as little
publicity as possible. Britain had left Aden rather
hastily in 1967 and its presence in the gulf had almost
entirely been wound down by 1971. There were a small
number of RAF personnel scattered about largely at
Masirah island and RAF Salalah. The MOD were
anxious not to identify them as combat troops but as
support and logistic personnel.
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That did not quite explain the role of the SAS who were
roaming the jebel taking an interest in anything and
everything that went on.
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The MOD came up with the notion of calling them BATT or
British Army Training Team. As such of course they would
not be involved in any combat and any injuries they
sustained would have been as a consequence of road
traffic accidents or negligent discharges certainly not
because they had stepped on an adoo mine or intercepted
a bullet from an AK-47 |
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A scrawled note at the back of my diary indicated that
casualty reports should be minimal and give little away. |
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The MOD had addressed the question of British
involvement in Dhofar in January following some
earlier revelations in the press in October and November
1971 when they had got wind of the fact that two members
of the SAS had been killed.
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The first to be killed was Sgt Steve Moores who was hit
in the abdomen by an adoo bullet on the 8th of October
near Tawi Atair. He was not killed outright and was
casevaced to the FST where his condition was stabilised
prior to urgently needed more sophisticated surgery in a
major centre. On the casevac flight out the aircaft
encountered violent turbulence, his condition
deteriorated and he
died after admission to hospital in
Dubai.
The newspapers would
probably hear a whisper of what had happened and the
MOD prepared for this. |
MOD Reaction |
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An immediate reaction was to modify the way in which
casualties were to be reported - NOTICAS -which allowed
the absolute minimum of information to leak out. Boards
of Enquiry would not be held and letters giving more
details would not be forthcoming. |
"NOTICAS" |
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There was of course still the problem of how to deal
with the press and what to say to them. |
"Press Q&A" |
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In November Tpr Loid was shot whilst on the eastern part
of the jebel on Op Jaguar. He sustained severe head and
shoulder wounds and was
casevaced to the FST where he
died. There were now two sets of questions that the
press might pose. |
"Moores and Loid" |
"Casevac Protocols
to ensure secrecy" |
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