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Oh yeah I see what you mean now: ‘to serve the confidential nature of his duties’- it does sound like it’s a sort of cover to make him sound like he was in the Navy when he was actually working for the Ministry of Defence. And then, slightly weirdly, they promoted him from that fake(ish) starting rank!
That’s amazing, I’d never noticed that before.
For those Aidan Turner fans..
This is kind of off topic now though :).
I actually think the obit fits with the Origin comic, doesn't it?
Sort of, yeah, when you put it that way. It depends on how far you want to stretch it with the obit and what artistic licence you allow.
But as we say, a Commander doesn't seem as likely to undergo that training as he'd be less of a man on the ground.
This is the description of a Commander in the US Navy, but they sound very close:
Commanders often serve as the captain of a small Navy vessel, such as a frigate, destroyer, or submarine. Commanders may also lead squadrons of aircraft, be placed in charge of a small shore mission, or serve on the staff of a senior officer aboard a large Naval vessel.
I would say if one of those is in the SBS then he's going to be senior staff leading the thing. Maybe he would, I don't know.
To get as far as Commander and then decide he just wants to be a soldier going around killing people seems a bit odd Fleming's version where he seems not to have earned the rank as proper RN officers do actually rings a bit truer.
What I mean is that he does the same training as the SAS to be considered a 00. Not that he does it when he is in the Navy but that he does it with the Special Forces. In other words, the training it takes to be a 00 is the same sort of training as that of the British Special Forces - so the same psych training, evade capture, torture and interrogation, as well as the same physical and weapons training.
So Bond is in the Navy as a Commander, then applies to Mi6 (or gets head hunted), and then has to undergo the same training as an SAS/SBS operative to be considered for 00 duty. (All as an offscreen back story, of course).
I guess, as I say though; it's a weird step back into being a grunt (which Bond basically is) for someone who has risen into the senior ranks to become a Commander. They're not the guys who pull the triggers, they order missiles to be fired.
Fleming's version of him taking a short cut to becoming a Commander whilst actually really working for the MoD makes it seem a bit more understandable.
I guess we need someone with a bit of experience! I doubt there's many SBS guys on this site though :D
British special forces are not grunts, though. They work in 4 man teams and are selected for their independence.
Either way, in my version, he doesn't work for the special forces. He just does the training so that he is equipped to be able to do the variety of missions that come along during his work for Mi6 in the 00 section. Hence why the 00s and the SAS are a match during the exercise at the start if TLD.
So the not-being-grunts thing doesn't apply then! :)
I'm talking about Bond as we see him in the films. He's very much the man on the ground pulling triggers- he's doing work which is rather below the purview of a Commander.
M is an Admiral (or a Lieutenant Colonel is you're a Mallory man): he could be making the tea, but actually he's the head of SIS.
Age suits him. He'd be better now.
Ah yes, The Suspect. Turner looks like a handsome bastard, still. All those women fawning over him in the comments and even a comment high up states "the next Bond". I can only agree with the ladies. They know best, per Dana Broccoli.
Ha. Fully agree.
The SAS and their Royal Marine counterpart the SBS are most definitely not 'soldiers', or grunts (for heaven's sake...) - they are operatives.
Those selected have, without fault, high IQ and EQ scores, are out-of-the-box thinking problem solvers, have insane endurance both cardiovascular (VO2-max) and muscle-endurance (lactic-acid tolerance) and are usually TYPE-A high achievers with a very high sense of duty and principle.
They are often non-conformists, but work well in structured teams driven by mutual respect and goal-orientation, rather than traditional (infantry-based) subservience and hierarchy.
IF 007 were a real person in the current time then there is no doubt he would have been put through the basic SAS or SBS requirements and probably have taken part in several real-world exercises before going solo.
No-one’s saying he won’t have done the training, it’s about whether someone who has achieved the rank of Commander would be going for that sort of role.
What rank do the operatives generally hold?
Lol, that’s my comment; I posted it to see the reaction.
I know, @AceHole. This is the point I was making.
Again, no-one is saying he wouldn't do the training to be a double-O, that's not what the point of contention is.
Noted.
I was merely reinforcing your point, dear fellow :-)
Whichever rank they reached in the Army (SAS) or R.Marines (which is part of the Royal Navy) (read: SBS) after being admitted.
SBS Command Structure
Whilst technically part of the Naval Service (Royal Marines and Navy) order of battle (ORBAT), the SBS comes under the umbrella of United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF), commanded by the Director Special Forces (DSF). UKSF is a directorate that combines several units under one command structure. The SBS, along with the British Army's 22nd Special Air Service (SAS) and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) are the so-called 'teir one' special forces. Tier one special forces are supported by the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG), 18(UKSF) signals and the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing (JSFAW).
The Special Boat Service is usually commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel with a Major as second in command.
Each SBS squadron is commanded by an Officer, usually a Royal Marines Major or Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander. Recent reports have stated that a lack of Officers from the Naval Service wishing to command SBS units has led to a number of SAS Officers being drafted in.
SBS Troops are usually commanded by a Captain.
https://www.eliteukforces.info/special-boat-service/organisation/
What kind of rank do the operatives generally hold? Around the level of Sergeant (for SAS) or much higher?
No worries, @AceHole, just making sure! Have a good day.
Thanks, I read that page too. So a Commander is rather over-ranked to even command a squadron then, let alone being at operative level.
Even if he's only doing the training to join SIS rather than actual UKSF it still seems a bit of a step-down for someone his rank. Unless we go with the version Fleming laid out and tailor it to a post-WW2 world.
Ha brilliant. There's a couple more as well, perhaps other members at mi6comm ;)
Anyhow, Bond was always portrayed as an idiosyncratic functional-psychopath by Ian Fleming (prob was one himself...), and wouldn't have cared for the cushy desk job that came with his naval rank anyway.
I even think Fleming wrote as much regarding the desk job thing, in either the CR or MR novels, if I recall correctly...?
They do need one, old buddy - but best they take someone who actually served in these elite units, rather than someone who only heard stories from an uncle :-)
My dad's brother was in the (first R.Marines, then) SBS for part of his military career, back when the Brits were fighting subversive wars in Yemen (Port of Aden etc) in the late 60's....