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A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM JOHN HART AND THE FSSF ASSOCIATION.
May 1, 1949: On this date Canada must have an immediately deployable brigade for emergencies, should the Soviet invade from the north. This is dictated by the Basic Security Plan agreement between Canada and the United States. The SAS was too small for this and Canada needed to meet its obligation. The SAS was disbanded in order to create this larger force. The three platoons (RCR, R22R, PPCLI) were dispatched back to their parent regiments as instructional cadre for airborne operations as the Army worked to create the Mobile Striking Force to meet commitments in the U.S. / Canadian 1946 Basic Security Plan
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August 15, 1947: The Joint Air School (JAS) is established at Rivers, Manitoba. The central repository of information regarding airborne, special operations and air support tactics for SOF for both the Army and the RCAF. This was a ‘below the radar’ effort that veterans that saw the value in preserving the knowledge gained by SOF forces in World War II (FSSF and Airborne) and maintaining current knowledge of the state of the art of this type of capability. Spring 1947: A proposal submitted to form a Canadian Special Air Service company. It had to be sold to the leadership and packaged as a national asset that could be used for everything from search and rescue, firefighting, training and ‘aid to the civil power’ (crowd control, military law etc). It was made to look like anything but a commando force, which it most definitely was intended to be. January 9, 1948: National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) authorizes the new Canadian Special Air Service Company (Cdn SAS Coy). As soon as this happens, the real mission for the new unit becomes apparent. It is a special operations unit, emphasizing airborne operations, the preservation of commando techniques developed during the War, and tactical training. It is of company strength (125 men) drawn from the regular infantry regiments and led by Captain Guy D’Artois.
April 1, 1949: The Joint Air School is renamed, the Canadian Joint Air Training Centre (CJATC). The seed from which Canadian SOF would grow.
