The Special Rescue Detachment is a company-sized special forces unit under the direct jurisdiction of the European Council. Their main role is that of deep insertion into Red Zones (areas of existing human resistance without self-sufficient capability) to seek out and gather survivors for extraction. A multi-national unit, the SRD draws most of it's members from volunteers mostly from the member nations of the European Union.
Origin
During the initial periods of the global outbreaks, the British royal family and main figures of the British Parliament were evacuated to secret bunkers, and currently most of them remain there.
6 months after the start of global outbreaks, a meeting at the bunker was scheduled among the member states of the EU, of which the primary goal was to discuss plans of dealing with the outbreaks, and reclaiming lost territories. The day before the meetings, the Queen of England, unable to sleep, decided to watch the news. She would watch a report about a hamlet named Whitehall, about the valiant yet futile efforts of it's townsfolk to defend their homes, culminating in one final prayer from the local minister before the hamlet was over-run. The report would have a profound effect on the Queen, and she would spend the rest of the night sleepless.
Before the meetings would end the next day, a request was brought up before the council; the Queen of England wished to address the Heads of States of the EU. Her request was granted, and the Queen took the podium, and spoke to the council. She requested that the EU form a special unit of trained personnel that would specialize in rescuing survivors from being over-run. Although by royal prerogatives, the Queen possessed the ability to form such a unit within the British Armed Forces, she reasoned that to do so would limit such unit to operations within Britain alone. A unit under the EU would have autonomy to operate within the Union. When asked ask to why having such a unit would be beneficial to the EU, the Queen listed 3 reasons:
1) To show the general populace that their governments have not forgotten about them, building much-needed public support.
2) To ensure as wide a work force is available once outbreaks have been controlled, and reconstruction efforts begin.
3) Having units on the ground inside the infected areas would provide insight into the situation within such areas, information which would be necessary once reclamation began.
After a general discussion, voting was cast, and the council voted in favor of establishment of the SRD (the official unit designation would only be given later on).
Structure
The SRD answers directly to the European council, and is led by a commanding officer, currently Lieutenant-Colonel Craig Stuart of the British Army. The personnel of the SRD are all volunteers, and are selected by the CO. Missions are given to the SRD by the council, which screens through requests from individual nations (member or non-member).
The SRD comprises of 5 squadrons, each consisting of eight men led by an officer. Deployment strength normally consists of just one squadron per mission, but is dependent on the size of the objective. Deployment methods vary, as the SRD possesses no air assets of it's own; nations where the area of operations are located in are tasked with providing the SRD with all necessary air assets.
Squadrons are led by an officer, of which rank varies due to the multi-national nature of the unit. The second in command is the senior NCO of the squadron. Each member of the squadron is also tasked with a specialist role, of which consists two engineers, a signaler, two medics, a scout sniper, a vehicle operator and two support gunners.
Operation
Mission span varies according to the size of the area of operations, and situation on the ground. Missions that occur within areas where survivors are gathered in one general location (resistance ongoing, also known as status ROG, or by SRD operators as a Green Op) are normally concluded within 2-3 days, although occasionally circumstances force the extraction time back a day or two.
When the mission calls for Search and then Rescue (resistance over-run, also known as status ROR, or by SRD operators as a Red Op), the time allotment is substantially increased, giving the squadron the necessary time to secure scattered survivors, and escort them to a predetermined safe point to await extraction at the end of the allotted mission time. In scenarios when a status ROG mission is at risk of going into status ROR, all remaining mission time is cut, and extraction is immediately called in. As extraction arrives at a fixed time and location for status ROR missions, squadrons conclude all search efforts at least 6 hours before extraction time. If at extraction time, no one is present at the extraction point, choppers will hover over the area for 30 minutes, at minimum, and leave if nobody shows up.
All SRD operators are trained to detect signs of infection with minimal contact, to allow them to screen all survivors. They are authorized to refuse extraction to anyone infected with the virus, but are prohibited from killing infected persons who have yet to re-animate, even at the request of the victim.
Operators are also qualified instructors, and quite often are required to teach survivors how to defend themselves, or other tasks such as first aid, repair-work, etc. This is done to facilitate their work, freeing them up from tasks that would divert their attention from their main objectives.
Due to their nature as a Rescue unit, SRD operators are equipped with only small arms, and are discouraged from engaging the infected needlessly. They only engage and kill infected that prevent them from accomplishing their objectives, or for self defense. This is to conserve ammunition in case of the mission going awry, and to minimize noise which would draw more infected to the area.
It is the decision of the on-site commander, which would be the squadron commander, or his second in command should the squadron commander be unable to lead, as to the procurement and use of vehicles on-site. Noise and exhaust from vehicles attract the infected, but their use is necessary when travel on foot is too risky, or time-consuming. There have been reports of SRD operators modifying civilian vehicles with 'anti-infected' upgrades, including but not limited to spiked armor, wheel blades, gun ports and a dozer blade. Although SRD regulations do not technically restrict such modifications, an European Council member has been quoted as to saying that SRD operators should refrain from improper use of civilian property. There has been no official reply from the SRD on the use of modified civilian vehicles.
Did 3 designs for a conceptual next generation SMG/sub-machine gun, or more popularly referred to nowadays as PDW/personal defense weapon.
