The Hereford establishment is self-contained and deliberately keeps its distance from the rest of the Armed Forces, to the extent that it has its own fleet of helicopters as well as specially adapted Hercules transport aircraft that are kept on permanent standby at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The regiment has its own budget, which it uses to acquire state-of-the-art surveillance and communications equipment, as well as the latest weaponry. Such is its determination to be self-sufficient that the SAS even trains its own German Shepherd tracker dogs, which are parachuted into hostile environments strapped to their trainers’ bodies.