Special Forces - who's the best?

Originally posted by Luke.S
They should change the full name of the SAS to Scottish armed service since most of them are Scots

Yeah thats because of the Scots having the honorable history of having the oldest regiment in the world, The Black Watch Which made them seasoned, experienced Soldiers anywhere in the world.

"Nemo me impune lacessit"




[edit on 7-12-2009 by Epsillion70]

[edit on 7-12-2009 by Epsillion70]

reply to post by sealteamsix


Seal: The book is called brotherhood of warriors by Aaron Cohen. Hope you enjoy it if you read it. I am hooked on it and have trouble putting it down.

Originally posted by EastCoastKid

Originally posted by funlovincriminal
Hi there.
I was wondering what everyone's views were on the best special forces units on earth eg. SAS, SEALS, Spetznatz. I'm not a military man myself and would be interested to see what you all thought about who has the best training, weapons, gadgets etc.
I only know a little about the SAS - they seem highly organised, tough and adaptable, yet I'm not sure their equipment is as advanced as that of the SEALS, for instance.
What do you all think?

They each have their own unique mission, basically. If you're a hostage, for example, you would want Delta Force to storm in and break you out.
Need an underwater explosive put in place? CAll the SEALS. Wanna go in and capture a warlord? Call in the Rangers..
Need a good sniper team? Call the Marines.

[Edited on 19-09-2003 by EastCoastKid]

lol whoa, wait a minute. we needed to capture a warlord in mogadishu 1993, we called in the rangers, and not only did they not get the warlord, they were defeated and messed up real good. i wouldnt put any american SF as the best cause they cant capture bin laden, zawahiri, mullah omar or any other big wig in afghanistan. might as well tack on british SAS too and any other allied SF in afghanistan for that matter.

Originally posted by EastCoastKid

Originally posted by funlovincriminal
Hi there.
I was wondering what everyone's views were on the best special forces units on earth eg. SAS, SEALS, Spetznatz. I'm not a military man myself and would be interested to see what you all thought about who has the best training, weapons, gadgets etc.
I only know a little about the SAS - they seem highly organised, tough and adaptable, yet I'm not sure their equipment is as advanced as that of the SEALS, for instance.
What do you all think?

They each have their own unique mission, basically. If you're a hostage, for example, you would want Delta Force to storm in and break you out.
Need an underwater explosive put in place? CAll the SEALS. Wanna go in and capture a warlord? Call in the Rangers..
Need a good sniper team? Call the Marines.

[Edited on 19-09-2003 by EastCoastKid]

The marines just won the "best sniper competition" vs the army, for the 1st time in 9 years...


Deebo

Originally posted by fritz

Originally posted by hurst85 Come one face it our SAS forces are the best.

Yes, I believe they most certainly are.

Especially when 125 of them took on 10,000 heavily armed 'terrorists' in a land far, far away, in a forgotten war.

Not exactly sure where you got the 10,000 figure from, but that is highly inflated.

The Selous Scouts did the bulk of the work and most of the "taking out" not the Rhodesian SAS. PAMWE CHETE.

The Selous Scouts numbered only about 1,500 men at peak strength, yet according to a Combined Operations statement, they inflicted 68 percent of the nationalist guerilla fatalities between 1973 and 1980

Originally posted by TheCoffinman

lol whoa, wait a minute. we needed to capture a warlord in mogadishu 1993, we called in the rangers, and not only did they not get the warlord, they were defeated and messed up real good. i wouldnt put any american SF as the best cause they cant capture bin laden, zawahiri, mullah omar or any other big wig in afghanistan. might as well tack on british SAS too and any other allied SF in afghanistan for that matter.

Well that might be the mission of the US and Brit SF but the Australian SASR is tasked with hunting down and killing the Taliban. A job with which they are highly efficient at. They should have had the SASR hunting Bin Laden in the first place.

I was in the service for five years. I was part of a training evolution that the seals were doing on our base. It was headed by none other than Marcinko. I met him briefly and he was a commander at the time. Already been busted. He stayed in the officers club all the time while his underlings actually did the training. It was just basic tactics stuff. Auxiliary Security Force I believe they called it. We all got certificates after the training. I wasn't too impressed with them though.

I did do a lot of training with the Marines. Just straight up grunts in Quantico. They impressed me. We did patrols where the Marines were the aggressors. We got the drop on them now and then but most of the time the Marines nailed us to the wall.

One cool training exercise we did was called operation Kennel Bear. On the island of Tinian. Nothing but runways and woods. We came in on c-130's with the Marine expeditionary force. They were the aggressors and we were tasked with maintaining a perimeter and runway. It was really cool. We did a live night fire exercise with them. Let me tell you, I trully believe that the tactics and aggressiveness of those forces are unmatched anywhere. I cannot imagine a special forces team beyond what I witnessed. I am convinced that no one can match them. Maybe I am being biased because I have not been exposed to other forces but I am telling you, they are wickedly efficient and deadly serious.

If they weren't special forces then they should have been declared special forces.

Originally posted by mad scientist

Originally posted by TheCoffinman

lol whoa, wait a minute. we needed to capture a warlord in mogadishu 1993, we called in the rangers, and not only did they not get the warlord, they were defeated and messed up real good. i wouldnt put any american SF as the best cause they cant capture bin laden, zawahiri, mullah omar or any other big wig in afghanistan. might as well tack on british SAS too and any other allied SF in afghanistan for that matter.

Well that might be the mission of the US and Brit SF but the Australian SASR is tasked with hunting down and killing the Taliban. A job with which they are highly efficient at. They should have had the SASR hunting Bin Laden in the first place.

Believe me, I know first-hand that the US Special Forces are good at hunting down high up members of the Taliban (and other terrorist cells). And I'm sure the SAS are great at it as well. And I doubt finding Bin Laden has anything to do with the quality of SFs that were sent to get him, but more the massive loads of information and misinformation that the CIA and other agencies had to work through.

reply to post by jackflap


I saw a group of US marines get the ever-loving poop beaten out of them by a smaller group of skinny Mexican waiters in Tijuana. Hardly special forces material They kicked off, the waiters simply removed their belts, beat the poop out of them, physically threw the marines out the front door, replaced the tables, chairs and table cloths, bought everyone some beers, and went on with their night. All while the marines were lying in the street complaining. Hilarious.

reply to post by davesidious


Now that is funny. I too have seen Marines get their butts kicked. I don't mean that they are the end all in regards to street fighting and stuff. I just witnessed some very professional soldiers doing their job extremely well. I don't know that much about the special forces and I'm sure they are taught well enough to not let a bunch of Mexican waiters kick their butts.

I was reading through the thread and got all nostalgic and thought I'd share that little bit of info with everyone. A couple of good friends of mine went on to Buds and washed out. I know it is no joke to be accepted into the special forces. I didn't mean to compare the two in a negative light.

I did get a look at the Scout Sniper school. Very cool. When I was in Washington we did our qualifying in Quantico. With whatever Battalion was qualifying at that time. I got used to shooting from three hundred yards prone during their evolutions. So when I got to a normal Battalion and had to qualify, two hundred yards was a breeze. I always got expert and had the useless medal to worry about on my dress uniforms!

For the record, most Marines aren't SF qualified. So, to say they got their asses kicked is a silly point. Everyone has seen less physically impressive people kick the crap out of giant guys, nothing special, it happens.

However, I must say the Marine Scout snipers are DAMN good at what they do. They are by far some of the best shots in the military.

I'm going to be naive and just base my choice on my home team, SEALs. I may not be a supporter of every war and the indulges that our government love doing with our soldiers, but i'm a 100% supporter of our suited and booted men.

This is all just sounding like... "One Big pissing contest!"
Invariably you will find that all Military outfits have there good days with good INTEL leading the way. And then you have bad days with bad INTEL and some bad higher ups who dont give a "Rats arse" and give "gawd damn" bad decisions who make you drop in on "Hot" LZ's etc etc.

I think I'm going for the Gurkas. They're born as special forces.

It depends on what scenario. You could judge them based on the capabilities of the unit. In that case I would say it would be between Delta Force and DEVGRU.

This argument gets old fast. Anyone from any country that has a fully staffed, equipped, and financed Special Forces unit should be taken seriously. The issue is most of your lamen can only go by what they read about, see on tv, or watch in the movies. They have NO experiance with or true factual knowledge of these types of units.

Bottom line, whether it be DevGroup, Delta, SAS, GSG9, etc... if your on the target side of any of these teams your in a bad way. These guys don't worry about who's the best..they simply train to be the best. They leave the bickering and BS to those who have never, and will never be a part of it...

Originally posted by rcwj1975
Bottom line, whether it be DevGroup, Delta, SAS, GSG9, etc... if your on the target side of any of these teams your in a bad way. These guys don't worry about who's the best..they simply train to be the best. They leave the bickering and BS to those who have never, and will never be a part of it...

Well said.

I think that about sums it up...

reply to post by sealteamsix


I agree but isn't that just a little too harsh? I mean don't we all like to root for our favorite team? It's a matter of opinion really. In a tight spot I would welcome the assistance of any special forces group. Just knowing that someone cares to send the very best makes me all warm inside. You hear me...

SAS are not Britain's best special force as seems to be the general thought on this thread, the SBS have longer and harsher training and also being the elite force I imagine they get all kinds of tech before anybody else.

Originally posted by metamagic
I think I'm going for the Gurkas. They're born as special forces.

I was asking a recently retired Sargent major who served in Afghanistan this question, since he worked with special forces in a supporting role.

This man had 25 years in military experience so I valued his opinion, he said he was only scared of one group, The Gurkas, absolutely deadly with a those knives. They ran ops where they were coming in from quite distance and they kept calling out 500 meters, 250 meters, and so on. Finally they couldn't find them so they stood up, within knife throwing range. And they were looking for them with binoculars. Sneaky little guys that are the most stealthy is what makes them so deadly.