Special Forces - who's the best?

Australian SASR are as good as any of the top units and in some roles exceed the capabilities of these units. The fact that the SASR isn't in the public eye very much is because they din't have members putting out books every couple of weeks and prefer to remain very low key.

When Three Squadron rotated in during April, Adam says they achieved extraordinary feats of reconnaissance - at one stage astounding the Americans with detailed pictures of weapons being smuggled across the border in a trailer being towed by a red tractor. Even the hard-to-impress British SAS were stunned by Three Squadron's patrols, says one trooper. "The Poms could only last four days. We managed seven without resupply on the first patrol,'' he says.

www.time.com...

just to get folks ideas on the type of special forces I havent SEEN any posts on the U.S Air Force Air Commandos not that there aren't any posts iam just saying i havent seen any so lets spark conversation on them for a bit please only cause i find them extremely interesting

If your looking for U.S.A.F. Special Forces, check out "Pararescue" & Combat Control"
www.pararescue.com...

As far as the best SpecOp team is....well, they all are good!! They all cross train, most of the physical is the same regardless of what group you choose.

But my answer would have to be, Three Letter Alphabet group Black Teams, you know them CIA, NSA, and unheard of gov'mnt groups.......... They go through our special forces teams a recruit only the best, its the same as building a SF team, you recruit from the best people you have.

a reply to: Doc Holiday

Well said..

One of the reasons America is so good is because they have so many people to choose from and so much money to spend on training and equipment ,which augments our SF troops greatly.
As to individuals I think it's the SAS/ANZAC SAS who are the same ...collective(?)

a reply to: funlovincriminal

I am ashamed as an American to say this, but I think the SAS are.

I may be wrong. I dont know jack about this.

Which one uses only one man who can shut # down worldwide in one move, prepare for the next move, gather Intel, and bring the enemy straight to him just In time to have eliminated every and all opportunity they ever had for victory. Who has that guy.

Do special forces go to special school,in Australia if your special your 'different'....having visions of the first mongoloid shock troop abseiling from helicopters....no disrespect meant to servicemen....as for the real world SBS UK,then SASR Australia/NZ,then US navy seals As for the British SAS yes they're good but as my Irish friend outlined yesterday they got quite a few scares from the IRA and didn't always win,such deaths I believe are called training accidents.

originally posted by: Godthief
Which one uses only one man who can shut # down worldwide in one move, prepare for the next move, gather Intel, and bring the enemy straight to him just In time to have eliminated every and all opportunity they ever had for victory. Who has that guy.

I think I read about this guy in a Clive Cussler novel

originally posted by: khnum

originally posted by: Godthief
Which one uses only one man who can shut # down worldwide in one move, prepare for the next move, gather Intel, and bring the enemy straight to him just In time to have eliminated every and all opportunity they ever had for victory. Who has that guy.

I think I read about this guy in a Clive Cussler novel

funny how that works. Any man who brings his own life to the table on the behalf of his people most of which he doesn't even know personally has done the greatest thing a man can do. When you say if ananyone of us is going to die its going to be me you deserve the respect of every living thing in existence.

originally posted by: khnum
...as for the real world SBS UK,then SASR Australia/NZ,then US navy seals As for the British SAS yes they're good but as my Irish friend outlined yesterday they got quite a few scares from the IRA and didn't always win,such deaths I believe are called training accidents.

Ah, you got this from an Irish friend. So no bias there whatsoever. The SAS and all other troops in NI were restricted by VERY tight rules of engagement. Admittedly they may have been bent a few times, but they were adhered to mostly, and were the only thing that prevented the mass killing of terrorists. The IRA were not restricted, but still almost always came off second when faced with UKSF elements in the province (SAS were not the only UKSF troops in theatre but had the highest number by far).

Britain acknowledge the deaths of special forces servicemen in operational theatres. There are several documented SAS deaths in NI. The whole training accident thing is very American. The only time it may happen is if they are in a theatre we're not supposed to be in which wasn't the case in NI.

SF are only as good as the individuals who serve. And very often some teams are a lot better than others.. the SAS or US Seal Teams. It all Depends on how they are used and where.

The problem most SF unites face are poor candidates. Each year candidates get weaker and weaker. And the demand is that candidates now have to enter pre- prep cources to get them fit for selections.

Many candidates are muscle strong. But as soon as they get a back pack on their sholders, and have to walk and tend for them selves. Their world seams to fall apart and all sorts of problems appear. This is becomming more and more time consuming for SF unites who have to Select candidates from selections.

The nations who have the highest standard of SF candidates are Russia, China, North korea and the France legion at present time. The reason for this is based on their living standard. These candidates are used to a much harder livingstandard than for Instant the US and UK. These candidates can be pushed harder making the quality of their training much more efficient.

Its all about what you have to work With after selections. After 22 to 25 weeks.
I have seen 50 year olds out preform 27 year olds in a three week hell cource.

SF selection these days is a much more scientific process than it used to be. Previously as long as you could thrash yourself around the hills and stay out of the DS bad books you would be OK. The physical selection process now also looks at things like flexibility etc as well as strength, and sports scientists, physios etc are intigrated into the selecyion ant training process. This knocks out many of the meat heads who are physically strong but have no flexibility. Technical aptitude is also important. SF work is much more technical than it used to be, so the super fit but thick as s#@$ people are weeded out.

If you look at places like Russia etc the need for big, strong lads who can punish their bodies is placed high on the requirements list. Actual technical intelligence is less if a requirement. Thus is due to their tactical employment of SF assets. This does not mean that this is wrong, based on differing tactical doctorine.

a reply to: PaddyInf


This is the section which is called past selections. It is when you pass selections you have to prove whats between you ears.

Initial selections is about the individuals will and loyalty to do as he is told.

Each selection have Three individual trials divided into 7 weeks. In each trail you have to prove that you have learned the tasks. You can only fail once, if you fail twice Your out.

The initial selection lasts about two to Three weeks. This is the stage which the main candidates enter the SF selection course of about 22 weeks.
The least motivated candidates are out of the selection cource at this stage.

The actions of Army SF are invisible.

originally posted by: onequestion
The actions of Army SF are invisible.

The once you never hear about are the best individuals. SAS and Seal are not the best.

a reply to: spy66

I don't know which selection process you are referring to, however SAS selection is 6 months long. All SAS candidates are already serving soldiers with at least 2 years time in post. Prior to starting selection there are information and sort packages during which initial suitability is established.

The first month of actual selection is hills, then there is jungle selection, SERE, weapons and continuation (loads of technical stuff in there). The recruit can be RTU'd at any time. Even on the hills (arguably the least technical stage) the recruit is being tested on their aptitude and navigation skills, as well as their ability to choose the most efficient routes across rough ground while working alone and carrying ever increasing weights under time limitations which they are not told. Jungle stage is even more physically and mentally taxing due to the environment and continuous tactics training with long patrols. The recruit is being observed at all times during all of this and is under extreme pressure at all times, only finding out if they were successful at the end of this stage. By the time weapons and SERE are complete there are usually no more than about 8 guys left from a typical starting number of around 120. This is before even starting continuation. There have been selections in the past where there have been no successful candidates as no one met the standard.

originally posted by: spy66

originally posted by: onequestion
The actions of Army SF are invisible.

The once you never hear about are the best individuals. SAS and Seal are not the best.

That's because they do the real intelligence gathering for the rest of the military.

They are educated in culture and language for years specifically to embed themselves in the region and collect intelligence. It's real recon.

They get balls deep and get recruited into elite units for intelligence agencies afterwords or become 1%ers.