Which military force is most elite or best? (1 Viewer)

[Reginald Trent]

This crossed my mind while watching Black Hawk down.

Rangers, Seals, Green Berets, Delta Force?

Please add any that I may have omitted.

 

[Steve Enemark]

The Salvation Army

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

It's hard to say which is the best. They all are incredible and I am damn glad they are on our side. But, if I were to pick one...I would probably go with the Seals. Their training program is well documented and respected on its difficulty and weeding out of the lesser lions.

Bruce

 

[MartinTeller]

The Orkin Army.

 

[Richard Travale]

Whay are you guys just mentioning American groups? From what I have heard, the group that is the most elite are the British SAS. Having said that, the Navy Seals are probably the best trained as far as US Special Forces go.

 

[AllanN]

When you absolutely positively need something blown up in 24 hours NAVY SEALS!

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Well, you are mixing and matching, and being US-centric.
Rangers are elite troops, but not really special forces per se. Green Berets are. Then Delta Force is a whole other bird. Delta is probably superior to most SEALs, but maybe not SEAL TEAM SIX (Navy's version of Delta). I also have MAD respect for the USAF Helo pilots that insert these folks.
And you'd be better off leaving the US for the title: the SAS have been mentioned already. Certainly the benchmark all others have followed.
Don't forget the Aussies SAS either.
And they'd all get killed by the Mossad (who aren't even real special forces, more like intelligence)
Take care,
Chuck

 

[Rich Romero]

Your average marine can be badass too.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Buckaroo Bonzai's Blue Blade Strike Force.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

From what I hear, the Israeli army is pretty top-notch.
I know next to nothing about military stuff, but I just wanted to participate. :frowning:

 

[Garrett Lundy]

I'm gonna cast my vote for the former-reds. Russia's Spetznaz get my vote for most "elite" military group.
This is for ground troops of course. If your asking for the best air-force, I'd have to say the Israeli military. If you want big-ass tanks, I'll say the US Army. And for naval warfare, I think the US win's out on that one, maybe the soviet union did back in the day, but I'm not sure how they currently stand-up against us.

 

[Howard Williams]

From what I've heard it's either the USA's Delta Force or a special branch of the Swedish Army Soldiers, I can't remember their named but I think they do security for the Pope. Being assigned to guard the "Holy Father" is quite an endorsement.

 

[Patrick McCart]

The Vatican Marines.

 

[Mike Hutman]

G.I. Joe

 

[Brook K]

Howard, I believe it's the Swiss and not the Swedes who guard the Pope. The tradition goes back to the 14th or 15th century when the Swiss Pikemen were renowned throughout Europe as the best mercenary unit money could buy.

 

[Phill O]

I would have to tip my hat to the British SAS.
You don't hear alot about them. And there
isn't thirty TV shows about what they do
(that I know of). They keep there training
and operations under hat, better than most of
the US units. And it's the quiet ones
that you need to worry about.

 

[Maurice McCone]

Definately the British SAS.

It was the promise of putting the SAS into Iraq to hunt Scud missiles, that made the Israelis agree to keep out of the Gulf war.

From proven anti terrorism actions to conventional activities in the Falklands and now Afghanistan they have led the way, although a friend who was in the S.B.S. Special Boat service; simialr to the US SEALS, claims that their training is even tougher than the SAS.

It was a handful of SBS who liberated South Georgia in the Flaklands 20 years ago.

 

[Howard Williams]

Thanxxx. I meant Swiss. I can't beleive I said Swedish.

 

[Max Leung]

I think the Canadian naval forces are the best! When you need to take out an American carrier group hassle-free and on the cheap, just ask the Canucks to send in a couple of missile frigates and the job is DONE!
(The Canucks have done this a few times when playing real naval wargames with the Americans...the Canadians would lose nearly a dozen missile frigates, but the entire US carrier task force gets annihilated too! Nothing like hiding your frigates behind the task force supply tugs at night to ruin your day!. )

 

[Robert_Gaither]

I'd have to put my money on a Marine Recon Sniper (as in someone who won't even be close enough to retailiate and most likely you won't know what killed you even though you both are presented in pretty much equal situation) as these people are literally trained battlefield assassins and definitely is not someone I'd want to stalk me (Carlos Hathcock ring a bell?).

The average (notice the word "average") marine isn't that tough imho, I used to roll some at bar when I was underage (that includes other forces as well). I think some people over rate the hand to hand combat of people in the military based on conditioning (I lifted weights two years in HS and was a weight-lifting proctor to boot not including the martial arts I took as a youth) and the few moves taught in boot camp. Of course you won't see me take them on in any type of gun fight for sure (two of my friends from the marines and one from the army are a blast when we go to the gun range, and very competitive) as they are pretty well trained in this.

The SAS, Moussad, and the other special forces are pretty tough SOBs and only a fool would really want to fight any of them but don't forget part of what wins a fight is support, resources, and intelligence with all this being simply that maybe favorable conditions or getting a drop on one will maybe be all the difference (training and experience might be mout since to make it at this level indicates that most likely these conditions are met).