Who has the best Special Forces ?

SAS soldier cited for battling 20 Iraqi troops

An SAS soldier who almost single-handedly fought off 20 Iraqi special forces troops in a fierce battle to capture a missile site was yesterday awarded the medal of gallantry by the Prime Minister, John Howard.

Presented at a ceremony in Perth to coincide with the arrival of Australia's special forces contingent to Iraq, it was the first citation for the 2000 Australian personnel involved in the war against Iraq.

Trooper X - a machine-gunner from the 1st SAS regiment, whose identity cannot be revealed - used the brute force of the latest weaponry and precision sniper fire to protect his patrol from numerically superior enemy forces.

The SAS patrol, typically a team of six in two heavily armed long-range patrol vehicles, came under heavy fire in the western Iraqi desert as it approached a military command and control post.

Standing exposed at the back of one of the vehicles and "disregarding his own safety", Trooper X first unleashed a Javelin shoulder-held anti-tank missile at one of two Iraqi vehicles pursuing the SAS, quickly disabling it.

Trooper X then fired off machine-gun rounds against scattering Iraqi troops before launching a second Javelin missile at the other vehicle, hitting it with full force. Spying remnant Iraqi forces setting up a mortar, Trooper X pulled out his rifle and, with his first rounds, hit the base of the mortar tube, exploding it in the face of the Iraqi combatants.

"Disregarded his own safety . . . Trooper X
is congratulated by Mr Howard. Photo: ADF"

EDIT: LOL, He's crushing Howard's hand!!

[edit on 8-10-2004 by cargo]

It all comes down to the mission.

If it involves water, the SEALs are the best.

If it is counter terrorism, I'd say that Delta and SAS are probably the best.

If you want to scare the living crap out of some warlord, I'd put my money on the Russian Spetznaz (spl?). You gotta love a group that is allowed to mail a head in a box to people to scare them.

On a side note, I know a few SEALs - they are the real deal. I would NEVER bet against them. One of them is a good friend from highschool - the guy is like 6' 4" 230LBS, was an INSANE swimmer (to the point where he trained with a guy who recently won a few gold medals in Athens), knows both spanish and french, and is working on Arabic. As far as shooting goes, I haven't shot with him in over a year, but last time we did, he was unbelievable at the 100 yard range with my AR-15.

Is that all they can muster Cargo? Just 20?

Our Deltas were taking 50 enemy for everyone lost in the mogue.

[edit on 8-10-2004 by American Mad Man]

Originally posted by American Mad Man
Is that all they can muster Cargo? Just 20?

Our Deltas were taking 50 enemy for everyone lost in the mogue.

[edit on 8-10-2004 by American Mad Man]

the ASAS didn't have anyone in the morgue. Therefore ASAS ratio of enemy killed would be far superior.

U haven�t heard about the Finnish special Jaegers or Paratroop Jaegers...When i was army even cooks laughed at seal team ...not any fence or anything but we just heard that they had these piece of cake marches etc which they bragged during soldier games etc (where different countries compete about marksmanskill and stuff)..And the Speznazis aren�t so elite u might think..ok russia have veru rough training (minimum 2 years and constant beating up) but that doesn�t mean they would have hard boiled troops...

Originally posted by mad scientist

Originally posted by American Mad Man
Is that all they can muster Cargo? Just 20?

Our Deltas were taking 50 enemy for everyone lost in the mogue.

[edit on 8-10-2004 by American Mad Man]

the ASAS didn't have anyone in the morgue. Therefore ASAS ratio of enemy killed would be far superior.

Add to that saving American soldier's lives in Afghanistan and I'd say they are worth more admiration than you give them.

Originally posted by mad scientist

Originally posted by Ezekial
The barrier test for the Australian SAS is a peice of piss. I could do it everyday when I was in the military. As for Commandos (aus) - no good, you can get in directly from a civvie.

What are you talking about, did you try and qualify for the SAS did you ? What Army unit did you serve in ? I have heard that the ASAS qualification is harder than the Brecan Beacons.

I was in the RAAF originally (as a number of people here know), but I also served in the ARA in RAEME Corps (not a Corps regularly thought of to be 'fit'). I take great offence that people accuse me of not being in the Military. By Barrier test, it refers to the test before you are even allowed to apply. I don't know about the actual training period, but I know it is hard. My old Corporal was a sniper with the ASAS.

Oh, and I agree that the Brecan Beacons can be hard, but if you know the trails it isn't that hard if you can naturally tab.

I would say that the British SAS and the American Navy SEALS are the best.
However, the SEALS have a basic 8 week course of just physical training to pass before they even start to train you as a SEAL. The 5th week is called "Hell Week" in which you have a maximum of 4 hours of sleep in one week starting from sunday ending on saturday. YOu have to run, swim in the ocean, calisteisha, obstacle courses, etc. YOur always moving and always wet and cold.

Training in the cold water is brutal, a SEAl trainee is always wet, cold, and running on beach sand. Which is brutal to run for. Does anyone know what being cold does to you. It makes you delirous, your muscles always ache, you start to see things, and worst of all it HURTS.

I have the utmost respect for the SAS, however, it just seems that running up and down a mountain doesn't really compare to SEAL training. SEALS are considered the most physically fit military personal in the world, hands down. ANY seal can complete the "selection" but i can't say any SAS can make it through the first 8 weeks of seal training. Overall SEAL training takes 25 weeks, and it still goes on once you make it on a team.

To finish the training you have to swim 5 miles in the ocean, run 25 miles than complete the obstacle course. ALL of it is timed. Have you ever try swimming in the ocean when its cold, its brutal than have sand in your shorts when your running.

Here is a link to a description of SEAL training. It looks a little tougher than running up some mountains. One thing that I want to point out is even after the the "basic phase" is completed the physical training never stops. It just gets harder and harder. Here is a link to SEAL training to read the description yourself.. Again, I have nothing but the utmost respect for the SAS, however, when it comes to training, nothing comes close to swims in 58 degree Farhenheit water for miles in the ocean followed by brutal calisthenics than running in the soft sand for miles, this is day after day after day. During BUD/S training, the student is wet and sandy for most of the six months

www.navyseals.com...

readed the link..must say i thought it would be tougher..but i presume it will get to that point after the 8 weeks of pretraining...but diving 50 yards and swimming few miles isn�t really so big deal...most armies have those 1 week constantly moving without food/sleep trainings as every soldier..not just some seal team dudes who r supposed to be usa elites...but just my opinions..haven�t been seal so can�t really say..

" Didn' t the Brits send their nastiest and meanest to Australia back in the convict days "

No they didn't, they sent their strongest and toughest. The English needed a whole lot of v. strong and tough men to carve a country out from scratch.

They used any excuse available at the time. You stole a loaf of bread and you were young and built like bull - off you went.

Originally posted by quiver

"

Didn' t the Brits send their nastiest and meanest to Australia back in the convict days

"

No they didn't, they sent their strongest and toughest. The English needed a whole lot of v. strong and tough men to carve a country out from scratch.

They used any excuse available at the time. You stole a loaf of bread and you were young and built like bull - off you went.

It was a joke

Don't really know alot of armies that go an entire week without sleep. I mean 5 days and 5 nights of constrantly running,swimming, cali, suft torture, always being cold, and wet. WIth just 2 hours of sleep. I dont know any armies that do that. I mean there are no breaks, its 120 hours of continuous training on less than two hours of sleep

If there is a regular army that does that for their basic training, I would like to know. SEAL training is brutal. It takes over 30 months to train a Navy SEAL to the point at which he will be ready for deployment.

Did you read about how the water temperatures usually hover around 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 C), and never go above 68 degrees F (20 C).
Take a cold shower, then step outside and run 5 miles through the soft sand and carry 300 pound log with other guys and perform situps with them and run with them and than go back into the water and repeat this every day.

This is pretty hard to decide. For counter-terror my moneys on British SAS, Australian SAS, and US Delta Force. For amphibious stuff I would say US Navy SEALs. Of course the USMC and British Royal Marines are technically special forces. If you want paratroopers I'll go with Isreal. But if you just want to slaughter everything in sight without fail go with Russian Spetsnaz. Spetsnaz might not be your best choice when hostages are in the area but they'll show no mercy to the terrorists at least.

I would have to say Delta...since 9/11 Delta has begun recruiting from other international special forces to add to thier ranks. Take the best from all over the world and put them into an american special ops unit....can't beat em.

Originally posted by Fastmover01
I would have to say Delta...since 9/11 Delta has begun recruiting from other international special forces to add to thier ranks. Take the best from all over the world and put them into an american special ops unit....can't beat em.

Do you have a link to this?

My reasoning is that the US probably WOULD NOT hire out of country based strictly on the security issue of allowing forigners in your most elite top secret SF unit.

Again - I'd like to say that it depends on the mission. SEALs are the best if you have any water involved. If it is CQB, then D boys and SAS will probably take the job.

And like it was said - if you just want to slaughter a bunch of people, send the Ruskies in.

Originally posted by Daystar
Top four counter-terrorist units in the world

1: British SAS (and before any right wing Yanks start bitchin' we handled the IRA for a longer period than any war they were involved in)

2: GSG9 These Germans are tough customers. cant remember where but they freed a plane load of hostages without any major gliches
3: GIGN. Some Americans may not like this but the french have fought succesfully against many terrorist groups inc. Algerian seperatists, Action Directe, etc
4: Italian 'Leatherheads'. succesfully rescued General J Dozier from the Brigatte Rossi (red brigades) and have been instrumental in the war against the Rossi

SEALS and Delta may be good but come on, its mostly (MOSTLY but not quite) their technology that gives them the edge

Why do you compare the GSG9 with military units????

GSG9 is civil,

the military special force of germany is the "KSK" (commando special forces), not the GSG-9 (Border protection group 9)

www.bragg.army.mil

It was posted on this site in thier news..it appears twice a year they hold recruiting worldwide for Delta.

I think the best special forces belogn to countries such as Israel.

Many people seem to think that if it sounds cool, had movies about it, and it appears in the media as classified and very elite unit, then its the best unit in the world.

Well, you might not find any movies or some awsome description of super-hard training, but Israeli units such as MATKAL (which belongs to the intelligence branch), Shaldag (which belongs to the air force), S13 (sort of like SEALs) and YAMAM are among the best SF units in the whole world. Sometimes each unit goes on 5 operations per week, most of those operations are classified, and about 99.9% of them are successfull (because when its not, soldiers die, and the media usually publishes that).

Many military and CT specialists around the world consider Israel as a leading country in CT tactics and the use of special forces. Our units also have joint training exersises with the american SF units, and I heard that soon this might happen with russian too.

Originally posted by Wodan

Why do you compare the GSG9 with military units????

GSG9 is civil,

the military special force of germany is the "KSK" (commando special forces), not the GSG-9 (Border protection group 9)

Well GSG-9 is still a very capable force. Despite the fact that they are civil they are still comparable with most other special forces. They perform quite admirablly in hostage situations. Look at that incident were they cleared an airplane in I think the capital of Somalia.

Over all my favorite is Spetsnaz because of how they just don't take crap from terrorists. Isreali paratroopers are quite possibly the most capable special forces at what they do.