Navy SEALS vs SAS vs SBS vs.....

Navy SEALS vs SAS vs SBS vs.....

Author
Discussion

rodgerramjet

Original Poster:

1,112 posts

219 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
Seeing more and more info on the U.S Navy SEALS in the recent news and it's made me think that they may well just be more usefull than Steven Segal's crap acting had made me believe. Got me thinking 'which is the best special forces or special ops squadron/unit?'.

SAS have historically been touted as the world's most elite unit, but more recently the SBS have come to the fore thanks to some popular books.

U.S. Navy SEALS must be a pretty tidy outfit, considering the size of the pool of people they can select from and their budget for tech/kit.

What about Spetznas? Those pesky Ruskies must have some pretty serious special ops teams too.

Putting all national pride aside, who do you keyborad warriors reckon would be the best real life special forces? Any other nominations?

jmorgan

36,010 posts

285 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
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You missed Chuck....

MadMullah

5,265 posts

194 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
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arent the israeli supposed to have a crack team at this?

mattviatura

2,996 posts

201 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
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Mumsnet.

kelk

955 posts

214 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
mattviatura said:
Mumsnet.
biggrin

I always wondered what Mossad translated to in English. Don't seem quite such the formiddable oppone.....oh hang on...

OdramaSwimLaden

1,971 posts

170 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
What handles better; a Saturn 5 rocket or a Space Shuttle?

......my point being that 99.99% of people have never seen, heard, smelt or touched any of the above and so I'll start off.

Der.....SAS; because they are British.

WreckedGecko

1,191 posts

202 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
My money would be on SBS, very very tough, nasty people.

Swiftly followed by SAS and then probably either SEALs or KSK or something similar.

Spetsnaz are supposed to be rather tasty, but I dont know enough to compare them properly.

Puggit

48,474 posts

249 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
OdramaSwimLaden said:
WDer.....SAS; because they are British.
So what are the SBS?

Jackleman

974 posts

167 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
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My money is also on the SBS boys, you hardly ever hear of them compared to the SAS.

I did hear one story of the SBS blokes being dropped in the north sea at night and then swimming a long way to then climb a heavily defended (SAS) oil installation and kicking the crap out of the SAS boys! How true that is I don't know.

Corsair7

20,911 posts

248 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
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[HarryHillMode=On]

Only one way to find out.....

[HarryHillMode=Off]

Corsair7

20,911 posts

248 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
According to thnews, SAS/SBS are having real recruitment issues right now, so maybe they are not up to full strength....? So less effective....?

james_tigerwoods

16,287 posts

198 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
My money's on those that you never hear about - You know, those that fall in to the category of "plausible deniability".... The "hardest" will be those that fall in to that legal grey area as they won't have any ROEs or accountability.

Or maybe that's a bit too "tin foil hat"...

Zaxxon

4,057 posts

161 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
Puggit said:
o what are the SBS?
The SBS are Swimmer Canoeists, they are recruited from within the Royal Marines so most SBS are former Royal Marine Commandos. The training is incredibly hard and the failure rate is very high, even though the guys that go through training are already at an amazing level of fitness/motivation and skill level.

However I think the lines between the SAS and SBS are more blurred than they were. Cross training, secondments, budget cuts etc.

I think the OP's question is like asking what is best, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani, Koenigsegg etc.

They are all very specialised in their own specific role, very highly trained and do things that don't always appear in the media.

Life Saab Itch

37,068 posts

189 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
Aren't the Navy Seals sort of the equivalent (in training, equipment and capability) as the Royal Marines. ie very good, but not as specialised as the SAS/SBS.

The SAS have their own specialities and the SBS have theirs. The SBS don't seem to have ex-personel selling their stories, therefore you don't hear about them. I don't think that you can read too much into this as to which service is better/harder.

Corsair7

20,911 posts

248 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
james_tigerwoods said:
My money's on those that you never hear about - You know, those that fall in to the category of "plausible deniability".... The "hardest" will be those that fall in to that legal grey area as they won't have any ROEs or accountability.

Or maybe that's a bit too "tin foil hat"...
Rainbow Six?

Puggit

48,474 posts

249 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
Zaxxon said:
Puggit said:
o what are the SBS?
The SBS are Swimmer Canoeists, they are recruited from within the Royal Marines so most SBS are former Royal Marine Commandos. The training is incredibly hard and the failure rate is very high, even though the guys that go through training are already at an amazing level of fitness/motivation and skill level.

However I think the lines between the SAS and SBS are more blurred than they were. Cross training, secondments, budget cuts etc.

I think the OP's question is like asking what is best, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani, Koenigsegg etc.

They are all very specialised in their own specific role, very highly trained and do things that don't always appear in the media.
I think 'British' would have sufficed wink

Caulkhead

4,938 posts

158 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
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RV8

1,570 posts

172 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
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Given the history of the region I'd have a guess that the Russians probably have the toughest. Russia is so vast selection would be from a generous pool, obviously many will have been active during various brutal conflicts on their own doorstep. The way Russian police deal with various criminal groups give some evidence that even the police are not to be messed with, let alone their special forces.

grumbledoak

31,545 posts

234 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
I don't think there is much between the various special forces. They are all extremely competent.

The SAS may be one of the weaker ones now; they have taken quite a pasting in Blair's wars.

james_tigerwoods

16,287 posts

198 months

Wednesday 4th May 2011
quotequote all
grumbledoak said:
The SAS may be one of the weaker ones now; they have taken quite a pasting in Blair's wars.
There's an interesting one - how have the Special Forces fared in the recent cuts?