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

[Halb]

Mark.H said:

None of the SBS lads of our group even raised an eyebrow to the irish guys but everyone in our group was watching for one of them to snap... Id of paid to see the loudmouth gits thrown over the balcony into the marina before they knew what was happening.

Would they 'snap' though? I would have thought they were above that kind of thing, being highly trained professionals.
Just a Bond style judo chop in the right place and back to the drinks?

[98elise]

Zaxxon said:

drivin_me_nuts said:

O/T...

Do you miss being in the forces?

I used to, I don't so much now. I'm now a family guy and would not want to miss my daughter growing up.
I still keep in contact with mates and meet up for beers, sts and giggles etc. And remembrence day.
The money was st when I was in and we didn't really have a focus 91-98. After I left all hell kicked off.

I like to think that the baddies realised that it was then safe to kick off after I left the forces.

In reality I'm a war dodger

Same here, I joined in 82 (just after the falklands), and left just before the Gulf kicked off

I left for the same reasons as you, and still keep in touch with a couple of good mates (30 years later).

[Tadite]

When I was younger I lived in San Diego. If you went fishing over next to Coronado you'd see SEAL training from time to time. It's a military town so it's not all that rare. I was always fine to be sitting trying to catch a nice yellow tail then being thrown off a speed boat.

What I think we forget these days is just how many of these guys are in the Military. The SEALs are up to around 3,000. It's not like 30 years ago when you really did just have 3 or 4 teams and more importantly the old glass ceiling seems to be dropping away. In the old days you had to command a main line division, be a fighter pilot, or be the caption of a ship to move to the higher levels of the military. Now you're seeing special forces guys be promoted. I think it's the most radical change in military organization since WW2 the creation of a new organizational "tribe" is a big deal in military circles.

So who's better.... Well.... Thing is the US recruits from more people so has more overall talent, spends more money on training, and always has a step further you can go. So talent is always working to get to the next step. I'm not sure they're really comparable anymore. It's getting to the point that the US is going to have more special forces then some NATO armies.

[Zaxxon]

Tadite said:

So who's better.... Well.... Thing is the US recruits from more people so has more overall talent,

Err, beg to differ on that one mate.

Tadite said:

spends more money on training,

It's getting to the point that the US is going to have more special forces then some NATO armies.

Both of these points are true though, although it doesn't matter how many recruits that you put through training, if they do not meet a set standard they will either fail or you start relaxing your standards and overall quality deteriorates. If the MOD / Pentagon pumps in an extra few million into training, it wants to see results, so either a certain amount of recruits pass or the training teams are advised that they need to achieve targets somehow.

Tadite said:

So talent is always working to get to the next step.

Same as in all walks of life

Tadite said:

I'm not sure they're really comparable anymore.

If you had read the thread, you would see that this point has already been made for many reasons.

One other thing quantity does not mean quality, and never will do.
Money does help though.

Edited by Zaxxon on Tuesday 17th May 20:10

[physprof]

rodgerramjet said:

Got me thinking 'which is the best special forces or special ops squadron/unit?'.

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

TBH only met one in real..seemed decent enough and said little of what he'd done ...(which I would take to mean something)

but as O/P asked with clause...keyboard warriors - real life ...

[wendyg]

The corps that even the SAS are scared of.

[Zaxxon]

wendyg said:

The corps that even the SAS are scared of.

Don't forget the Royal Womens Army Ballon Corps! Even Catpain Slackbladder wasn't able to get in that Corps.

[Mark.H]

Halb said:

Would they 'snap' though? I would have thought they were above that kind of thing, being highly trained professionals.
Just a Bond style judo chop in the right place and back to the drinks?

Apparently not, one offered his services to the guy the irish were starting with, however it never got that far... was informed last night 4 more have arrived this week and that lad who played Harry Potter's Fijian bodyguard is in town (all ex-top squad SBS guys). Thats as much as they talk about it though, not that any of us would ask what they've done...its kind of an understanding that you dont ask that sort of thing, but if they talk about it, no problems.

[baldy1926]

I was called to a broken window to a shop in the early hours a few years back.
i found 4 guys running around like headless chickens-well 3 actually.The 4th was about to collapse.
He was missing a chunk of forearm muscle which he had left attached to the shop window. HE was losing blood fast none of the other 3 had done any first aid as they were running around panicking.
All arrested with 1 paying a visit to hospital.
About 2 hours later very smart chap in uniform turns and asks if eveything can be forgotten as they would be sent home very quickly.
All 4 were SEALS i dont think they could fight their way out of a very soggy paperbag.

[ErnestM]

baldy1926 said:

All 4 were SEALS i dont think they could fight their way out of a very soggy paperbag.

There are SEALs and then there is DEVGRU. There is a huge difference.

[slipstream 1985]

Man from UNCLE said:

Caulkhead said:

The raid force killed Bin Laden, his son and two couriers."

Everybody always blames the couriers.

you know how they eventually found osama right? he forgot to sign with a fake name.

[filski666]

Dunno about who is the "best" - as had been mentioned several times, depends what you mean by "best" - I doubt there is no team that is best at everything.


To clarify - "Spetsnaz" just means special forces in Russian.

"Spets" from Spetsialnogo (Special)
"Naz" from Naznachenija (purpose)

It doesn't refer to any particular unit. Even the Russian Militsija (Police) have SWAT equivalent which are "spetsnaz" called OMSN which are like an anti terrorist police unit - hardly comparible to SAS though.

Regardless of "best" I would put money on the Soviets being the hardest, meanest though, especially the Vympel lot. Unlike the KGB/FSB Alpha boys (the guys who did the Beslan siege and Moscow theatre) you would never have heard about the activities of Vympel as they were for covert deniable operations.

They may not be as well supplied with technology as the yanks or even the British (yeah, I know how that sounds, they must just have knives!) but in terms of desire to get stuck in I doubt they can be beaten.

[Castrol Craig]

Zaxxon said:

I never said anything against the SAS, however I don't know for sure but the SAS is made up from all units in the Army, not predominantly the Para's (aka. blokes who failed the Commando course ).

what a load of codswallop, P Company and Cmdo Course both have there strengths and weaknesses, but the core objectives pull in different directions, FWIW, i was posted to 7 RHA (16 AAB) AND 29 CMDO later on in my career and found both to be just as challenging, albeit in different ways. i also know plenty of serving guys in 'the regiment' and its various support services (sigs, meds, logs etc) and find the notion that they are all failed cmdo's a load of shoite.

that is all.

Edited by Castrol Craig on Thursday 19th May 07:36

[Zaxxon]

Castrol Craig said:

what a load of codswallop, P Company and Cmdo Course both have there strengths and weaknesses, but the core objectives pull in different directions, FWIW, i was posted to 7 RHA (16 AAB) AND 29 CMDO later on in my career and found both to be just as challenging, albeit in different ways. i also know plenty of serving guys in 'the regiment' and its various support services (sigs, meds, logs etc) and find the notion that they are all failed cmdo's a load of shoite.

that is all.

Edited by Castrol Craig on Thursday 19th May 07:36

Ahhhh seems like you must have missed the Banter training aquaint (week 7 if I remember correctly )
I've a few mates who wear maroon Craig, all good blokes and I have a lot of respect for them, doesn't stop me telling them that they have the wrong beret / pongo / etc etc.

By the way.....Stoner sux - also banter (there's a smiley to prove it.)

[mel]

slipstream 1985 said:

Man from UNCLE said:

Caulkhead said:

The raid force killed Bin Laden, his son and two couriers."

Everybody always blames the couriers.

you know how they eventually found osama right? he forgot to sign with a fake name.

I've just gone visual on the idea of the Fedex guy with the little PDA type thing that you sign with a stylus, they always thrust it at you to sign then ask your surname to type in. I can see the eastern european in a brown uniform "spell it" "L A D E N"

[Biker's Nemesis]

You'd never know who'd been in what or where by looking at them.

[Castrol Craig]

Zaxxon said:

Castrol Craig said:

what a load of codswallop, P Company and Cmdo Course both have there strengths and weaknesses, but the core objectives pull in different directions, FWIW, i was posted to 7 RHA (16 AAB) AND 29 CMDO later on in my career and found both to be just as challenging, albeit in different ways. i also know plenty of serving guys in 'the regiment' and its various support services (sigs, meds, logs etc) and find the notion that they are all failed cmdo's a load of shoite.

that is all.

Edited by Castrol Craig on Thursday 19th May 07:36

Ahhhh seems like you must have missed the Banter training aquaint (week 7 if I remember correctly )
I've a few mates who wear maroon Craig, all good blokes and I have a lot of respect for them, doesn't stop me telling them that they have the wrong beret / pongo / etc etc.

By the way.....Stoner sux - also banter (there's a smiley to prove it.)

ah yes, banter aquaint sorry but useless civvys sucking the life force out of me has sort of wained that particular training.

i miss it tbh, but i wouldnt have the wonderful family i have now if i had stayed in.