Special Forces training is just as arduous as SEAL training. The reason for the higher fail rate in SEALs is twofold primarily.
1) Special Forces recruits historically come from Ranger, Airborne and Infantry units, where they have already been exposed to some of the physical/mental toughening that they will encounter in SF Training.
Conversely, Naval SEAL recruits don’t have the “training ground” of units that will prepare recruits for the unbelievably tough training they will encounter in SEAL Training.
2) Although SF has swimming and scuba training, much of this happens in the Teams. In SEAL training, due to task niche, SEALs have much more endurance swimming and SCUBA which deselects people not familiar or comfortable with the water and underwater environment.
Needless to say, our Special Operations guys are the best in the world, especially with our technological advantages of time sensitive intel, entry and extraction and communication, command and control.
Yes, the Israelis, Germans and Brits are right up there...but I’ll take our guys any day of the week. I like the American fighting man and his creativity today and everyday.
All of the military Sec Ops (Army, Navy, Air Force & Marine) branches are tough as hell, and the entrance qualifications are pretty much the same for all. Those that can survive the cut, then then go on to their individual specialties, but none of them who are any tougher then the others. They are all tough, physically and mentally.