Who is the baddest of the bad? SEALs, Rangers, Marines, ?

[ConservativeDude]

Who is the baddes of all our special forces? Rangers? SEALs? Other?

[ConservativeDude]

You freepers are always so knowledgable and delightfully opinionated about these sorts of things, so, I must know: which of the special forces are the baddest? Please explain your opinion. Also, is there a Marine equivalent to special ops? Or is it right to say that all Marines are special ops?

[exnavy]

bump for later read.

[Blood of Tyrants]

IMO, the SEALS have the toughest, most intensive training, and in such a variety of fields, that they are undoubtedly the best of the best.

[ClearCase_guy]

Well, "Rangers lead the way!" But on the other hand, during the Black Hawk Down trouble in Somalia, the main force consisted of Army Rangers who (understandably) were frozen with fear and unable to decide how to complete their mission. Then the Delta Force guys would come up, slap the Rangers on the shoulder and say, "Follow me!"

Delta Force guys were scary -- even to the Rangers.

[b fair]

The Marine spec ops would be either Force Recon or their Sniper/Recon teams.

My personal favorite is the Air Force Air Commandos.
Who else can you get to fly an MC-130 a zero altitude on a dark rainy night to the middle of a battle field?

[yarddog]

Well based on personal experience, I can whip 10 Seals, a dozen Marines and 10 Rangers. Not all at once tho.

Getting back to reality, I once saw an interview on TV of French Foreign Legion veteran who had been in a few fights. It always stuck in my mind that he said there wasn't a lot of difference between the various "elite" troops.

The Navy Seals certainly have the worlds best publicity people tho.

[Renfield]

If the criterion used is, who has caused the most destruction while sustaining the least casualties, I'd have to vote for Janet Reno's Justice Department.

[Lee Heggy]

I'd say Seals due to their training but in combat there are always suprises and our fighting men are pound for pound the most lethal in the history of the world. Any one of them regardless of their branch could rise to the occassion.

[CholeraJoe]

It really depend on what needs to be done. Rangers and Marines destroy things and capture territory. Seals infiltrate from the sea. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) organize indigenous forces for resistance. AF Special Ops insert, extract and support other Special operators and control the air-ground interface.

[MassExodus]

I dunno which branch of the military has the toughest operators, but I think Terry Tate is pretty rugged!

[LibWhacker]

The ones we haven't heard of.

[cynicom]

The baddest is the man that will fight you to the death in a foxhole. Training or military group does not transcend the fight for survival.

[The Duke]

With all else being equal I would have to give it to the Seals - due simply to the nature of their mission - which is one of "unconventional warfare".

[CholeraJoe]

that they are undoubtedly the best of the best.

And these guys are the best of the best of the best:

[dts32041]

My mother when PO'ed.

[CyberCowboy777]

From what I understand Seals will drop in from carrier based aircraft.

I'll have to ask my buddy an ex-Seal and my Father a Navy man who has known a few Seals.

I do not think they are limited to Sea insertions or water based missions.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

I would say, after a long study of history, the toughest guy in the world is a well informed, free man who's life is interrupted by some ass from another country. The most decorated man in the US Military during WWII was a little guy from west Texas with no special training. He came through not once or twice but time after time.

[pinetree]

I vote for the CIA special ops. Many of the pictures of scruffy looking Americans with camo'd M-4's in Afghanistan are CIA not Delta.

cheers,
tjg

[Benrand]

I believe the British Royal Marines go through the toughest training. Some scary stuff. But I guess tough would mean being inserted in the sh*t frequently, it would have to be Delta or of course, the IDF special forces.

[SJSAMPLE]

It has been said, by the founder and editor of "Soldier of Fortune" that "such things are better debated by cooks and mechanics." The fact that we have such men is enough for me.

[PISANO]

All PATRIOTS, ALL BAD, ALL OURS. However, I am slightly partial...........SEALS!

[CaptRon]

The Navy Seals certainly have the worlds best publicity people tho.

This was not always so and was more thrust upon them than sought. Back in the early '70s, the SEALS were a close kept secret. One of my training officers told us that the US would even disavow their existence if they were caught.

We squids always thought it was the Marines who had the best PR department!

[yarddog]

I pretty much agree with you but he wasn't from West Texas, it was I think Kaufman County which is East of Dallas.

[p. henry]

Indian Princesses. I once retained them to attack the campsite of a friend at Joshua Tree National Monument, and they did an awesome job.

[amused]

The USA Network settled this argument last spring with "Combat Wars". Suprisingly, a member of the Miami SWAT won.

I hope they do that show again and I was heartened to see on of the participants(a SEAL) race against a chimpanzee in Fox's latest cultural offering "Man vs. Beast".

[JeeperFreeper]

It's a bit of comparing apples to oranges. The small recon teams, Seal, Force Recon, etc, most of the time, consist of six man teams inserting for reconnaisance, prisoner snatches, marking targets etc. Six men, mind you. They are to go in and leave without being found.
The Marines and ( and I presume the Rangers) on the other hand, go in mass, stay and hammer the enemy with everything in the arsenal.

[blackdog]

Gherkas, or Gherka's or however you spell it. Nasty, nasty little bastards.

[joey'smom]

I just checked with Jesse Ventura and he says definitely the Seals.

[AzSteven]

Baddest man in the military - p*ssed off armory sergeant after a platoon of newbies do their first live-fire qualification with HIS weapons, and then demonstrate their inability to properly handle, maintain or hand over said weapons. I witenssed that once, and truely feared for the lives of the new guys.

[b fair]

Very good call. It all depends on what the mission is.
Didn't the military form a centralized Spec op command a few years ago to coordinate the the operations of the various teams?

[GoAhead-Make My Day]

The SEALS, because they're the most like the British SAS, who the baddest of all baddies.

[CyberCowboy777]

"such things are better debated by cooks and mechanics."

and keyboard jockeys.

[blackdog]

Dinsdale Piranah, of the Piranah brothers. Sussex, England

[Fred Mertz]

One day, God was bored. He was checking out the world when he noticed some Rangers in a Zodiac, conducting a training mission on the Chattahoochee River.

God Listened in:

"Hooah, hooah, hooah..." was what he heard with each pull of the boat paddles.

"Hmmm..." God thought, "I wonder what would happen to those determined Rangers if I took 1/4 of their brains away?"

A flash of lightening and "ZAP"....

The Rangers shook their heads, looked at each other and then went back to paddling, "Hooah, hooah, hooah."

"Well," God thought, "that didn't seem to have much of an effect on them...I wonder what would happen if I took 1/2 of their brains away?"

Another flash of lightening and "ZAP"...

The Rangers shook their heads, looked at each other and then went back to paddling, "Hooah, hooah, hooah."

"Wow," God thought, "that didn't seem to have much of an effect on them either...I wonder what would happen if I took ALL of their brains away?"

Two flashes of lightening and "ZAP! ZAP!"...

The Rangers shook their heads, looked at each other and then went back to paddling, "From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli..."

[Doctor Stochastic]

It's really hard to make such blanket distinctions in that the missions are different. For example (at least some years ago), the Marines carried more heavy weapons and automatic weapons than did the Army. On the other hand, the Army was more heterogenously constructed. Up to a brigade level, unit for unit, the Marines could whip the Army. At the division level, the Army would win because the Army got more artillery at that level. (Of course, special groups could be assembled for unique operations.)

It's like asking, which is more deadly, a grenade or a machine gun.

[fifteendogs]

The meanest and baddest killers of all are the WOD warriors. They will kill anybody just for the fun of it.

[arm958]

I vote for the CIA special ops. Many of the pictures of scruffy looking Americans with camo'd M-4's in Afghanistan are CIA not Delta.

Yeah, but almost all (if not all) of those guys were in the service before they signed on with the Agency.

[SamAdams76]

Having been a Marine, I am biased. But let me say that ALL our special forces are going to play an important role in ridding this world of terrorists. I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of any of them!

[Billthedrill]

Dunno...the SEALS, Delta, Force Recon, Rangers, etc, are pretty tough hombres but even they wouldn't want to get between Rosie and the last eclair in the box.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Well truth be told it's Kingston in Hunt County, but I quess that would be north Texas.

[CCWoody]

Please, no contest. The Marines make it a habit of ringing the bell. Only the best of the applicants make it. I'm not even sure if the Rangers are allowed to try.

[biblewonk]

Rangers!

[JoeSixPack1]

To be fair about it, I will let you decide.

My answer. 2nd Anglico Marines. Or just any Anglico Marine. Disbanded 1998. (I'm prejudiced because i was one 73-75! :-)) But now I'm fat, ugly and can't walk much.

http://www.anglicoassociation.org/anghstory.htm

Semper Fi

[ameribbean expat]

I'd heard the same thing in the army: "What's a marine rifle squad?" "ten grunts and a photographer."

I'm partial to the Rangers, but they're all tough and smart. I look at the digitized battlefield and wonder how many COs will use the technology to micromanage firefights. At least all we had were radios and could check out of the net. On more than one occassion the RTO said "Uh, sorry 6 but you're coming in broken and stupid."

[Destructor]

"IMO, the SEALS have the toughest, most intensive training, and in such a variety of fields, that they are undoubtedly the best of the best."

You've been watching too many movies!

[b fair]

"The Marines and ( and I presume the Rangers) on the other hand, go in mass, stay and hammer the enemy with everything in the arsenal"

Don't forget the Army Lurps team. Six men

[CholeraJoe]

Didn't the military form a centralized Spec op command a few years ago to coordinate the the operations of the various teams?

They did. U.S. Special Operations Command

Not much info, sorry.

[dighton]

... or however you spell it.

Gurkhas.

[Zathras]

I always thought the best was the Brits SAS.
"Who Dares Wins"

[yarddog]

I have no idea which group is the best but one thing I recall reading makes me think it probably is troops who have been in actualy combat for a long period of time.

I was reading Cornelius Ryan's book on the fall of Berlin and there was one scene in which the German genius Heinrici who was in charge of the defense of Berling, was meeting with Hitler, Goering, and all the other top Nazi's. It turned out that there was even at that late time a fairly large number of elite troops from the Luftwaffe and several other outfits. These troops had been trained extensively for various missions, however Heinrici said they would be of almost no use to him as it took nearly a year in combat to make a really useful soldier.