Most Elite Special Forces Unit in the World

Though I’ve never served in the military partly due to the fact that I am a type 1 diabetic. I have always had an interest in the military and all things war related. From what I have studied and researched of special forces units around the world; it is actually my opinion that Canada’s JTF2 is the most elite; and no bias intended as I am Canadian. Any ex-special forces members with an opinion on this?

 

Never heard of them, and I say that as a ten year veteran, an Airforce hitch and a Navy hitch, and a lifelong interest in military history. My money for "best" is a toss-up between Navy SEALs, British SAS and Israeli SpecOps.

 

To be honest, you'd really never know which is best because most of their missions are classified, sometimes to protect them and their families. I suppose you could just go by some of the training, the parts we hear about, and we don't hear all of it, and that training is on-going...it never stops. Totally different from regular military. I will say this, they are well funded for training and they sure as hell use those funds. Hell, my SF buddy was a medic, what the civilians now call a Physican Assistant (PA), and he was always off to school. What really pissed me off is when he got to go to the Berg Fuhrer course that the German Alpine Corp put on down in Garmish. I hiked up to the hut they were staying at on the weekends to drink beer with them and do a few climbs. Believe it or not, the Germans had helicopters bring beer up to the hut, it sort of made it onto the aircraft on one of the scheduled trips.

No, I wasn't SF but I did work with them on numerous occasions (all services) throughout my career, had numerous climbing buddies in 10th Group at Panzer Kaserne (Böblingen, Germany), and also party with them in Afghanistan in the early days. I actually enjoyed working with them as made my job a lot easier. Why? Mission first, smarter, and no military BS if it didn't make sense. Man-oh-man! Some stories I could tell...frankly, you wouldn't believe some of them but they're true even the crazy ones. LOL!

EDIT: Yeah, I never worked with the Canadians SF units either...never met any now that I think about it. Germans, Poles, and Brits are the only SF foreign units I ever worked with and one didn't work much with them even then for the obvious reason. Ask @Ura-Ki as he was one of those PJ nutcases with the SOW (Special Operation Wing). Those guys were always part of something and they would support numerous foreign ops when required.

 

I would say they are doing at least one thing right if no one has ever heard of them.

 

I wouldn't discount a Gurkha.

 

The Cajun Navy kicks some ass everyday of the week and twice on Sundays
Swimswithgators

 

Melbo's in the background no doubt

 

Joint Task Force 2 - Wikipedia
Here’s some information about JTF2

 

Mission vs training is a huge factor to judge.

The best agile counterterrorism unit is rarely the best assault group for combining with other similar units in large numbers with cohesiveness.

The best long range recon types aren't the best trainers of indigenous forces.

Some have certainly combined multiple facets of modern warfare but a focused group shouldn't be ruled out if the mission is exactly in that focus area.

Throw in variable levels of experienced leadership unit to unit and it seems it could be a tad hazy on who is the best at anything that may come up.

My experience is limited. US Army elites units and SAS is about it. The Seals I knew were well trained pups going through Airborne School. That's pretty early in a career of badassery.

I welcome watching the discussion.

 

@Yard Dart "that defines the unit with the best skill set for the mission. They are all excellently trained and proficient...in their environment and mission scope. "
This hits the nail on the head. You can't say one is better than the other as they are trained for different specialties, different operations.

"...but I do have a hammer in my preference...Ranger Batt."
I would go with that also. They are the meat and potatoes guys, the best light infantry in the world...and that is saying something.

 

It totally depends on the mission at hand

 

I have worked alongside some of the US SF groups, Delta guys scared the hell out of me.

 

I traded Punches, Insults, and Beers with the finest in the world, and wouldn't cast shade on any of um, and THAT'S saying something!. Like others have said, depends on the mission. I spent a LOT of time working with S.F. as well as with the Coasties, you NEVER hear anything about them and what they do, those boys got their shit wired tight. As far as the most elite, it used to be the Brit SAS Special Air Services, those guys were at the very top of the pile, every bit the equal to the Navy S.E.A.L's, but with out the cool toys an unlimited budgets, today they are a leaner and meaner force, and I would say, every bit the masters of everything they had to be, despite all the restraints on them now! German GSG9 are some pretty serious Dudes, as are the French Foreign Legion, but again, budgets and support have neutered them.
For American Forces, Yea, us P.J.s would kick your ass, bandage you up, and ship you to the hospital after, but it's all mission specific, we just had to be good at EVERYTHING, cause even the SEALs might call 911, and who gonna go get them and get them out in the middle of a mission someplace we ain't supposed to be, doing things we wouldn't wanna answer questions about, and all that!
Like I said, Not gonna throw shade on any of the JSOC dudes, ALL are good at what they do, I seen it first hand, and that includes the Canuks up north too!

 

I used to see guys walking around the barracks in UDT shorts and high top sneakers with beards and long hair. Sometimes they'd have suppressed MP5's under their arms. I learned not to ask questions and never to judge a book by its' cover.

 

During my Navy ship's deployment in 1983, we had a group of guys on board for a two week period when we were tasked with guarding the Sultan of Oman's private yacht while it was in the Med. No joke. This group of guys were in civvies, had longish hair, kept to themselves, practically lived in our tiny workout room, and had Pelican cases packed with all manner of nice dangerous toys. A couple times, we'd see them practicing launching their rubber raft and jump off the ship, run out a ways, return and climb aboard... then rinse and repeat. Navy SEALs though we were officially told these were "civilian contractors, don't mess with them!" Yeah, okay. They kept to themselves in the crews mess, were very closed-mouthed.

 

Lots of folks mentioned DELTA, and here's the deal, Delta is NOT made up solely of U.S. Army personal, it's Ran by the Army, but they draw from throughout the U.S Special Operations Community! I have seen it first hand, you have teams made up of members from the Air Force, Marines, Navy, and Army ( even Coasties, but I never met any), and if you wish to apply for and are accepted through Selection, you get discharged from your respective branch ( Except the Marines, they have a death grip on their dudes souls), and re-enlisted in the Army at the equivalent rank you left in your prior service, ( Warrant Officers bump up to full rank) So I could have separated from the Air Force, and re enlisted in the Army, maintaining my Rank of S.C.M.S 2nd, rank remaining the same as the Army (CMC-1), or elevated to the Warrant Officer program as a W.O.1or 2 and then sent to a team to train for one of the three main operations regiments. As such, my past training and experience would then be used by the teams for what ever specific mission set they found most useful, which would generally see me doing the exact same mission, while wearing a different uniform. Other guys would have a much different perspective, like the SEALs, their mission set would bring a vastly different set of skills to the table, and that's the whole point, bringing THAT level of training from across the board and blending it into one small force makes for an extremely effective force, one that has no equal anywhere else in the world! This was the Army's finest achievement, putting this together to make the worlds most deadly team of special operations members, and putting them under one unified command under one roof!
Outside of that, you also have JSOC ( Which I was part of) which is Joint Special Operations Command, and that mission brings the full tool box of ALL special Operations under one roof and one command, so if a mission drops, JSOC selects it's teams based on requirements, with out any bias, and send them where ever they are needed, while having the full weight and support of the larger JSOC teams behind them, including Delta! It's pretty cool to see it all working like it was set up to do, and I had a ton of fun being a part of that and getting to hang out with Jolly Green Giants, with their war paint on, even got to join a few ops as the needs arose, though cannot share any of those stories, lets just say they were most epic!

 

Girl Scouts. They overcome all resistance within a second and you willingly buy cookies you shouldn't eat for a price you should not be willing to pay. To top it off you walk away feeling happy and wondering if you can eat an entire box of Samoas on the way home so you can hide the evidence before you open the front door.