An element of American military brainwashing?

[Hader]

Hey guys,

I was just surfing around the internet and came across this description on Urbandictionary concerning the US Navy SEALS;

"simply are the badest military group in the world. Delta Force and SAS simply do not compare. Delta is an ARMY branch, meaning they are not NAVY, and SAS is brittish, meaning they don't match up to AMERICAN levels."

Ingoring the horrific grammar and racist slight here, I think the author is somewhat blinkered.
Simply because the SAS are British means they are immediately disqualified from being the best military group in the world? Despite the fact that the SEALS train with methods developed by the British SAS and Commandos during the Second World War? Despite the fact that their training and selection processes are nowhere near as tough or gruelling as those used by the SAS? (NOTE: the author's name was "Navy SEAL in future")

This, for me, shows that there is a certain amount of brainwashing on the "America is the greatest" and "Democracy 4 eva" fronts. The US special forces seem to be so blinkered that it's impossible for them to see the wider picture. For this, I refer to both the case of Linda Norgrove (the lady killed by her US rescuers) and Pfc Josh Abblar (the "We brought democracy to Iraq!" guy). Look them up if you don't know them - I'm not gonna waste space here.

Such a level of blinkered-ness is what makes me feel that US forces should actually be ranked pretty low on the grand scale of things, behind the British, Israelis and French special forces at least. I would be willing to throw the Spetznas and Norwegian Special Operations units in there too. It just seems to ensure that Amercian soldiers aren't as disciplined, calm and professional and are of the attitude that every one of them is a whirling, paramilitary, death machine.

I'll try my best to sum it up in one sentence; to my mind, US special forces seem to treat war more like Call of Duty than a real-life combat situation.

Now I've re-read what I've put and I can tell someone is going to get riled. This is the way of things. I probably could have phrased certain sections better, or just not said one or two things. I know it could seem like I'm just trying to make the US special forces look bad, but I assure you I'm not. (Covering my ass in case any US soldiers happen to glance at this) So apologies if anyone feels offended.

Heh, maybe it should say SEALs can't match up to SAS standards? Hell, SEALs and SAS are great units either way. To throw nationality into the mix is pointless. I respect the SAS just as much as I do the SEALs, the French Foreign Legion, Spetznaz, Green Berets...etc. The differences in name and combat role shouldn't matter when comparing their usefulness. In the end, I respect any soldier of any caliber or nationality for the shit they have to go through.

 

[Hader]

Spec ops are determined by what they specialize in, SEALS are underwater demolition experts who can also engage in combat effectively. Isralei Commandos are the best at counter-terrorism and combat but I don't here much about midnight beach insertions. SAS is highly trained in urban combat and counter terrorism as well. This is why different branches from around the world train together (learn combat tactics in Israel, learn to navigate in rough surf while strapping C4 to a boat in BUDS, learn to clear a room with hostages from SAS, etc).

Basically, saying any one is better then the other is kind of silly, it depends on what needs to be done (similar to why there are different military branches). Why not ask if a Top Gun Ace is as good as a Force Recon sniper? They're different!

And honestly, at that level it's splitting hairs deciding who's better. Any person from any of those groups could kill any of us anytime they felt like it, and probably not get caught either.

Would you want to fight a SEAL, a Commando, an SAS or a Spesnatz? It doesn't really matter, if you did the results would be exactly the same.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I wouldn't like my odds against any single one of em, assuming of course they are out to kill me

 

[Hader]

Double post, please delete

 

[Smagmuck_]

I can see this as trolling. The Special Forces of the country you listed above are not stupid. They're down right amazing. The SEALs are fantastic as are the US Marines FORECON, the SAS or the GSG-9. All of those guys you wouldn't want to fuck with, even if they were off the clock. But in all seriousness, it's just a troll, an IGNORANT one at that.

 

[Mcface]

I think he's trolling, and you shouldn't take him seriously. I know that America certainly does not have the best Army in the world, nor the best special ops.

We spend 10x the amount of money on our military than the country in second. We do, by far, have the best military in the world, and the most battle tested Super Power in the world. Special Forces are arguable, but none of us really know how good the guys really are. DELTA still doesn't even exist, according to the Army, so there is a ton of shit we don't know about them -AND- the SAS.

But standard conventional army, the US has the best army. And yes, I am from the US, but i also research and am very interested in military from all countries.

 

[demoman_chaos]

The US army is among the best, or at least the one with the most toys to play around with. The US has faced off against most major military powers and came out on top. The Brits, Germans, and even the French (Quasi Wars, it was a all naval war during the 1800's that was started because the French kept attacking US trade ships and ended after the French started losing a lot of theirs).

But every major military power has struggled with rebels who do not fight int he standard manner. The Romans had trouble with the barbarians, for example.

 

[lacktheknack]

I think he's trolling, and you shouldn't take him seriously. I know that America certainly does not have the best Army in the world, nor the best special ops.

If I was trolling, I wouldn't try to apologise so profusely in the last paragraph...

You missed the point entirely. I wasn't trying to settle who the best soldiers are, I was trying to highlight that US troops seem to have their priorities a little skewed.

o <-- Point

O
/|\ <-- You
/.\

He was calling the UrbanDictionary guy a troll.

 

[Eggsnham]

-Le Snippity-

A couple things, one:

He's a stupid kid who doesn't know shit, should you really be getting mad?

And Two:

There's really no comparing men and women who have been trained to the extreme conditions that modern special forces groups have.

We can speculate and argue, but when it comes down to the end, they're all super tough and hard to keep up with.

 

[EinTheCorgi]

Pft everyone knows that the Israeli "classified" are the most bad ass because we know almost nothing about them.

 

[Hader]

But every major military power has struggled with rebels who do not fight int he standard manner. The Romans had trouble with the barbarians, for example.

They also had plenty of trouble with like...everyone. They eventually came out on top, yes, but Carthage, for example, humiliated the Romans numerous times (mostly at the hands of Hannibal) and that only stopped because the Romans threw more men at him with a commander who tried slightly less bigoted tactics.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Ignorance is bliss, as they say. It's the internet, OP, I'd advise not to believe everything you hear. Depending on the situation, the SAS, Spetsnaz, or SEALs could be better or worse than each other, could all exceed, or could all get in each other's way, preventing any actual mission from taking place.

Besides, they're all inferior to the Costa Rican "MWBS", the "Men With Bananas and Shovels".

 

[Hexador]

That's not racism, that's nationalism. Unless you think "British" or "European" is a race.

Besides, it's urban dictionary, who cares?

 

[Hazzaslagga]

America is one of the most patriotic countries out there (from what i've seen) and so there will be a larger percentage saying 'woot my countries the best at everything'. please note the percentage is still fairly small.

 

[Redratson]

In a way I can see where you are coming from, and gj covering your ass lets see them trolls get you now XD,

Well, at least I got that bit right...
Now I just need to learn how to type what my brain is thinking...!
-.-

trust me in dude time you will learn one way or another.

What's "dude time"....?

my bad Xl

meant to say "trust me dude in time you will learn...."

typo's happen one way or another.

 

[Lilani]

Yeah, I know - it was just the fact that this guy was a hopeful SEAL.
That worried me a tad.

Hyperbole is the language of the Internet. It's no big deal, it happens all the time.

In any case, I don't see how pride for your country is a bad thing. To be in those serious sorts of military divisions, you need absolute faith in your division and your country. If you're the sort of person who says things like "Well, we're good and all, but we don't compare to the SAS in a couple of ways" then they don't want you. It's "We are the BEST" or die.

The thinking behind it is if you doubt what your company can do, then you're as good as dead. They don't want doubters, or even realistic thinkers. They want individuals who never settle for less, and always strive to be the best. It doesn't matter if they actually are--they just can't ever doubt that there is anything they can't do.

 

[DuctTapeJedi]

"simply are the badest military group in the world. Delta Force and SAS simply do not compare. Delta is an ARMY branch, meaning they are not NAVY, and SAS is brittish, meaning they don't match up to AMERICAN levels."

Ingoring the horrific grammar and racist slight here, I think the author is somewhat blinkered.

I don't think it's racist, as much as it is unbearably ethnocentric. American Caucasian, an and British Caucasian are pretty much the same.

However I do agree with your main point, while I do have pride in my country's military, the rate of badassery is more or less consistent from country to country.

 

[archvile93]

It's Urban dictionary, dude.

Look, here's what it says about my name; Jonas.

"Life its self, also the new god."

Yeah, I know - it was just the fact that this guy was a hopeful SEAL.
That worried me a tad.

That doesn't mean he is one, and with that attitude he never will be. By the way, how do you know the recruitment process for navy SEALs anyway?

 

[Techmech]

Everyone knows the greatest military force in the world is Team America!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJaT-txakK8&feature=related