Special operations forces
are the most highly disciplined, mission-capable,
and formidable units in the world.
They go through rigorous selection processes and training
in order to conduct unconventional warfare tasks
that are beyond the means of standard military forces.
The truth is, the world may never know
exactly what these teams have accomplished,
but their public records contain enough
to earn global respect.
In no particular order, these are 10 lethal
special operations units from around the world.
Number 10, China's Snow Leopard Commando Unit.
Formerly known as the Snow Wolf Commando Unit,
named for the tenacity of arctic wolves and their ability
to survive in harsh conditions,
this is a specops unit of the People's Republic of China.
At their inception, they spent five years training
in secret to conduct counter-terrorism,
riot control, anti-hijacking, and bomb disposal
for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
They've trained alongside Russian special task force units
during joint anti-terror exercises with the primary mission
of maintaining peace and stability.
The unit prides itself on the speed
and accuracy of their marksmanship,
their strength and stamina,
and their spirit of self-sacrifice.
Each recruit must serve in the People's Armed Police
for one to two years before undergoing
physical and psychological tests.
Perhaps where they excel the most is in martial arts
and close quarter battles,
but their sniper squadron shouldn't be discounted.
Moving on, the next group made the news when one
of their operators drowned an ISIS terrorist in a puddle.
Yeah, let's talk about number nine,
Britain's Special Boat Service.
"Not by strength, by guile" is the motto
of the Royal Navy's Special Boat Service,
one of the United Kingdom's most secretive
and elite military units.
The SBS is the UK's equivalent of the US Navy SEALs.
The selection process for the elite team
has a 90% failure rate and includes a grueling
four week endurance test that grows increasingly
more challenging and concludes with a 40 kilometer march,
that's 24.8 miles for my fellow Yankees, in under 20 hours.
And that's just Stage Two of training.
Graduates will master weapons handling, jungle training,
complex fighting, and combat survival
before they are officially inducted into the elite unit.
Born out of World War II, today the SBS remains
one of the most well-respected units in the world.
Since 9/11, the Special Boat Service has been deployed
against Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban,
as well as rescue missions around the globe,
including Sierra Leone and Libya.
Number eight on our list is the Polish GROM,
which is an acronym that loosely translates
to the Group for Operational Maneuvering Response.
More poignantly, however, 'grom' means 'thunder' in Polish.
It's a unit that can trace its lineage
to the exiled Polish paratroopers of World War II
known as The Silent Unseen.
315 men and one woman trained for months in Great Britain
before jumping into occupied Poland
to oppose the Nazi hold there.
In 1990, the GROM unit was organized after Operation Bridge,
a mission to help Soviet Jews enter Israel.
Intelligence reports indicated a significant Hezbollah
threat in the area of operations,
so the elite counter-terrorist force was approved.
It remained a secret from the public until 1994,
when they deployed to Haiti for Operation Restore Democracy.
GROM performs rescue operations, including hostage recovery,
as well as counterinsurgency missions.
They have extensive weapons and medical expertise
and a variety of military disciplines,
including parachuting, amphibious insertion, diving,
pyrotechnics, and vehicle handling.
Whether fighting terrorists or war criminals,
GROM more than lives up to its name.
Number seven: The Special Services Group in Pakistan.
Business Insider reported that training
for the Pakistani Special Services Group includes
a 36-mile march in 12 hours and a five-mile run
in full kit in 20 minutes,
and if that's true, then holy s***.
Created to combat terrorism, extremism, and separatism,
SSG training consists of grueling physical conditioning,
airborne school, a 25-week commando course,
and hand-to-hand combat training.
Reportedly, only 5% of recruits even complete that training.
From hotspots along the India-Pakistan border,
the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan,
and Operation Zarb-e-Azb, a joint military offensive
targeting terrorist organizations,
the SSG goes where the fire is hot.
Number six: Delta Force.
Delta Force is the U.S. Army's elite counter-terrorism unit
with Army Rangers and Green Berets among its numbers,
but it also has operators from the Navy
and Air Force as well.
It's been called many things,
Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta,
the Combat Applications Group,
and now the Army Compartmented Elements,
but throughout its short history it has maintained
its superior ability to capture or kill high value targets,
dismantle terrorist cells, and conduct covert missions
in any area of operations.
Most of the missions executed by Delta Force
remain classified, and it's rare to find
an official document that even acknowledges the unit,
but one of its most notable accomplishments
includes Operation Red Dawn, the capture of Saddam Hussein.
A leaked recruiting video gave a glimpse
at different training methods for Delta Force,
including tactical driving, vehicle take downs,
and assaulter team tactics.
A testament to their precision, one of their final exams
includes breaching operations with fellow team members
playing the hostage as his brothers live fire
against targets nearby.
The operation builds trust within the team
and provides the shooter a sober reminder
not to hit the hostage.
Number five: France's National Gendarmerie
Intervention Group.
The GIGN is one of the world's most combat-experienced
counter-terrorist organizations.
Somewhere between a SWAT team and Delta Force,
the French GIGN responds to terrorist threats
or domestic attacks.
The enemy has evolved, and so too has the GIGN.
Their mission is to get access to the scene of an attack
as quickly as possible, then capture or kill the assailants
before they can inflict more carnage.
Their training program is notoriously brutal
and lasts 14 months, if recruits can make it that long.
One documentary team followed a group of potential recruits
and saw 120 of them whittled down to 18 in two weeks.
It includes one of the best marksmanship schools
in the world, weapons handling,
airborne courses including HALO jumps,
hand-to-hand combat, diving, survival training,
and explosive ordnance disposal.
These guys are lethal, but they value fire discipline.
Rumor has it that they're just issued a six shot
.357 revolver as their official sidearm.
With only 6 rounds, you bet they're gonna
make each one count.
Number four: The Sayeret Matkal of Israel.
Also known as Unit 269, Israel's Sayeret Matkal
is a highly secretive special-operations brigade
with almost legendary status.
Since its inception in 1957, Sayeret Matkal
has gained a reputation for its deep reconnaissance
capabilities and counter-terrorism
and hostage recovery missions.
They rely on secrecy, attacking in small numbers
and in disguise, then fading away
before the enemy realizes what happened.
One of its most notable operations
is perhaps the Entebbe rescue in 1976,
when an Air France plane carrying 250 passengers
to Paris from Tel Aviv was hijacked by terrorists.
The non-Israeli passengers were released,
but 106 hostages remained.
The rescue mission took a week to plan
and a little over an hour to execute.
The disguised task force was airlifted in
with Land Rovers and a Mercedes-Benz.
They managed to infiltrate the local army,
kill the terrorists,
and rescue all but four of the hostages.
Only one Israeli soldier was killed in the attack.
That's the thing with Sayeret Matkal,
once you know it's there, you're already out of time.
Number three: Spain's Fuerza de Guerra Naval Especial.
Spain's Special Naval Warfare Force
was created in 2009 when the country merged different units
of the Spanish navy into one combat-tastic entity.
The Fuerza is comprised of the Special Combat Divers Unit,
Special Explosive Diffusers Unit,
and the Special Operations Unit,
it's main tactical predecessor.
The Special Operations Unit
was responsible for maritime counter-terrorism,
combat diving, air and amphibious insertion,
combat search and rescue, and ship-boarding,
and today's elite unit carries on the fight.
They have a strong history of utilizing those tactics
in hostage rescue and pirate confrontation.
In 2002, the 'hombres rana' supported
Operation Enduring Freedom in the Indian Ocean
when they stormed a North Korean vessel
transporting SCUD missiles to Yemen.
Then in 2011, they rescued a French hostage
from Somali pirates.
And that's just what's known to the public,
like the other elite units on this list,
most of their missions remain classified.
Number two: Russian Spetsnaz.
Russia's badass Spetsnaz is shrouded in mystery,
but it dates back to the Red Bolshevik Guard,
a paramilitary force organized during the height
of the Russian Revolution in the early 20th century.
Most of its members are comparable to U.S. Army Rangers,
but an elite few train like Delta Force.
They had a traditional background
of battlefield reconnaissance, shattering enemy chains
of command and lines of supply,
and targeting the enemy's tactical weapons and advantages.
But one thing that makes them different from U.S. operators,
however, is their freedom to mix and match their weapons.
Recently, Russia has been increasingly modeling
its Spetsnaz off American counterparts.
To a casual observer,
they can appear difficult to distinguish from one another,
but at the end of the day, there's a reason
Russia is trying to keep up with the United States.
Number one: U.S. Navy SEALs.
I lied, I saved this one for last, because, come on.
United States Navy SEALs are perhaps the finest
special operations forces in the world.
The competitive standard to even be considered
for BUD/S training is to swim 500 yards
in 10 minutes and 30 seconds, do 79 push-ups, 79 sit-ups,
11 pull-ups, and a 10 minute and 20 second 1.5 mile run.
That's just to get in.
Preparation to become a SEAL consists of Basic Underwater
Demolition, Parachute Jump school,
and SEAL Qualification Training,
that's sea, air, and land,
which have all been described lightly as "brutal."
Then they do another 18 months of pre-deployment training.
SEALs deliver highly specialized,
intensely challenging tactical capabilities
including direct action warfare, special reconnaissance,
counter-terrorism, and foreign internal defense.
From the Korean War and the Vietnam War to Somalia
to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom,
to Operation Inherent Resolve, and, of course,
the death of international terrorist Osama bin Laden,
Navy SEALs have made their mark.
So, who's your favorite from this list?
And who did we leave off?
Let us know in the comments below
and maybe we'll include them next time.