Which is the better of these two special forces – Americas Navy Seals or Britains SAS?
SEALS. Although they do different jobs, the SEALS are more versatile. To those above who said SEALS are only or mostly amphibious, and therefore not as good as the SAS, you obviously do not know that SEALS stands for SEa Air Land. They are equally good at all three methods of insertion. SAS are a counterterrorist unit first that is capable of being brought in for warfare and such. SEALS are used for everything. They can be used for counterterrorism, hostage rescue, surveillance, etc, etc. They do everything and they have captured over 70% of the terrorist leaders that have been caught in the Middle East. Lastly, to that one guy above: No, everyone does NOT come to the SAS to train. Maybe all of the European special ops teams come to you, but we don’t. Some of our forces may cross train with the SAS but that hardly means your guys are training ours. In case you haven’t noticed we have every single environment right here in the States. Desert, swamps, mountains, woods, ocean, etc.
the SAS primary role is not an Air deployed force, they have different sections with specific roles Air Troop Air Troop personnel specialise in airborne insertion from fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. Leaving the aircraft at high altitude (HALO), personnel are capable of delivering personnel and equipment into the deep battlespace far beyond the forward edge of battle area in support of their ISTAR or offensive operations Boat Troop Boat Troop personnel specialise in water-borne insertion techniques. Personnel are trained in diving using Open and Closed Circuit breathing systems, learning skills in sub-surface navigation, approaching the shore or vessels underway and the delivery of maritime demolition charges. Much of this training is undertaken with the Special Boat Service. Once proficient in diving, personnel learn methods of surface infiltration. Whenever possible, naval warfare tasks are handed over to the SAS sister unit, the SBS Mobility Troop Mobility Troop personnel speci
well im a brit so im obviously going to say the SAS bu i have my reasons: the SAS have made and trained most of the special forces today and are responsable for most of the methods issed by special forces e.g unconvntinal warfare, counter terrorism etc british troops are considerd by many countries to be the best amn for man troops in the world, even some americans said that about the brits… so you would think that it would also carry on to their special forces I don’t know anything amount military matters, but isn’t it just a given that the British (culturally, and in a general sense, individually) tend to behave with more subtlety and understatement than Americans? Americans, on the other hand, are famously inclined toward precipitate action and a kind of ‘cowboy’ mentality, which of course president Bush epitomizes. I find it completely reasonable to believe that such national or cultural qualities would be evident in the military as well. this is from a newspaper article which sh
The Seals and the SAS are both one of the elite fighting units in their country but I wouldn’t necessarily count out some of the U.S. special forces such as the Army Rangers. But like some of the other responses, it all depends on what you want to compare, the Seals are amphibious units, the SAS are air based units. Nearly military branches are better at something than the next.
I don’t want to upset any Americans, as the seals do an amazing job and you should be so proud of them. Would you do what they do just for a wage packet? I don’t want to upset anyone in the SAS (obviously!) but if you fail the course on SBS, you can still join the SAS. The SBS are …well, just mental. They are just machines, and I hope I never meet one, unless they were protecting me. It is worth mentioning the Foreign Legion. They are just as secret as the Seals, Berets, SBS, SAS, etc. There are so many elite forces out there, and we don’t know the half of it. So although the seals and SAS do different jobs, they both do it well. Why don’t we have a rugby match to sort it out?! (No-not baseball-we will lose!
