General question: i know that certain braches of the Us military have elite “commando”-type units, which are staffed by highly trained, young aggresive soldiers, typically these guys are extremely bright, physically tough, etc. The US Army has the “Rangers”. the US Navy has the “Seals”. What are the elite units of the:
0US airforce?
-Us marines?
-Us Coastguard (Rescue swimmers)?
-US Public heath service (yes, they are a commisioned corps)
-the US Coast and geodetic survey
How does the military justify all these different units? Why not just have one 'Rambo" type group?
The U.S. Air Force has the Air Force Special Operations Command, trained for extractions, recovery, laser-targeting and such. They were profiled in a recent issue of Popular Mechanics.
As for not having a single force, you’ll never be able to train a single force to do everything, so some specialization is required. Also, the decentralization helps with security, since much of what the elite units do is hush-hush. Further, the competition among different branches drives them toward higher levels of excellence.
Considering what these guys do, I’m not sure cost-cutting is a particularly high priority.
Rangers are not equal to SEALS. Rangers are a specialized unit of light infantry but are not equal in “eliteness” to the SEALS. Army Special Forces (green berets) are more equal but have different jobs. The reason there are more than one elite unit is because they have different areas of expertise. The green berets are more concerned with training and leading personnel from other contries, sometimes in a black ops situation sometimes in the open. SEALS are more of an elite strike force. The army also has Delta Force which is an Anti-terrorism unit. As far as I know no one else has anything equal to those three. For the Marines the closest would be Force Recon but they are closer to Rangers than Special OPs. The Air Force has their elite pararescue units but by definition they have a narrow focus. There is some overlap between the various units in Special OPs but they are all under the Joint Command of SOCOM (Special Operations Command).
The Air Force equivalent is the Pararescueman, or PJ (for Pararescue Jumper). The Air Force also has TAC-Ps and Combat Controllers. The Marines have Force Recon.
The reason that there are so many different types of SpecOps groups is because they all have certain responsibilities, and although some overlap most do not. Each group is tailored to the needs of the services they belong to.
Well, that ties it. Either I need to wipe the goo off my monitor, or get the contact prescription checked.
I could swear Doors was telling us that these are the Air Force’s Elite.
Navy, maybe. But not Air Force.
Here ya go:
The Coast Guard doesn’t really have ‘elite units’ that are on par with something like the SEALS or Special Forces. There are and have been units that come somewhat close however.
In recent history, we did have a unit called IMLET (International Maritime Law Enforcement Team), later called ITD (International Training Division). Their mission was to provide training and assistance to foreign coast guards, maritime law enforcement agencies and counter narcotic units all over the world. They typically deployed in places like the Caribbean, Central and South America and former Soviet Union countries. They sometimes found themselves in some pretty hot spots, especially in places like Columbia. The training they went through included the CG’s Maritime Law Enforcement Boarding Officer course, various programs at the FLETC facility and some type of training with Army Rangers. I seem to recall they did some training program with the Marines as well, but could be wrong. I believe, however, that the ITD no longer exists and was replaced by MSST units.
MSST units (Maritime Safety and Security Teams) were a result of 9/11. All the units are designated by a number starting with 911, such as MSST 91103 in San Pedro, CA. MSST units deploy wherever they are needed and provide specialized assistance in areas that require additional security or presence. They spend a lot of time in places like GITMO and Haiti, and work events such as political conventions, the Super Bowl, etc. (The CG, btw, was in charge of security for this year’s Super Bowl) They have the fancy guns, fast boats, bomb dogs, dive teams and snipers. They are trained to repel waterborne attacks and deliver boarding teams via helicopters, among other things. They go through a wide variety of specialized training programs, along the lines of what the IMLET/ITD unit went through.
As far as who is in the best shape physically, the answer is easily the rescue swimmers, or ASTs (Aviation Survival Technicians). Their training is by far the most challenging and difficult in the CG, but it is most likely not as grueling as what the AF PJs have to endure.
But the most elite folks, the best of the best, are the Boatswain’s Mates. Man, we just do it all.
But what is the elite team of the USC&GS called??
Those guys are called the NOAA Commissioned Corps now. They are a uniformed, but not military, service. Same with the NHS Commissioned Corps.
The NOAA Commissioned Corps is in no way elite. Like the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, they are a distinct corps of commissioned officers performing specific missions. The NOAA and USPHS corps are all officer … sorta like Star Trek. They do, however, wear US Navy Style uniforms.
Thanks much for the link. I am curious tho, if you follow the link to the Navy Special Warfare Command, and then the component command link, it very nicely breaks it down into NavSpecWarGru’s. (If that’s how they’re abreviated…)
But, where’s Seal Team Six? I read Richard Marcinko’s autobiography and am curious why they are no longer listed. Anyone know why?
Oh, and isn’t it fair to say that the SEALs are the Marine Corps’ elite unit? DOn’t marines have the option to join up?
According to both Marines and Navy, no, they don’t. Marines are Marines. There are no “elite” marines because all Marines are elite, at least as far as they are concerned.
Hoo-ah!
Marine Recon comprises an elite among USMC units.
I think it was because seal team six got folded into Delta Force, since its purported mission was anti terrorism , rather than the normal sneaking and peaking on unfriendly beaches that the teams do.
Part of the reason that the Marines were holding on to Force Recon for so long was that they wanted to keep it organic to the corp ,rather than go purple with socom.
Declan
This is no longer the case. The Marine Corps finally accepted the fact that some Marines are more elite than others and have formed a special operations unit under the jurisdiction of U. The Marines were missing out on a lot of special operations missions because of their former viewpoint and from not having an elite unit that SOCOM could call on.
This change has occurred recently - less than maybe 6-8 months ago. It’s possible the Marine unit is not even fully mission capable; maybe they’re still training and staffing. Also, I dont recall the name of this unit, but I believe it is independant and seperate from Force Recon and not just a command reconstruction of Force Recon.
“U” should be “US SOCOM”.
Of course very elite units are little- or even unknown. The Energy Department has its Nuclear Emergency Search Teams. We know something about them. On the other hand, just try to find out about the guys in DoE who are trained to recapture nuclear power plants and those who guard nuclear weapons.
Those are some real quiet guys.
Oh, yeah? Every time I skim past this thread I keep reading the title as “Elderly Military Units”. That’s not…very bad ass…at all…
Navy personel got rolled into an Army unit? huh?
JustAnotherGeek I’m currently reading that autobiography… pretty amazing stuff.