There's probably no right answer here, there will be many opinions, and there might be different ways of scoring. One often unsung unit is the Air Force Pararescue. Disclosure: I have a son in the Air Force, who's not a PJ himself, but could be in a position to depend on them for his life sometime. As for elite, there are only about 300 in active duty. I found this at Answers.com: Pararescuemen have what some consider to be one of the most difficult jobs in all of the armed forces - combat rescue, typically of (but not limited to) downed pilots. They are trained and able both to fight with virtually any special operations unit and to act as paramedics on the battlefield. In addition to initial training listed above they attend a 24-week Paramedic Course at Kirtland AFB to attain EMT-Paramedic certification, a 20-week Pararescue Recovery Specialist Course (for combat tactics, advanced parachuting, helicopter insertion and extraction, mountaineering, and field tactics training), U.S. Army Combat Diver School in Key West (open and closed circuit), and USN Underwater Egress Training at Pensacola. Their training pipeline is sometimes referred to as "Superman School". On average, 8 out of every 10 trainees fail to graduate. Their motto is: "That Others May Live". They wear maroon berets. More detail on the training regimen: http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0200/pj.htm Introductory paragraph from Wikipedia: Pararescuemen, also called PJs (a nickname pronounced 'pee jays' that refers to the earlier title 'para jumpers'), are a United States Air Force Special Operations group tasked with recovery and medical treatment of personnel in humanitarian and combat environments. They are the only members of the U.S. Armed Forces specifically trained and equipped to conduct conventional or unconventional rescue operations. PJs are also used to support NASA missions and have been used to recover astronauts after water landings. Full article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Pararescue

It depends on the mission, as each SOU has its specialty: Force Recon Marines: Deep Reconnaissance Navy SEAL: Water related operations Army Special Forces: Indigenous military training Army Rangers: Company / Batallion sized special ops USAF Air Commandos: Search and Rescue You kinda choose the right tool for the job... :-)

Who is this guy? and this highlander guy? Did yall know that the green berets have set parts of the world to operate in and also must speak that language. They also Specialize in Water related operations, Deep Reconnaissance and Duh SF search and Rescue. oh yeah ever heard of Delta Force? yeah to even try to go the training you must pass the UNITED STATES ARMY SF Q-COURSE. (Army, Navy, Marines, Airmen all must go) When are yall going to realize the Army is the most elite branch of military Units.

The most elite US military unit is....haha, if i told you, i'd have to kill you. No, seriously. you have never heard of it, and if all goes well, you never will. sorry that i can't be of any more help, but i will give you some hints. It accepts soldiers from all branches, Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force. base minimum age is 24. you should have a background in small unit tactics, preferably special operations, although this is not required. in recent tests, our graduates can beat SEALS in water-borne ops, CAG rocks in stealth, PJ's in rescue, and Army SF in Foreign Internal Defense (FID). so basically, just a tight, young deep black unit. sorry, no alphabet soup for you here! and talk about elite, less than 100 operators.

some would say DELTA, others Rangers, others Beret's they are all extraordinairy men, Delta are the only group who joint train with the S.A.S and they are accorded the respect of every special service trooper. so who knows

The A-Team.

The 19Delta MOS is tough. That's Cavalry Scout for those who don't already know. We respect all units in the US and friendly arsenals. We are fairly humble but I asure you that we can go the way with any force in the world. Scouts out!

i would have to say the marines. both land and water

That would be: ME cause I'm an army of one!!!!!

There are a lot of grieving parents who would say that the best force is the one who only kills the enemy and not their own or their allies.

I'm going to go with "BlackWater".

though my first inclination would be to go with DELTA I would hate to mess with them on the wrong side. but of worthy note I would have to say is Marine recon snipers. they don't fight in large groups and they only fail if they get caught, and if they do there job right you never see or hear about them. I would also like to drop a voice in for the USAF combat controllers (thank you transformers) these guys get the other guys there and take some serious risk to do so. though the PJ is a good shot I have never heard of them doing major combat, not to denounce the training required, need a medic call a PJ over anybody except a live Md. Seals are the best thing in the water, if your a frog I salute you for a job well done! and in the end its not a matter of which of our guys are the best so long as they are better than the other guys.

The PEACE CORP!

Hey, I just loved these comments. How about elite forces in other Countries? Just as you are saying that US elite best depends on the job being done, would you agree that World elite best would depend on geography?. e.g. Ghurkas in Nepal, etc? I know almost nothing about this, by I enjoyed my teen service in the Paraguayan Infantry. Hey! Paraguay? Where is that? We fought (and lost) till the last able man against giants Brasil Argentina and (then much larger than now), Uruguay. Then beat the Bolivians at 10 to one gun and men odds. Just love gool ol´ adrenalin! What an honour to be talking to Viet Vets through the net. I salute you! US elite? I kinda like the PJs. Maybe cause I did parachuting and hangliding myself.

The MARINES. If we're talking about special forces then you would have to go for a couple-way-tie between Recon, SEALS, Delta, Rangers, etc.

1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta

US Airforce and the Marines.

It doesn't really matter cos the SAS would kick all there arses at the same time! Britannia rules!!!

I would surmise that none of us know and if perchance we did and told they might have to kill us. Sorry I don't make the rules.

from the guys that i know that have served in the armed forces they all say the marine recon is the one that you don't mess with

United States Army Honor Guard stationed at Fort Meyer, Virginia!

well actually i would say delta force but each service has different schools that can really kick your butt heres one for you and you rarely see these guys someone who is army diver certified with the badge school drop out rate is 99%

A Grrr wasn't an acceptable response in my era, nor would it be recognized as coming from a Marine; but times change and I'm certainly outdated when it comes to the way things are now done in the Corps. Like you and most of the people at the time, I was 0311 and later 8541 before being selected for Recon. I was deployed to Vietnam and served 2 tours at MACV SOG CCN in Da Nang. I was later deployed to MACT at Don Muang, but this tour was cut short by another communist marksmanship badge. When I got out of Bethesda I was promoted to E-7 and transferred to 3rd Recon as an Instructor. Good times when I look back at it all, but a lost many good brothers. Semper Fi!

delta force but our sas is better :)

The Joint Chiefs of Staff? ;-)

marines hoorah

I would say Delta Force or Green Berets. But Navy SZeals are right up there too.

Who ever says marines watches too much t.v. The Marine Recon is pretty tough, but they are not even apart of special operations. Delta Force is probably the most elite because other special operation soldiers from navy seals, army rangers, and army special forces have to be chosen by Delta Force to try out for them. They are at the next level.

Officer's club.

Team America, Obviously.

Umm The Navy Seals? Not that it matters, American forces rely too much on technology to win battles. The SAS would wipe the floor with them!

joke - anybody else see the recent kid's movie about intelligent rodents called, "g-force"? delta force, although, i liked most of the other answers.

i know alot of people forgot about this guy. What about rambo? he fight like a crazed indian. any way i saw alot of ppl say delta and marines. im watching the military channel and it seemsto me that the army leads all the training for all forces. even our allies over seas. THAT INCLUDES THE SAS. army sniper school. arial fiering from a heli. prety damn elite. i respect all forms of the armed forces. my grandpa was in vietnam. marines. my dad was in the marines as well. my cousin was going to be a pilot but got legg cancer and could not fly on acount of his surgery. they all like their respective forces, via air marine. i think it depends on what you want to do recon, snipe, ambush. there is a force out there for you if you can pass the initial test to get into the groups themselves. thank you for your answers and posts.

Squad M. And if you haven't heard about them already then you don't honestly need to know anymore about them now.

TAC-P nice. We had to call-in the Fires ourselves. Come to think of it though, Sierra Foxtrot always needed Marines to tuck them in at night. :-) Goodnight Chesty wherever you are!

How about a force that's so elite that is hasn't been named, and that's just the way it's supposed to be?

Marines

Not the one that was housed at Ft. Hood that's for sure.

"In my experience, Marines are gung ho no matter what. They will all fight to the death. Every one of them just wants to get out there and kill. They are bad-ass, hard-charging mothers." - CPO Chris Kyle