6/2     I don't understand the military at all. What's the difference
        between the army, marine, ranger, green beret, and all these other
        units? When/how are they deployed, used, etc?
        \_ One last bit on the rangers before this gets deleted:  when we
           nabbed noriega, the rangers were *not* assigned to take the airport
           (some other branch did it) and they were *really* pissed off about
           it.  Pissed off enough that it leaked to the public.  ;-)
        \_ Cliffs notes:
           Army:  Biggest (tanks, APCs, infantry, engineers)
             Army Special Forces:  Green Berets, Rangers
           Navy:  Ships
           Air Force:  Planes
           Marines:  Smaller than Army, amphibious assaults
           \_ Marines are a part of the Navy.  Another way of looking at it:
              \_ Marines are quite distinct from Navy.  Call a jarhead a sailor
                 and he'll clock you.  They're often transported on Navy
                 vessels, however.
              Army: You learn to hide behind bushes
              Navy: You learn sensors, guidance systems, electronics, reactors
              Air: You learn missiles, radar, planes/jets
              Marines: You learn to kill people
              Rangers/Green Berets/Seals/etc: You learn to kill people well
              \_ ok, so what's the difference between the rangers, berets,
                 the seals? What can one do well that the other can't?
                 What do they specialize and what/who determines which unit
                 is used?
                 \_ There are lots of Rangers.  There are fewer Green Berets.
                    There are even fewer SEALs.
                 \_ More specifically, SEALs specialize in REALLY
                    amphibious attacks.  (Swimming into places carring
                    gear).  Rangers and Green Berets (I think) specilize
                    inair drops.  Rangers can go on to become Green Berets
                    and Delta Force.  They all specialize in tight, quick
                    operations, and killing a whole lot of people.
                 \_ SEALs are Navy. Green Berets are Army. Rangers are also
                    Army. Green Berets are essentially commandos; Rangers
                    are closer to what infantry does. There's also Army's Delta
                    Force, which does counterterrorism ops.
                    \_ SEALS, Rangers, Army Special Forces (aka Green Berets)
                       fall under the U.S. Special Operations Command. Up
                       until recently the Marines were not a part of this.
                       Each unit has their strengths and weaknesses. OP needs
                       to be more specific. [formatd]
                 \_ Since none of you apparently has a clue what the Rangers
                    do, their one true specialty is doing air drops on enemy
                    aiports and taking them over so we can use them.  They
                    obviously do lots of other stuff as well and are better
                    trained and have higher standards than regular infantry
                    but they're generally younger than the special forces guys
                    in the GB and most SEALs, thus less experienced.  I still
                    wouldn't want to fight a regular army infantry in an
                    alley because they'll kill you just a dead, they'll just
                    do it louder and you might see it coming.  Someone
                    mentioned Delta Force which is an anti-terrorist hit
                    squad trained to do things like kill all the terrorists
                    that took over a plane without killing any hostages.
                    \_ 1SOF-D defers to SEALs DEVGRU for maritime CT. They
                       both do VIP protection also. http://www.militaryphotos.net
                    \_ Green Beret's are used a lot as teachers. Think "School
                       of the America's". Rangers, elite fighting force, but
                       not considered as elite as green beret's. Seals, the
                       elite amphibious fighting force of the navy - may be
                       the best conditioned of all (carrying logs in sand,
                       lots of swimming, etc). Marines, they pave the way
                       for the army - tough hombres. Delta Force, elite-of-
                       the-elite (weren't they a secret force for a while?)
                       for special missions. Army, well, think G.I. Joe.
                       \_ don't they still deny the Delta Force's existence?
                          \_ No, they just deny Lou Gossett Jr.'s existence.
        \_ The navy has a very large budget compared to the rest because they
           have pretty insane toys.  They also have lots of bin software from
           3rd party peepz that is mostly unchecked for sec. holes.
        \_ Army: Specializing in land warfare.
             Green Berets: Generic Army special forces term
             Rangers: Long range recon/patrol and air drops. "Quick, light"
                rapid deploy infantry.
             Delta: Special covert ops. Close-combat specialists.
           Navy: Specialization in blue/green water operations.
             Marines: Initially used for sea/harbor/base ops (capture/security).
                Expanded duty as "light, fast" deploy units. Fewer heavy pieces
                (tanks/artillery) than Army.
               Force Recon: Prep landings for Marines. Minor special ops.
             SEALS: Special ops (Intel/Covert/Small ops), specialization in sea
                based ops.
           Air Force: Specialization in air operations.
             Pararescuemen: Land recovery and rescue experts
             Combat Controllers: Coordinate air ops for Rangers/Marines.
           Coast Guard: Specialization in brown water operations (part of the
              Dept. of Transportation).
             Swimmers: Sea rescue experts
             \_ Accountants: give Afghan soldiers $100 bills to clear caves.