As a general rule, "college kids" are usually on the bottom rung of bar-room brawlers, as they won't have the motivation to keep going in the face of adversity. That said, there are people who would fit into the "College kids" bracket but are actually dangerous. But that sort of person does not go around starting bar room brawls.

SF tend to get more training in more areas than regular counterparts, which has to count for something, but there will be regular soldiers who are better in particular scenarios, infantrymen who are better shots than some snipers, etc. but they will not necessarily have the aptitude or motivation in different areas.

... does the special forces really mean that they are better trained and better soldiers than regulars?

Actually (I know it is politically incorrect) it is exactly like that.The whole purpose of "special forces" is to maintain a group of people who receive extensive physical, psychological and technical training to have a) a broader variety of options for a certain mission. and have b) always a selection of people ready that you can allocate on a mission without headaches. This does not mean that SF are only "combat" forces - also e.g. SF logistics is a thing in itself. Those guys would have better tools and also more versatile capabilities they have been trained on. And becasue you do not want to spend all your money in training which just compensates curernt lack of capability and makes a "normal" guy exceptional you set up a selction process to make sure that your human base-maertial is already as good as possible. This does not mean that the selection process is always effective ( i.e. that there are no idiots in SF or that you detect all talents) - but it is a starting point. So yes - SF are usually "better soldiers" with respect what most people would regard as "soldier skills" to do their job. However you can't run an operation just with SF - you also need e.g. the absolute unathletic but supercapable electronics or IT specialist etc. - you need them in other places, but you need them.

 

 

Special forces are like a "specialist tool" that have the limitations that come with being a specialist tool. There are certain things that special forces cannot do and regular forces can.

 

For instance special forces are not are not equipped with tanks and heavy artillery. (It's not what they are intended for)

 

 

 

 

Yes, special forces soldiers are better than ordinary soldiers.

 

The selection process alone weeds out many who are not physically fit or tough enough, who lack the intestinal fortitude necessary, or who lack the requisite level of skill. I think the Navy SEALs washout rate is something on the order of 3/4ths. Given that the candidates who make up these classes in the first place are already highly motivated volunteers, the 25% who make it through are truly exceptional soldiers. Then, by association with their SPECOPS units, they receive further training far in excess of what ordinary soldiers receive, so their already prodigious native talent is sharpened even further.

 

I guess a good analogy would be, let's say a young skiier on the slopes of some ski resort is really quite naturally good. A representative of that country's Olympic skiing team takes this kid to their training facility, where the kid receives training and coaching that increases his skills and sharpens his natural talent. He was already better than average to begin with, but with the additional training and coaching, he is now Olympic-class, in other words, elite.

Special Forces ("Green Berets" are called offically Special Forces) are primarily Trainers and On-the-Gorund support personnel for Military Intelligence & the CIA, that said a Special Forces trainer is going to have allot more training then an infantryman. Take the Soviet Invasion of Affganistan; Special Forces didn't fight that war but they trained & advised the locals to fight it. More so, the basic foundation of any soldiers training is going to be basic infantry skills and we have many Special Operations Units such as SEALs, Delta, Rangers, & Force Recon with very specific purposes that are not always the same.

 

Rangers perform what many countries would call Commando Operations; including tasks such as small teams warfare which is the same foundation as any other infantryman in the US Military, except they are held to a much higher standard. At there worst Special Operations are much better then average soldiers because they are held to a higher standard but at their absolute best its not the unit but the individual...