Every U.S. Special Forces Unit, Ranked by Difficulty

Which U.S. special operations unit is actually the hardest to get into? We ranked 11 of them — from the Night Stalkers to Delta Force — using three tests: who's allowed to try, how many make it through, and how long the pipeline takes. And there's one unit we couldn't rank at all. Rankings are based on published attrition data, official military sources, and reporting from former operators. Many figures are historical averages and shift from class to class, so treat them as approximate, not exact odds. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open 0:33 How we ranked them 1:13 #11 Night Stalkers (160th SOAR) 2:12 #10 75th Ranger Regiment 3:01 #9 Marine Raiders (MARSOC) 3:47 #8 SWCC 4:28 #7 Navy SEALs 5:13 #6 Green Berets 6:10 #5 Air Force Combat Control 6:52 #4 Air Force Pararescue (PJs) 7:38 #3 24th Special Tactics Squadron 8:33 #2 DEVGRU (SEAL Team Six) 9:10 #1 Delta Force 10:04 The unit we can't rank 10:44 Do you agree? Which unit would you move? Tell us in the comments. SOURCES USSOCOM SOF training attrition tables (DACOWITS, 2017): https://dacowits.defense.gov/Portals/48/Documents/General%20Documents/RFI%20Docs/June2017/SOCOM%20RFI%202.pdf History.com – SEAL Team Six and Delta Force: https://www.history.com/news/seal-team-six-and-delta-force-6-key-differences Sandboxx – Delta Force selection: https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/how-the-army-uses-the-west-virginia-wilderness-to-find-out-who-has-what-it-takes-to-join-delta-force/ Sandboxx – Navy SEAL attrition data: https://www.sandboxx.us/news/special-ops/new-navy-report-reveals-rare-seal-training-attrition-data/ DEVGRU overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Special_Warfare_Development_Group 24th Special Tactics Squadron overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24th_Special_Tactics_Squadron JBLE (af.mil) – Pararescue pipeline attrition: https://www.jble.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1471957/jble-airman-overcomes-struggle-by-paying-it-forward/ Air & Space Forces Magazine – Special warfare attrition: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/special-treatment-for-special-warriors Keesler AFB (af.mil) – Combat Control training length: https://www.keesler.af.mil/News/Features/Display/Article/364510 SOFREP – Green Beret pipeline: https://sofrep.com/news/so-you-wanna-be-a-green-beret/ Military.com – SWCC pipeline: https://365.military.com/daily-news/2019/12/21/navy-may-be-close-getting-first-female-special-ops-boat-crewmen.html Marine Corps Times – MARSOC selection rates: https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2019/04/11/marine-officers-are-more-successful-during-raider-selection-but-marsoc-is-fielding-raiders-at-a-steady-rate/ DTIC – RASP 1 length: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/html/tr/AD1046554/index.html ARSOF History – Making Night Stalkers: https://arsof-history.org/articles/19sept_officer_green_platoon_page_1.html Intelligence Support Activity overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_Support_Activity Illustrations are stylized and do not depict real individuals. No real unit insignia are shown. #SpecialForces #DeltaForce #NavySEALs