Seal Team 6, the U.S. special-operations force that took out Osama bin Laden, is one of the most highly trained units in the world. For years, governments have prepared small, mobile forces that specialize in everything from ending a hostage situation to stealthily eliminating enemy combatants.
TIME takes a look at some of the world's most elite military teams, now and in history
■ The Navy SEALs
■ The Immortals
■ The Brigade of Gurkhas
■ The Knights Hospitaller
■ The Special Air Service
■ The Green Berets
■ The Varangian Guard
■ The Hashishin
■ The Israeli Special Forces
■ The Jaguar WarriorsThe Navy SEALs
Navy SEALs Team 6 — and its dog — which carried out the operation against Osama bin Laden, is getting a lot of attention. And while its latest mission is indeed praiseworthy, these special operations forces are among the best-trained troops in the world and have been pulling off death-defying, badass missions since the 1960s.
The SEALs — the abbreviation stands for "Sea, Air and Land" — were created in 1961 as President John F. Kennedy recognized the need for unconventional warfare in the escalating conflict in Vietnam. Not long after, Seal teams began operating in the Southeast Asian nation. Among their ranks was U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, who served as a SEAL in Vietnam from 1966 to 1969. He was awarded a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and the Medal of Honor for his service.
SEALs have operated in every major conflict arena since, including the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as strategic operations in Grenada and Panama. The same team that killed bin Laden was also involved in the successful recapture of a ship held by Somali pirates in April 2009.The Immortals
When describing the mighty armies of the Persian empire, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus paid particular attention to the battalion of elite troops he dubbed the "Immortals" — a unit that seemed to the Greek scribe to always be at its full complement of 10,000 soldiers.
The Persian army of the time was a vast, multiethnic force, but the Immortals were all from the empire's central Persian provinces.
Garbed in colorful raiment that concealed their scale armor, the Immortals were adept with both bow and blade and were honored so highly that they were permitted to travel with their own exclusive retinue of cooks and concubines. Thousands of years later, the Shah of Iran invoked the legacy of the country's mighty past and named his elite household guard the Javidan — or Immortal — guard.
Those Immortals, though, couldn't withstand of the Islamic revolution. The Brigade of Gurkhas
The Brigade of Gurkhas are Nepalese fighting units of the British Army, named after a hill region that stretches from Nepal into India. They have been a part of the British military since 1815, when Gurkha soldiers were encouraged to join the East India Company's army to help "keep the peace" in newly conquered India.
Following India's 1947 independence from Britain, several Gurkha regiments remained loyal to the crown.
They have fought in the Falklands War, the Gulf War, with NATO, in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and they've been on U.N. peacekeeping missions to Bosnia.
To this day, no proper Gurkha soldier is without his age-old kukri, a curved dagger that these martial people have wielded for generations.The Knights Hospitaller
The Knights Hospitaller got their name from the monastic order's early origins in Jerusalem, where they tended to sick and wounded Christian pilgrims at the peak of the Crusades.
They were monks who packed a punch, and the black and silver cross on the knights' shields has come to represent in the minds of most the iconic image of a metal-clad Crusader.
For years, the Knights Hospitaller led the line in battles over minikingdoms and towering fortresses in the Holy Land. The order's greatest hour, though, was not near Jerusalem but in the middle of the Mediterranean, on the island of Malta, which for a number of centuries the Knights Hospitaller — also known as the Knights of Malta — ran virtually as their own state.
In 1565, an Ottoman army attempted to invade and seize the isle, but the dogged Knights repulsed the attack after five months of brutal fighting. The victory punctured the aura of invincibility that many in Europe had ascribed to the mighty Ottomans and forever sealed the Knights Hospitallers' legend.The Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) was first formed in the sands of Libya in the early 1940s. This branch of the British military was designed to penetrate and operate behind enemy lines in North Africa, and it succeeded.
The SAS destroyed hundreds of Nazi planes and freed countless Allied prisoners.
It even tried (unsuccessfully) to kidnap Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Nazi Germany's top commander in Africa.
After briefly disbanding at the end of World War II, the SAS reformed and has participated in a number of conflicts around the world, including ending the siege of the Iranian embassy in London in 1980.
It is now most often sent to conflict zones, including in Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan, to rescue hostages or seize enemies.
The SAS motto, "Who Dares Wins," has even become a part of British popular culture.The Green Berets
The Green Berets constitute the U.S. Army's most elite unit. Formed in 1952, the Special Forces specialize in counterinsurgency and have been instrumental in combating a variety of enemies, from guerrillas in Vietnam to drug lords in Colombia.
Their motto, "De Oppresso Liber" ("to free the oppressed"), is no small task, but they are well trained for the job.
In addition to their combat and counterterrorism training, the Green Berets are also skilled in languages, culture, diplomacy, politics and psychological tactics like spreading false information, all of which have given them a designation as America's quiet soldier-professionals.
Currently they are being heavily utilized in training foreign troops in Afghanistan so the country can eventually take charge of its own security operations.The Varangian Guard
The Varangians, thought to be the descendants of early Viking voyagers, hailed from settlements dotting the river basins of present-day Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
Their fierce prowess in battle led Varangian mercenaries to end up in some of the most powerful armies of the Mediterranean world.
By the start of the 11th century A.D., the reigning Byzantine Emperor, Basil II, assembled a personal bodyguard of Varangians rather than local Greeks because he feared Constantinople's treacherous intrigues and duplicitous nobles.
For the next two centuries, the Varangians would rank among the empire's greatest shock troops, clad in heavy armor and often wielding large axes. Records and inscriptions from the time chart scores of Scandinavians leaving their homes and communities to fight — and die — among "the Greeks."
Eventually, the guard, much like the elite Praetorian Guard of the earlier Roman empire, faded out with the decline of the Byzantines.The Hashishin
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the breakaway Shi'ite Ismaili sect found political and martial voice in the form of the Hashishin. As the Middle East convulsed during the Crusades, with invasions of Turkic conquerors from further east, the Hashishin — whose name allegedly comes from the order's penchant of indulging in hashish during certain ecstatic rituals — sought to resist both the Christian invaders landing on the shores of the Levant and the Turkic dynasties that lorded over much of the Arab world.
Hassan-i-Sabah, pictured above, founded the order of the Hashishin at some point in the 11th century and raised its most famous castle of Alamut in what is now Iran. In what's now northwestern Syria, the Hashishin for a time even ran its own kingdom in the mountains, replete with a number of doggedly defended castles.
A Hashishin's skill with a scimitar was, in legend at least, unmatched. The order was also skilled in the art of stealth and made a habit of murdering political opponents through the decades. After all, the English language has the Hashishin to thank for the word assassin.The Israeli Special Forces
Israel's special forces, which were formed in 1948 as the Special Reconnaissance Platoon, now consist of elite commando, counterterrorist, antiterrorist and recon units. They form the pre-emptive first line of defense for the Jewish state and have unit names like Batmen, Winged Snakes and Flying Tigers.
The covert forces have participated in daring, clandestine operations both in Israel and in enemy territory, including the famed 1976 Raid on Entebbe: the rescue of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian guerrillas who had hijacked an Air France plane that had taken off from Tel Aviv and redirected it to Uganda.
In one of their most recent actions, undertaken in May 2010, special forces intercepted the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish aid ship attempting to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. During the operation, nine activists, most of them Turkish nationals, were killed. An international uproar ensued in which members of the special forces were accused of using deadly force on people who, some say, had not initiated violence. An Israeli inquiry into the incident found that the troops acted in self-defense and therefore did not break international law.The Jaguar Warriors
In Aztec culture, the Jaguar Warriors were society's knights. Sure, they didn't have horses or shiny suits of armor, but they did often wear the sable skin of the sleek and beguiling predator, their heads poking out of jaguars' gaping maws. Instead of swords and lances, these fighters often used axes or clubs studded with shards of black obsidian (jagged volcanic rock).
The historical record seems to indicate that Jaguar Warriors commanded a high place in the Aztecs' political hierarchy and fought ferociously against the invading Spanish conquistadores. But their spiky clubs were no match for the firepower of the Spanish.
TIME takes a look at some of the world's most elite military teams, now and in history
■ The Navy SEALs
■ The Immortals
■ The Brigade of Gurkhas
■ The Knights Hospitaller
■ The Special Air Service
■ The Green Berets
■ The Varangian Guard
■ The Hashishin
■ The Israeli Special Forces
■ The Jaguar WarriorsThe Navy SEALs
Navy SEALs Team 6 — and its dog — which carried out the operation against Osama bin Laden, is getting a lot of attention. And while its latest mission is indeed praiseworthy, these special operations forces are among the best-trained troops in the world and have been pulling off death-defying, badass missions since the 1960s.The SEALs — the abbreviation stands for "Sea, Air and Land" — were created in 1961 as President John F. Kennedy recognized the need for unconventional warfare in the escalating conflict in Vietnam. Not long after, Seal teams began operating in the Southeast Asian nation. Among their ranks was U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, who served as a SEAL in Vietnam from 1966 to 1969. He was awarded a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and the Medal of Honor for his service.
SEALs have operated in every major conflict arena since, including the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as strategic operations in Grenada and Panama. The same team that killed bin Laden was also involved in the successful recapture of a ship held by Somali pirates in April 2009.The Immortals
When describing the mighty armies of the Persian empire, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus paid particular attention to the battalion of elite troops he dubbed the "Immortals" — a unit that seemed to the Greek scribe to always be at its full complement of 10,000 soldiers.The Persian army of the time was a vast, multiethnic force, but the Immortals were all from the empire's central Persian provinces.
Garbed in colorful raiment that concealed their scale armor, the Immortals were adept with both bow and blade and were honored so highly that they were permitted to travel with their own exclusive retinue of cooks and concubines. Thousands of years later, the Shah of Iran invoked the legacy of the country's mighty past and named his elite household guard the Javidan — or Immortal — guard.
Those Immortals, though, couldn't withstand of the Islamic revolution. The Brigade of Gurkhas
The Brigade of Gurkhas are Nepalese fighting units of the British Army, named after a hill region that stretches from Nepal into India. They have been a part of the British military since 1815, when Gurkha soldiers were encouraged to join the East India Company's army to help "keep the peace" in newly conquered India.Following India's 1947 independence from Britain, several Gurkha regiments remained loyal to the crown.
They have fought in the Falklands War, the Gulf War, with NATO, in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and they've been on U.N. peacekeeping missions to Bosnia.
To this day, no proper Gurkha soldier is without his age-old kukri, a curved dagger that these martial people have wielded for generations.The Knights Hospitaller
The Knights Hospitaller got their name from the monastic order's early origins in Jerusalem, where they tended to sick and wounded Christian pilgrims at the peak of the Crusades.They were monks who packed a punch, and the black and silver cross on the knights' shields has come to represent in the minds of most the iconic image of a metal-clad Crusader.
For years, the Knights Hospitaller led the line in battles over minikingdoms and towering fortresses in the Holy Land. The order's greatest hour, though, was not near Jerusalem but in the middle of the Mediterranean, on the island of Malta, which for a number of centuries the Knights Hospitaller — also known as the Knights of Malta — ran virtually as their own state.
In 1565, an Ottoman army attempted to invade and seize the isle, but the dogged Knights repulsed the attack after five months of brutal fighting. The victory punctured the aura of invincibility that many in Europe had ascribed to the mighty Ottomans and forever sealed the Knights Hospitallers' legend.The Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) was first formed in the sands of Libya in the early 1940s. This branch of the British military was designed to penetrate and operate behind enemy lines in North Africa, and it succeeded.The SAS destroyed hundreds of Nazi planes and freed countless Allied prisoners.
It even tried (unsuccessfully) to kidnap Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Nazi Germany's top commander in Africa.
After briefly disbanding at the end of World War II, the SAS reformed and has participated in a number of conflicts around the world, including ending the siege of the Iranian embassy in London in 1980.
It is now most often sent to conflict zones, including in Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan, to rescue hostages or seize enemies.
The SAS motto, "Who Dares Wins," has even become a part of British popular culture.The Green Berets
The Green Berets constitute the U.S. Army's most elite unit. Formed in 1952, the Special Forces specialize in counterinsurgency and have been instrumental in combating a variety of enemies, from guerrillas in Vietnam to drug lords in Colombia.Their motto, "De Oppresso Liber" ("to free the oppressed"), is no small task, but they are well trained for the job.
In addition to their combat and counterterrorism training, the Green Berets are also skilled in languages, culture, diplomacy, politics and psychological tactics like spreading false information, all of which have given them a designation as America's quiet soldier-professionals.
Currently they are being heavily utilized in training foreign troops in Afghanistan so the country can eventually take charge of its own security operations.The Varangian Guard
The Varangians, thought to be the descendants of early Viking voyagers, hailed from settlements dotting the river basins of present-day Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.Their fierce prowess in battle led Varangian mercenaries to end up in some of the most powerful armies of the Mediterranean world.
By the start of the 11th century A.D., the reigning Byzantine Emperor, Basil II, assembled a personal bodyguard of Varangians rather than local Greeks because he feared Constantinople's treacherous intrigues and duplicitous nobles.
For the next two centuries, the Varangians would rank among the empire's greatest shock troops, clad in heavy armor and often wielding large axes. Records and inscriptions from the time chart scores of Scandinavians leaving their homes and communities to fight — and die — among "the Greeks."
Eventually, the guard, much like the elite Praetorian Guard of the earlier Roman empire, faded out with the decline of the Byzantines.The Hashishin
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the breakaway Shi'ite Ismaili sect found political and martial voice in the form of the Hashishin. As the Middle East convulsed during the Crusades, with invasions of Turkic conquerors from further east, the Hashishin — whose name allegedly comes from the order's penchant of indulging in hashish during certain ecstatic rituals — sought to resist both the Christian invaders landing on the shores of the Levant and the Turkic dynasties that lorded over much of the Arab world.Hassan-i-Sabah, pictured above, founded the order of the Hashishin at some point in the 11th century and raised its most famous castle of Alamut in what is now Iran. In what's now northwestern Syria, the Hashishin for a time even ran its own kingdom in the mountains, replete with a number of doggedly defended castles.
A Hashishin's skill with a scimitar was, in legend at least, unmatched. The order was also skilled in the art of stealth and made a habit of murdering political opponents through the decades. After all, the English language has the Hashishin to thank for the word assassin.The Israeli Special Forces
Israel's special forces, which were formed in 1948 as the Special Reconnaissance Platoon, now consist of elite commando, counterterrorist, antiterrorist and recon units. They form the pre-emptive first line of defense for the Jewish state and have unit names like Batmen, Winged Snakes and Flying Tigers.The covert forces have participated in daring, clandestine operations both in Israel and in enemy territory, including the famed 1976 Raid on Entebbe: the rescue of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian guerrillas who had hijacked an Air France plane that had taken off from Tel Aviv and redirected it to Uganda.
In one of their most recent actions, undertaken in May 2010, special forces intercepted the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish aid ship attempting to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. During the operation, nine activists, most of them Turkish nationals, were killed. An international uproar ensued in which members of the special forces were accused of using deadly force on people who, some say, had not initiated violence. An Israeli inquiry into the incident found that the troops acted in self-defense and therefore did not break international law.The Jaguar Warriors
In Aztec culture, the Jaguar Warriors were society's knights. Sure, they didn't have horses or shiny suits of armor, but they did often wear the sable skin of the sleek and beguiling predator, their heads poking out of jaguars' gaping maws. Instead of swords and lances, these fighters often used axes or clubs studded with shards of black obsidian (jagged volcanic rock).The historical record seems to indicate that Jaguar Warriors commanded a high place in the Aztecs' political hierarchy and fought ferociously against the invading Spanish conquistadores. But their spiky clubs were no match for the firepower of the Spanish.
★ TIME
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