First and foremost, let?s just get this out of the way: You have to be pretty hardcore to join the military. In fact, all US military personnel live a life of danger and don?t give a darn about anything but smoking the enemies of their country. The United States military is made up of the best, most tough-as-nails, pain-hardened, battle-loving fighters in the world that are trained to defend, and when needed, take a bullet for their comrade and their country with a smile. While nobody has it more dangerous than the man at the front in the battlefield, the following are some of the US military divisions that have earned a reputation of being the most bad.
Army Pathfinders & Artillery Observers (Army and Marine Corps)
Army pathfinders and artillery observers, also known as Fire Support Specialists have one of the most dangerous jobs in the military. Like medics, these soldiers usually operate in four-man teams and are inserted into a drop zone ahead of the main assault force for the sole purpose of marking the designated drop zone, sometimes up to 72 hours before the strike. The military training given to these soldiers enable them to call in air strikes, coordinate LZ/DZ operations (mark landing and drop zones and survey the territory behind enemy lines). In the Marine Corps, artillery or scout observers also act as naval gunfire spotters and coordinate fire support. These two make it to the top of our list mainly because they are at the top of the enemy?s list since pathfinders and observers carry radios. Training for pathfinders is carried out at Fort Benning, Georgia. Marine Corps Artillery Observers carry out their training at Ft. Sill, which requires special clearance before being deployed at specialized units such as, Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies also known as ANGLICO.
Paratroopers (Army)
Paratroopers are airlifted and dropped in terrain that?s impassable for traditional soldiers, which is usually behind enemy lines, which puts paratroopers right up there in the dangerous military jobs list. Apart from that, the ability to quickly deploy boots on the ground makes paratroopers one of the most valuable assets of the army during hostile situations. The combat missions that are carried out by paratroopers require exceptional infantry skills along with thorough mental and physical conditioning that paratroopers are taught in a three-week course at Jump School.
Pararescuemen (Air Force)
Pararescuemen, also known as PJ are Special Forces in the air force that don?t necessarily participate in wars, but carry out one of the most important jobs in the military since they are the only combat force specifically organized and equipped to conduct full spectrum personnel recovery. Pararescuemen are tasked to airlift injured soldiers on the battlefield. Basically, they are the world?s best ambulance service.
Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD)
These are the guys you call in to disarm or deploy explosives. And these aren?t limited to roadside bombs either. EODs are trained to disarm biological, nuclear and chemical weapons, and basically the kind of weapons that others run from. While combat engineers aka sappers can also look for ordnance landmines or IED’s and explode them, an EOD is able to neutralize an explosive device.
The Army Delta Force (Army)
The Delta aka CAG aka SFOD-D is the counter terrorism unit of the Army Special Operations Command. This unit is given elite military training to handle dangerous hostage situations, counter insurgency and other missions relating to counter terrorism. The selection for this elite unit is carried out with a physical fitness test that requires the participants to run 18-mile hikes over dangerous terrain with nothing but a backpack and a compass. That?s only after a grueling 6-month training program.
The Green Beret (Army Special Forces) & Navy Seals
The reason we?ve paired these two branches together is because much of the kinds of missions they carry out overlap, with the only major difference being that Navy SEALS can work underwater. These two unites are the most specialized experts in unconventional warfare and go through highly selective training which involves, close quarters combat, reconnaissance and knife fighting techniques by Apache Indians.
Given the number of action movies that are dedicated to these two elite units one would think that the US has at least a whole State full of them, but while the numbers vary, there are only 2,000 Navy SEALS, (which is not surprising due to the 80 percent dropout ratio) and around 15,000 Green Berets currently on active duty in the US military.
Submariners Being the crew member of a submarine requires nuts the size of cannonballs mainly because a submarine is required to sink as part of its job. For those who think the job of a submarine is to chill out quietly and sucker-punch enemy ships that are passing by, you thought wrong!
Submarines nowadays carry ballistic-missiles, making them death-machines. Throw in the fact that they can live underwater for days at a time, and you dare not question the manliness of a submariner. And as if that wasn?t enough, there?s always the surprise torpedo attack. Not an ideal situation to be in!
Ending Note
There can be no “best” in the US military, because they are all cross-trained to fully secure a place in the nightmares of the enemy.