The SEALs and Recon are for the most part equal. 

Really? So Recon will be doing 10 mile Combat swimmer operations and SEALs will be doing holed up in some hidesite for days reporting back to the USMC? Different mission tasks, different missions. Now, on the things like DA and such, they are probably equal. I tend to think the Teams are superior at HALO, but I'm sure that isn't always the case. Recon has an advantage I believe at Long Range Recce. Obviously the SEALs are superior at combat swimming. As far as OPLAT, they are probably equal, although I do think that the Teams have a wider variety of transportation options (due to the fact that they are combat swimmers). H2H is also probably a tossup, but I do really like the SEALs CQD system.

So,  basically:

 

Combat swimmer: SEAL

Recce: Recon

Others: Tossup.

 

 

GOP talking about overuse injuries.....

You have come a long way. You just might make it through BUDS

 

As always, don't believe the proganda machine the SEALs have spewing books and whatnot out for the public.

 

The SEALs like to talk all about DA and such, but there are SEAL units that are as recce focused as Force Recon, do the same sort of mission sets with the same sort of skill level, and don't do door kicking as a job.

 

Likewise, just because their core selection pipeline is not identical to BUD/S, does not mean that there are not Force Recon units (and MAROPS ODAs for that matter) that swim just as well as the SEALs.  Both FR and the SEALs have hydrographic reconnaissance as one of their missions, for instance.

 

The basic reality is if you take an operator type guy (or unit) from any service, give them similar missions and similar training budgets, you get broadly similar skills levels. 

All these things are variable lad, if a FR unit is doing more DA missions then a given SEAL platoon, ect ect, then the FR team would be considered "better", skill's get used or they get rusty, you can train and train all you want, but unless those skills are employed it's really a mute point,

BTW, you can't really be better at HALO jumping, your either good or dead...

I completely understand that, I'm completely unbiased now. Like I said, the SEALs are most likely better at combat swimming and Recon is most likely better at recon (go figure), but the others are a tossup and it depends on where the unit is in their workup and what types of missions they are getting while on deployment (you'd know better than me, but kicking in doors everyday in real ops would seem to make you better than just regular training exercises). You can't really compare H2H training I don't guess, as there are so many variables and such. The best H2H guy is going to be the guy who unholsters his Glock 19 the fastest (or whatever handgun is used) in my opinion.

 

Yeah, but I was referring to more accurate insertion, etc etc. I've heard (again, this could be 110% wrong and is completely debatable), that DEVGRU is probably the best US SOF unit at HALO...and I have heard great things about the Teams.

What do you mean don't buy into the hype? I'm not. There is much more hype (especially around the media/hollywood) surrounding SF than the Teams. I never said that SEALs were better than FR at DA, and I never said that FR was better than SEALs at DA, I said that it is a tossup.

I understand all of this, but I was making a generalization. Most SEAL platoons do not focus on RECCE, and most FR platoons do not focus on combat swimming. So, for the most part, those generalizations are true.

BTW, the only HALO combat jump since the GWOT by US forces has been by the Marines...not SEAL's

I wouldn't doubt it at all...I never said SEALs were the only ones getting missions (Horsesoldier, if you mention "Sleep,Eat,Lift", you will be in E-danger ) Seriously though, can you speak of this or is this OPSEC? This had to be around the time of the invasion of A'Stan or Iraq, because if we were already in Iraq or A-Stan then they could simply have drove a Humvee onto the target.

 

Sleep, Eat and Lift.  Otherwise it just spells "SEL"

 

A lot of it is like Mough suggested, situational and depending on the then and now mission -- if, say, a Force Recon unit is gearing up for a mission where they know they're going to be in the water a bunch, I'd put money on them being more on top of their game in that realm than an otherwise basically identical SEAL platoon that's spinning up for an Afghanistan rotation (or vice versa -- I'm not taking a swing at the SEALs).  A whole lot of skills in SOF units are highly perishable and have to be either constantly trained on, or intensely refreshed prior to deployment.