The Strategypage is a comprehensive summary of military news and affairs.
 News As History - November 19, 2008

Dunnigan's and Bay's Latest
Advertisement
New Strategy - Wargames at Discount Prices
1.Squad Battles: Winter War
2.Silent War
3.Manoeuvre
4.Gallic Wars
5.Fast Action Battle: The Bulge

100+ Computer and Board games all with free shipping.
 
 
 

Online Giving

Utah SEO Firm

Xango

Smiley Gifts for Babies
Military History | How To Make War | Wars Around the World Rules of Use
Commandos and Special Operations Discussion Board
Sign In   Return to Topic Page
Subject: Guatemalan Special Forces
Iano    12/11/2004 2:59:46 PM
Hi there does anyone know about the Guatemalan Special Forces?

Of interest, if there was a fight between Guatemalan Special Forces, and Brtish Territorial Infantry, all other factors being equal, who would your money be on?
 
Quote    Reply
 Latest
 News 		  Most
 Read 		  Most
 Commented		  Hot
 Topics

Email Me When A New Comment Is Made
Show Only Poster Name and Title     Sort in Reverse Order Posted
Pages: 1 2 3   NEXT
AussieEngineer    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   12/12/2004 6:41:11 AM
lol, whenever someone mentions the territorials I think of Gavin from "The Office".
 
Quote    Reply

Iano    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   12/12/2004 1:07:24 PM
Yes haha I'll give you that Kindve wondering though if Guatemala's finest are better or worse than them though. After all, is a third world country's finest better or worse than a third world country's last choice?
 
Quote    Reply

jibberish    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   12/21/2004 12:42:31 AM
i would guess that all nations special forces are similar in capabilities, just a matter of degrees. its with conventional forces that the third world countries take the dive.
 
Quote    Reply

Iano    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   12/21/2004 2:35:40 PM
I wouldnt be too sure. The UK has very small special operations community, between the SBS and SAS it must be less than a thousand. Whereas the US has 45000 personnel in SOCOM. Okay the American population and American military are bigger than Britains, but not that much bigger, 200-odd million against 60 million. So either Americans are naturally more suited for special operations than British, or the standards are different. Plus even though the creme de la creme of some other country might be very good soldiers, and a first world special operations soldier must be a very good soldier, I imagine technology can affect their abilities quite a bit, and thats something third world countries dont have a lot of access to by definition.
 
Quote    Reply

Rebanonjin    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   3/28/2005 2:23:39 AM
I believe they are called "Kaibiles" (singular: Kaibil). From what I read they are known to be amongst the best trained soldiers in jungle warfare in the world (that's right, a third world nation's spec ops ranks amongst the best worldwide) as well as for their brutal (and sometimes plain disgusting)training. They commited several human rights violations in the civil war. I read somewhere that even US Army Special Forces have gone to Guatemala to take the Kaibil course but only 1 has completed the course with full honors. If this is true, Holy Sh*t.
 
Quote    Reply

Jodhpur    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   4/16/2005 7:04:19 PM
They were termed the "dog soldiers", by a section of the British press, owing to their propensity to use dogs for bayonet practice or something like that.
 
Quote    Reply

Jodhpur    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   4/16/2005 7:12:45 PM
Besides why would you want to compare them to the territorials? Given that the SAS trains next door in Belize -they'd be a more appropriate term of reference (although perhaps unfortunate for the "Kaibiles" if they ever tangled for real with the boys from hereford).
 
Quote    Reply

Iano    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   5/24/2005 10:04:02 AM
It was just something I thought of one day... So what is the disgusting part of the training? And the atrocities they committed? Bayoneting dogs, that is awful. But this doesnt point to superb soldiering... to me this reeks of paramilitary brutality and so on. So you think the Kaibiles would win?
 
Quote    Reply

GOP    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces -   5/24/2005 8:33:20 PM
Robanonjin, that is because it was US Army SF and not USMC Force Recon :). I have 100% confidence that a average FORCE RECON soldier is better than the average Kaible. Iano, I would bet the house on the SAS. They are the best of the best, the elite, and the greatest SF in the world (I am a American, but it is true). I don't exactly know how 2 SF groups are going to fight each other, but if they did, the Brits would win. As far as conventional forces, the Kaibles might win, but within 72 hours, they would have Harriers, Infantry, and Challengers invade Guatamala
 
Quote    Reply

Iano    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces -   5/25/2005 6:05:13 AM
Nope I was meaning reservist/territorial forces...?
 
Quote    Reply

Yimmy    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces -   5/25/2005 11:42:36 AM
My money would be on the bad guys - unless the Territorials have gone through the jungle wafare course. Even if they were SAS, take someone who has never done the training, and stick them in a jungle against someone who has, and you can't expect good results.
 
Quote    Reply

GOP    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces -   5/25/2005 2:54:20 PM
The territorial forces have, I believe, gone through jungle training in Belize. Obviously, Guatamala might win in the first few hours, but they are not going to attack because they don't have hardly any military combat power and would be defeated quickly by the British (and maybe US forces)
 
Quote    Reply

machetevolador    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   5/26/2005 12:06:20 PM
Kaibiles : One of the best anti-guerrilla units in the Americas. I have pics but i dont know how to post them here.
 
Quote    Reply

Yimmy    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   5/26/2005 1:07:30 PM
"The territorial forces have, I believe, gone through jungle training in Belize" I believe TA can go on the jungle warfare course, however I doubt many have, and even less complete units will have. I can't think of any reserve units off-hand where it is a standard piece of training. Maybe 4 para do it after their parachute course? I know Marines do a 2 weeks arctic warfare course after the Commando course, maybe they do jungle warfare training after that?
 
Quote    Reply

Iano    RE:Guatemalan Special Forces   5/26/2005 2:33:39 PM
I have NEVER heard of a territorial/reservist unit undergo jungle training like that. I'm sure there are individuals or small numbers of people who have, but I dont believe there are TA units earmarked for possible jungle operations - although I know the 51st Highland has a mountain soldiering role. However your posts have given me a great idea about TA training... Maybe when the parent battalion (ie for us read RWF/RRW) undergoes specialist training, so should the TA equivalent... For example our parent units are/were armoured or mechanised, a lot of the guys who got mobilised for Iraq found themselves riding around in Warriors and Saxons with no prior experience of this (just the build-up training). So maybe small cadre of instructors from TA unit could go with the reular unit. Not everybody, resources are stretched thin enough as it is. But send about 2-3 NCOs per platoon. Enough to be able to pass on the knowledge to the rest of the lads in the event they have to deploy in that role. Actually talking of units I know 22 SAS have to do jungle phase so I should imagine 21 and 23 have at least a proficiency in that area... Ian
 
Quote    Reply
Pages: 1 2 3   NEXT

StrategyWorld.com© 1998 - 2008StrategyWorld.com. All rights Reserved. StrategyWorld.com, StrategyPage.com, FYEO, For Your Eyes Only and Al Nofi's CIC are all trademarks of StrategyWorld.com Privacy Policy