Kaibiles, is the name of the Guatemalan Special Forces, there training and fighting is considered among the best in the world, many Special Forces from other parts of the world have come to Guatemala to take the Kaibil course only 20% of the people that take the course can finish it, the remaining 80% cant make it to the end. I think the most important part of Kaibiles is that they have been fighting Guatemala civil war for more than 30 years, the war ended in 1996, this is the war the US and Britain are fighting in Iraq that aint easy winning, this is fighting against guerrilas and terrorists. That hit and run, or hit and kill themselves. US and Britain having such a powerful army havent manage to have full control over this in Iraq, and the Kaibiles and the Guatemalan Army managed to fight and mantain this rebel and armed guerrillas out of the cities Guatemala cities for more than 30 years. "If I advance, follow me. If I stop, urge me on. If I retreat, kill me."

 

The Kaibiles are infamous for their practice of forcing recruits to bite the heads off live chickens for survival practices.

On 2006, the Kaibiles were the only UN peacekeeping Special Operations force that could infiltrate in the Jungle and capture the LRA. This operation intelligence was handled by Brits and US Special Operations Forces from the Air. The group of Kaibiles was of 85, and they were ambushed by a group of 150 Rebels. The gun fight lasted for 5 hours and this was the time it took for a rescue missions to get there and get them out. 70 Rebels were killed and 30 were considered wounded on the bigest hit to a LRA since the UN forces are in Congo. The was was so bloody that they run out of amo and had to engage in close combat fighting with knifes, 8 kaibiles were killed in this mission. Check it out in the internet.

 

In conclusion I think Kaibiles, are at the level or above any other Special Forces in the World.

 

 

Well im From Guatemala and im capacitated as one, first of all the training takes place in Peten poptun base, the peten weather its very high its a hot and dry, the training its 3 months long, they have to survive in the jungle as part of a test for more than 15 days just with one knife nothing more, the 3 months of training are like years, the learn how to survive, how to attack, how to ambush, how to be undetected, how to climb threes with nothing , how to camuflage, how to cruce rivers, make long runnings, long swimming with equipment, walks, war exercises with live fire, rapels, etc. The kaibil its one of the top SF in the world, its an ANTI Guerrilla Force, and in the jungle is undetectable and capable of take any enemy. The kaibil equipment is not modern as the other special forces , they dont have night vision and that type of equipment , they move in night like predators with night training and can use their low equipment and make it 100% effective. If you take Green Berets in a Jungle against kaibiles you will note that the Kaibiles will take them out. Dont judge a Special Force just for its country, yeah we are a third world country but shure the kaibiles without technology use what they have at a 100%.

While I do believe that they are capable of being the best in the world at jungle warfare, what are your other skill sets like? How are your MOUT skills? How are your CQB skills? How are your h2h skills? HALO/HAHO? Static line? Rappelling? Climbing? Rucking? Mobility? Weapons profeciency? Leadership? Are they crosstrained? Combat swimming? Combat diving?

 

They are not "Green Berets", they are US Army SF. And SF has an extreme amount of profencieny at so many tasks.

Had a customer years ago who in his youth was a royal marine and served in belize while the guats were having their dispute with britain over the border.  his section was responsible for 20 km of the border and he was distinctly unimpressed with the guatamalen soldiers. 

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.

an awful lot of that 45k are support guys not shooters etc so the numbers are likely quite a bit less than that.

Iano, I suspect one of the reasons that there is a difference in the number of special operations forces between Britain and the US is because of money. It takes a hell of a lot of cash to sustain a military and the Brits have a limited budget. They spend this money to try to keep conventional forces trained and paid well. The British are also a very innovative people, so they like to spend money on keeping up with other military technologies. That is why they simply do not have the extra cash lying around to create new SOF units. My American mind would look at how the UK government spends the 50 % income and other ridiculously high tax money, and trim some of the fat. I would not look to cut back the military. I would cut back on some social programs. It boils my blood to think about all those damn illegal  immigrants getting free healthcare and all kinds of welfare checks, and all those citizens who think they are above working for a living. Anyone who tells you that the reason that UK SOF is in much smaller number because they prefer quality over quantity is treading neck deep in bullshit. Although it is true that the SAS/SBS are some of the finest SOF units in the world, the brits would never back down from creating new units for a more enhanced capability and power projection. And while the standards for the SAS/SBS are very high, and higher than most US SOF (with the exception of CAG and DEVGRU), they are not that much higher. It is not a question of standards, or quality over quantity, it is a question of money. However, it is true that the SAS/SBS embody quality over quantity, but it is because of necessity. Not because the Brits intentionally made it that way.