Original subtitles

Throughout history and across the globe, different

countries have always revered their toughest warriors.

Today, our headlines are topped with a new breed of elite fighters.

Seals, Spetsnaz, SAS, Delta.

They are some of the most well-known special operations forces of the world,

the best of the best.

They've proven their effectiveness time and time again.

But with current world events, the necessity for other countries to have

their own specialized elite units is great.

Today, special operations forces exist in militaries all over the globe.

Forces like the Norwegian FSK, rugged, arctic warriors tasked with

protecting oil rigs from terrorist attacks.

The famed British SAS, whom almost all other forces are modeled after.

The Republic of Korea's UDT, trained by U .S.

Navy Seals, to protect their waters from the danger in the North.

The well-respected Polish Guam, who've never

lost one man in battle over hundreds of missions.

U.S.

Delta Force and Navy Seals, making history with recent wars in the Middle East.

Russian Spetsnaz, masters of deception, and bizarre training techniques.

And the mysterious American OGA, providing crucial intel to operators in the field.

Listen to the stories, see the high-tech weapons, and witness the grueling training

in the eyes of the actual international operators themselves.

This is Global Warfighters.

High-level targets, hostage risk, counter-terrorism.

There are certain types of operations that often fall

outside the scope of conventional military forces.

A Tier 1 operator is someone who is talented, who is focused, who is

operationally mature, who's tactically patient.

And when you put that person in a group of like-minded operators, they become a very

effective fighting force, and one hell of a deterrent for the bad guys in the world.

We need special forces operations today because they cost effective.

If you can use small numbers of men effectively to strategically affect the

operations of a foreign power, or a terrorist organization, then it's a

very good way of a country using its limited resources.

You truly have the best of the best.

And what that allows a country to do is to have a so-called scalpel.

You know where your conventional forces serve more as a sledgehammer?

You can go in and probe and basically set the stage

for a conventional force to come in and change a war.

In the wake of major terrorist attacks and wars supported by the international

community, the need for countries to develop

their own special operations forces has grown.

But before global terrorism originally became a major issue in the 1970s,

very few had ever heard of special operations forces.

It wasn't until 1980 when hostages were taken at the Iranian embassy in London

that an unknown tier one unit took the world stage.

A group of Arabistani terrorists took over the Iranian embassy in London.

They took 24 hostages.

On the sixth day, the Shahjay de Faire, the man called Lavazani, was murdered by

one of the terrorists, at which point the control was handed over to the military.

We approached the building silently.

It didn't go quite as we'd hoped, and the assault approach phase was compromised.

We were given a go-go-go early, and we attacked from six separate entry points.

Me and my partner went in through the back door.

There was gas, there was explosions, there was gunfire coming from upstairs,

and hostages were coming down the stairs.

Somebody shouted, he's a terrorist, and looked up

to see one of the terrorists coming down the stairs.

None of us could open fire because there was a danger

of shooting at hostage or one of our own people.

As he came clear at the bottom of the stairs, it

was clear that he had a hand grenade in his hand.

Three of us shot him at the same time, and he collapsed in a ball.

The building caught fire.

There was smoke, there was noise, there was a lot of action.

And when all the hostages were out and the troops came out, and finally, I was one of

the last few individuals out of the building.

During that seven minutes, we killed five terrorists

and captured one, and we rescued 22 hostages.

And on that day, I live in Great Britain, I sit here on a Russian radio,

and I try to hear you see so how we describe it.

Among that special forces, Great Britain, there is no wounded, there is no dead.

Everybody okay?

It was a top, top, most beautiful operation

in the history of special forces of the world.

The mission was played live on international television.

It brought the Special Air Service into the public domain dramatically,

and things were never going to be the same again after that.

It kind of set the stage for other spec ops forces, it showed

the world what they were capable of, and it set the standard.

What the world had never known was that the Special Air Service, also known as the

SAS, had already been around since World War II.

The British Special Air Service was formed in the early 1940s in North Africa.

Essentially by David Sterling, he said, look, I can take a small number

of men, I can raid, I can attack, I can parachute in.

He was supported by Jock Lewis, who was the man who actually made things happen.

They were looking for adventurers, for men that didn't quite fit the picture,

who didn't fit well into the normal disciplined military arrangement.

Sterling, in short order in 1942, attacked three separate enemy airfields,

destroyed over 60 aircraft with no losses to his raiding force.

By the end of the Second World War, there were several thousand Special Air

Service soldiers operating right across Europe,

and carrying out raids behind enemy lines.

The SAS are made up of four saber squadrons, air, mountain, sea and mobility.

The squadrons are made up of patrols of four men, each specializing in either

signals, demolition, medicine or linguistics.

After the Iranian embassy siege, the whole world went out and paid the

British government to have the Special Air Service train their people to carry out

the roles that they now perceive as being absolutely needed and essential.

Great many countries, including the United States Special Forces Operational

Detachment Delta, have modeled themselves on the British 2-2 SAS Special Air Service.

To this day, the British SAS are still one of the busiest Special Forces in the

world, including operations in the Middle East, Africa and Northern Ireland.

There's only been one year since the Second World War where the British Army

hasn't been involved in acting, operations somewhere in the world,

and the Special Air Service since the 1950s has been involved in all of them.

Today, Special Operations Forces continue to help shape history around the world.

As the British SAS made headlines before, the US Navy

SEALs are currently the most talked about team around.

SEALs can be deployed anywhere.

Like their name implies, they specialize in operating around water.

SEAL Team Six made world headlines when they took out the

most wanted man in the Western world, Osama bin Laden.

But just like the SAS, the SEALs have been around for quite a while.

The Navy SEALs were born out of a speech JFK made in 1961.

President Kennedy felt the need for a unit that could

conduct unconventional warfare in a maritime environment.

I am directing the Secretary of Defense to expand rapidly and substantially.

In cooperation with our allies, the orientation of existing forces for the

conduct of non-nuclear war, paramilitary

operations, and sub-limited or unconventional wars.

The US Navy SEALs first success was in the Vietnam War as an

unconventional warfare unit that wreaked havoc on the Viet Cong.

They were known as the men with green faces because of the camouflage paint they used.

What makes the United States Navy SEALs unique is how cold, dark, deep,

salt water sorts men out.

And this is what makes their selection process so rigorous, so demanding,

and produces so few graduates.

Not only do SEALs participate in standard special operations training, but they also

have to learn to do it in, around, and over water.

It's amazing just how comfortable these men can

be in water, even in the most extreme situations.

Some of the toughest training I've had to go through as a Navy SEAL, of course,

is the initial Buds basic underwater demolition SEAL training.

That's roughly six months long, and probably the most famous week in there

is called Hell Week, where we stay up for roughly five days straight.

The SEALs' affinity to water raised a few eyebrows

when they were deployed to a war in the desert.

When SEALs first showed up at the beginning of the war in Afghanistan,

we brought our high-speed assault craft, these boats.

And some of the other forces looked at us like, why do you have boats in Afghanistan?

Of course, we did have a reason.

We were counting on some follow-on missions maybe in the Horn of Africa.

But we were relatively unproven on land, at least on a world stage, and we have

certainly changed that over the last 11 or 12 years.

It was this proving ground that led to the decision to let the SEALs take on the most

high-profile special operation in history, a mission that's now the subject of books

and Hollywood movies, which has created some controversy in the SEAL community.

In regards to the bin Laden operation as a community, we've agreed to kind of keep a

lid on it out of respect for the operation itself and for future operations.

There are crucial missions that these men participate in every day that we'll never

know of, but whether they wanted or not now.

The US Navy SEALs are forever part of world history.

It gave the USA a chance to hold its head high and say, we were going to do this,

and wherever you go, and wherever you hide, eventually we'll find you.

And they managed to do that and they proved it.

It was very important from the morale of the Western world.

When a special forces operator goes into the field, the physical tools he brings

can be just as important as the intel he has to work with.

The weapons have changed and developed over the years, but one fat remains true.

You need the right tool for the right job.

A large percentage of what special operations forces do is counter terrorism.

Ideally, that means preventing acts of terrorism,

but it also means stopping acts in progress.

One of the most difficult missions for a T01 unit to handle is a hostage rescue.

When innocent people's lives were at stake,

the training needed is wrapped exponentially.

In 2011, a ship and crew operated by South Korea was hijacked by pirates,

and a Korean showed the world just how hard they had been training.

The Republic of Korea, UDT, or Korean Navy SEALs are

heavily modeled after and often trained with their U.S.

SEAL brothers.

With a constant threat looming at their border to the

north, the UDT have good reason to always stay sharp.

North Korean agents are a constant threat and have been known to use what are called

midget submarines to infiltrate South Korean waters.

The South Korean UDT are a unique bunch.

They actually send guys through our pipeline, through our training,

and take some of that knowledge back to their own units.

An operation that indicates the capability of the Republic

of Korea Navy SEALs is the Samho jewelry operation in 2011.

There's been a dramatic rescue on board a hijacked freighter in the Arabian Sea.

The early morning raid had been carried out with the South

Korean destroyer and a Link's helicopter providing covering fire.

The ship and her 21 crew members were taken out into international waters while

its believed the pirates waited for backup or their ransom to be met.

South Korea had to act.

An operation such as the one the UDT or the South

Korean UDT SEALs carried out is very complex.

It requires intel, it requires assumed risk, it

requires execution on a nearly perfect level.

Just before dawn on January 21st, the UDT saw their opportunity and made their move.

Using small fast boats, the Korean team hit the freighter like a typhoon.

For the Rock Navy SEALs to fight the pirates and rescue the hostages is like

fighting through a 15 story building that's

made of steel, steel doors laid on its side.

They would be fighting from compartment to compartment, having to work their way,

cut their way, blast their way through the doors

as the pirates tried to hold off their attackers.

If you can imagine taking down a target, which you've never been before,

you don't know where the bad guys are.

And you're clearing this systematically, leaning on the training that you've done

in the past and relying on your teammates to watch your back.

It's a very complex operation and there's a great deal of risk involved.

The five hours siege ended with the killing of eight pirates capturing a five

more and the freeing of all 21 crew members.

Three UDT operators were injured in the op, but in the end they all survived.

The Korean UDT SEALs are a highly seasoned, effective unit.

They've proven time and time again to be effective at deterring and handling some

of these relatively volatile situations at Popo.

Whether it's hostage rescue or taking out a high priority target, the best way to

successfully carry out a mission is by any means necessary.

Essentially through unconventional warfare, you're trying not to have a fair fight.

You're trying to stack all the odds in your favor.

Delta Force is also a component of JSTOC, the Joint Special Operations Command.

Where the U.S.

seals represent the Navy, Delta's primary function is

counter-terror and direct action missions such as hostage rescues.

A typical hostage rescue operation that Delta participated

in during the Iraq war occurred in 2004 in Ramadi.

Five contractors, foreigners, had been captured

by the surgeon forces who executed one of them.

But exactly where they were kept and who was keeping them

and how many people were guarding them was initially unknown.

Most tier one groups are heavily trained for hostage rescue.

It's all about knowing your specific job, trusting your team and practice.

Lots and lots of practice.

With excellent intel provided by Polish forces, the hostages' location was

pinpointed to a remote house and Delta sent out on their daring mission.

Once the hostages' location was fixed, Delta, with support of its organic

aviation unit, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, would have

conducted a templated hostage rescue operation.

Delta came in by black hawk, fast and furious.

By flying low to the ground, the thundering blades of the copters wouldn't

be heard until they were right on top of their target.

With seconds to prevent the loss of lives,

Delta stormed the house from all directions.

If you had been on the raid, you'd have fought your way into the building,

clearing each room, employing all your training and target discrimination to

ensure that you kill the insurgents, but you don't kill the hostages.

But making sure that you treated them as if they might still be a threat,

in case any of the insurgents were playing hostage in order to escape the attack.

Once on the ground, the entire mission was over in a matter of minutes.

The four remaining hostages were rescued,

and the kidnappers had no idea what hit them.

Thanks to specific training that only Tier 1 units experience,

Delta was able to do their job with sharp precision.

One of the lesser-known Special Operations forces in the world is the Canadian JTF2.

Canadian Task Force 2 teams are a secretive

organisation, particularly counter-terrorist.

They're there for the defence of Canadian government

to be used very much as an counter-terrorist role.

The recent rush to valuable natural resources in the North has given Canada a

reason to discourage troublemakers from crossing their borders.

No one wants to run in with a highly-trained JTF2 Arctic unit.

The JTF2 was responsible for providing security for the Vancouver Olympics.

You know, Olympics are washed around the world.

They're a high-stakes event where country can't afford to have something go wrong.

The terrorist activity in the 1972 Munich Games set the stage for Tier 1 spec ops

forces to be a part of future Olympic events.

Canada has gone to great lengths to keep the JTF2 out of the public eye.

Secrecy is extremely important to all Special Operations

forces and a reason for some operators to remain anonymous.

When it comes to modern weapons, perhaps no gun has changed the way wars

have fought on the ground than the sniper rifle.

Just the fact that the enemy know we have snipers out there is a deterrent won't

oftentimes make them take different routes or not conduct an operation altogether.

The basic element that separates a Special operator

from a conventional soldier is the type of training.

Special Operations forces training is often long and brutal.

Every country's training and selection process is different.

But the one quality all operators seem to share is

the innate will to handle severely extreme scenarios.

When I got to CO training, I was a deer in the headlights.

And I vividly remember the first day thinking to myself at the end of it,

like, what the hell did I just get myself into.

But, you know, you adapt.

If you want enough, you can kind of overcome obstacles like that.

Pass rates for Special Air Service selection are close to 10%.

SES training is very, very hard.

The selection phase takes six months.

They're looking for the hardest guys they can find, the guys that won't quit.

Surprisingly though, the physicality isn't always what kills guys.

It's the mental aspect of it.

And I think most guys would agree that the mental side of the selection course is

what determines if you're going to make it or not.

There is one particular form of merciless training that all operators dread.

It has many names.

Some call it resistance to interrogation or RTI.

Every spec ops soldier has training for if they're captured.

They need some type of basic defense to not let too much

of the pertinent information get into the wrong hands.

Trainees are often deprived of sleep for several days

and put through a series of intense interrogations.

These exercises are not about enduring forms of torture.

It's more of a psychological game where you learn what not to say.

Ask any operator from around the world and they

may tell you that their training is the toughest.

But there is one country's force that has a legendary reputation.

Russia's special purpose force is known as Spetsnaz.

Historically the Spetsnaz fell under Russian military intelligence.

But today the term Spetsnaz is largely an umbrella

term for any Russian special purpose military.

Spetsnaz have been known to specialize in working behind enemy lines, often

embedding themselves in civilian populations in

order to commit sabotage or just general chaos.

I met one guy, one of the magic head people who fighting

against a Russian army and I say about Spetsnaz.

What do you think, from your point of view?

And he said look, Russian soldiers were not very good.

One airborne troop, better than 10 ordinary soldiers.

But one Spetsnaz is much better than 10 airborne troops.

Spetsnaz had a reputation for being very effective and very hard.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the role

of the Spetsnaz on the world stage has diminished.

But at the peak of their history there was no other

special operations force more respected and feared.

Stories of their ferocious training were a cold war staple.

But they were not just stories.

Spetsnaz candidates were forced to confront their worst fears, no matter how dark.

If candidates had claustrophobia, for example.

There is a new recruit, and immediately there is a psychologist who, somehow,

very easy.

He can find your phobia, imagine, most terrible situation what can happen with you.

We put the people in a coffin, put in a grave and close the grave.

You're inside a coffin, you don't know, for

10 minutes you're in a coffin for 5 minutes.

And if you had a fear of blood... What is a slaughterhouse?

Next door?

This is so... Why not to make one bath of blood?

Why not to jump into that blood?

It is such a nice thing.

Come on boys.

Such training creates an elite brand of warrior, fearing nothing, not even death.

But it's a mother Russia.

And you die because you protect your father, your mother.

You die and they're always glorifying.

It was known such a unit, as a kenikatsu unit.

But the glorification of suicidal act, always in our history, was so important.

What's training is complete.

Spets and asthma are sometimes asked to prove themselves in unimaginable ways.

Perspective recruits were dressed in local prison uniforms.

Their task was to cross the city of Moscow in 24 hours.

Meanwhile, a police reporter be made about escaped convicts.

That's a real worker.

And we don't know what can happen, because a policeman can shoot you.

So 24 hours to cross Moscow from A to B, it is quite tough.

They put a lot of emphasis on exotic training, their own form of martial arts.

The use of small shovels to be able to throw them like a hatchet and kill a man.

Spets and asthma love it, because it's such a universal thing.

You see, so you can dig it, you can use, you see soap and you in a water,

and as a weapon.

As a weapon, you see soldiers like that.

There is a wonderful sound when spades, you see.

I love it.

They build a huge mythology around their training.

It looks good.

The people who are Spetsnut soldiers are very, very tough soldiers.

But a lot of this has to do with the image

that they want to present to the larger world.

It is important for the reputation of Spetsnut.

People know, you see, so a bad guy, he will fight up to them.

He will never surrender.

And for him, it's much better to blow up himself and everybody around him.

So people, because they know where they try to avoid contact with such guys.

Just to the west of Russia, the country of

Norway has recently experienced tragic events.

Proving that even the most peaceful of countries

can benefit from special operations forces.

The Norwegian or Spetsnut alkamando is unique because it draws on both the

American Navy seals traditions and the British

Special Boat Service and Special Air Service.

The FSK have been involved in the conflicts

in Kosovo and more recently in Afghanistan.

But it's really the Norwegian environment that makes them unique.

Because of the high Norwegian delta and their training areas in the Arctic,

they are among the world's best Arctic troops without a doubt.

Other than optic combat, the FSK are trained for a very specific purpose.

A primary mission of the Norwegians is to protect

the oil rigs and their strategic importance.

If you take away oil, you're essentially taking away gasoline.

The oil platforms can be very vulnerable to a terrorist attack.

The training that the Norwegian naval and coastal ranger of special forces go

through is an environment in the North Sea and the Arctic Sea.

If a man goes into the water unprotected, he will

die in less than three minutes from hypothermia.

But this is their normal operating environment.

The Australian Special Air Service Regiment, or SASR, is another special

operations force whose abilities are shaped by their terrain.

They have a very hard training system, a very hard selection system.

They were involved in Afghanistan to a limited degree

in association with other special forces and in Iraq.

Reconnaissance was their main role, going in finding camps and bringing in the

main infantry to actually attack their targets that they discovered and found.

Their training in the harsh desert and gathering intel made them very popular

with other countries fighting in the Middle East.

As you will see, working with other nations is a

large part of being a special operations force.

While wars and terrorist attacks may single out certain countries, their

effects go beyond borders, threatening entire cultures and economies.

The need for different countries' militaries to work together is greater than ever.

The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were a chance for the coalitions involved

to prove themselves and their special operations forces.

The remarkably high levels of cooperation between special operations units in Iraq

and Afghanistan have been achieved through the innate professionalism of these units

and the understanding of the need for cooperation

to fight the kind of enemies that were up against.

Dealing with so many cultures and languages, especially

in a hostile environment, can be frustrating.

But sometimes there are those who transcend those barriers.

One team in particular is extremely popular among

many of their fellow Tier 1 peers, the Polish Grom.

The Grom are extremely active on the world stage.

They never back down from a challenge and are famous for their determined spirit.

For me, war and terrorism is like a disease, like

a plague, and the Grom is a medicine carrying them.

The Tier 1 Polish counter-terrorist unit Grom comes from a Polish word,

Grom meaning thunderbolt.

But the acronym is Operational Mobile Reaction Group.

Grom was created in 1990, since then, I think it has

become an honorable force in the Polish military system.

Polish Grom has a very wide range of experience now.

They have participated in operations in support

of the United Nations requirements, such as Haiti.

In 1994, they helped operate against armed criminal elements in the country,

and again with high regard.

In over two decades, the Grom claim to have

never lost one of their own during an operation.

Yes, this is true.

The Grom have never lost any of the soldiers during the war.

Unfortunately, I have lost friends during a training

accident back in Poland, but never during an operation.

Not only are the Grom efficient, but they're also an inspiration to many others.

Many people in the world think the real achievement is to kill someone.

We think that a bigger achievement is to give somebody a life.

I have taken part in the operation of recapturing hostages a couple of times,

and there is nothing more moving than seeing tears in the eyes of an adult man

who was released by us five minutes before he was to be executed.

The Polish Grom are just a charismatic bunch of guys.

I am happy to hear that everyone around from special units like the Grom.

Why is this?

Maybe, because we feel like nothing is impossible.

We're also a team of friends, and people are just happier and a friendly environment.

The Grom are known for their hard work and their hard play.

It's been said that you don't want to try and drink these guys under the table.

The Polish Grom like to think that they can out drink,

everyone else, and there may be some truth to that.

Is there anyone here who, after having done hard and exhausting job, would not be

willing to have a good time and have a drink?

The relationships built in training and operations are important for the future,

but they can also help heal the past.

In 1939, Germany started World War II when they invaded Poland.

Today, the countries often work together.

The German spec opposite, the KSK, a very good operator, and have excellent training.

I value their famous German procedure.

Created in 1997, the German commando Spetsi al-Krefta, or the KSK, are the

newest special operations forces to join the global stage.

We remember that our history between Poland and Germany was really complicated.

But today we stand together with our former

enemy, and together we create a better future.

We create something which may help our countries, Europe, and the entire world.

Special operations make for many unexpected relationships.

In the 1990s, European alliances were put to the test during the conflict in Kosovo.

The Swedish special operations forces, currently

called the SOG, took a leading role in the area.

The SOG are a highly secretive team, but have been involved

in almost every major joint operation since its creation.

The horrible atrocities occurring in Kosovo at the

time had driven many Muslim migrants into Sweden.

The situation in Kosovo, Bosnia, Serbia, in the mid to late 90s was pretty grim.

We had ethnic cleansing in what was otherwise our western nation, and spec ops

forces, specifically Tier 1 forces, were

tasked with hunting down these war criminals.

The SOGs played a big part in stabilizing the region, and

the two countries share a close relationship to this day.

There is no relationship more mysterious than those

involved in the United States force known as the OGA.

OGA is an acronym for other government agency, which is basically a catch-all for

lesser-known agencies that provide us with a lot of intelligence.

It's a team effort at the Tier 1 level.

It could be anything from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to the Department

of Treasury, to the Central Intelligence Agency, to the National Security Agency,

all of these offices and departments that help fight terrorism.

I've dealt with OGA on a number of occasions.

They're critical to mission success.

Again, they do a lot of that behind the scenes work

that feeds you the information to go and do your work.

Again, we are more of an action force, as opposed to OGA, typically mines all the

information, figures out who's who and where they might be.

And oftentimes, that's the hardest part.

I mean, look at the binodinol.

We chased that guy for a decade, and it wasn't

the action arm of the military that found him.

It was OGA.

The dug-up worry was, and then sent in a CLT to go grab him.

As more countries develop their own Special Operations Forces, there is a

greater opportunity for them to train and work together.

In 2006, the Special Operation Command Europe

created an annual event called Jackal Stone.

Jackal Stone gives different Special Operations Forces the chance to train

together, share tactics, and to gain mutual respect from one another.

In our cooperation with other units in the world is very

important, as we exchange our tactics and experiences.

Today, warfare evolves very quickly, so there is no other choice but to work

together in order to be a step ahead of our enemies.

Terrorism doesn't always operate within borders.

A plane full of Americans can be hijacked in Somalia and land in London.

Complex situations like that can only be handled through established relationships

and an understanding of one another's training.

The biggest reward is building those relationships

and being able to tie into those in future conflicts.

As relationships and alliances continue to grow between Special Operations Forces,

the entire world becomes a safer place.

Each country may face their own unique adversaries, but between the extreme

train, the surgical precision, the fearless

spirit, and the overcoming of impossible odds.

Rest assured that the best possible men are on the job.