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Home » USASOC » SOFREP’s 2012 Greatest Hits #2: The Difference between Delta and ST6

SOFREP’s 2012 Greatest Hits #2: The Difference between Delta and ST6

by Brandon Webb · December 25, 2012 · Posted In: USASOC
SOFREP Greatest Hits 2012 #2
This was one of the most meaningful articles ever written pointing out the cultural differences between Army and Navy Special Ops. It’s no wonder that Iassen’s post is #2 on our list with close to 100,000 people reading this around the world.

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The Difference Between Delta and ST6

With the death of Usama bin Laden last year at the hands of some secret squirrel frogmen in Pakistan, there came a nation wide interest as to who killed UBL. “Navy SEALs” was released to the public whether via the White House or the Department of Defense.

But it was those “subject matter experts” such as Sean Naylor, Jeremy Scahill, etc. who made sure to correct the media that it was actually the SEALs of JSOC, aka DEVGRU or simply SEAL Team 6. I even heard the mention of “Task Force Blue” on CNN. Amazing…

As the days after settled down, the internet/blogging community kept asking the same two questions. The first question from those not in “the know” was simply – “Who is SEAL Team 6??” The second question was by the ones who were in the know as well as the entire US Army Special Operations Command – “WTF the SEALs?? Not Delta?! That’s BS! blah blah.”

To be honest I was one of those asking the second question. The UBL operation and the choice of the unit lead to the topic of “What is the difference between Delta and ST6?” by many individuals out there. 100% of civilians and 99% of the military will tell you there is no difference and that they are identical. For those who served in the JSOC task forces overseas will all tell you that the case is just not so.

Culture

You can tell a lot about a unit by its foundations or its core. Almost 100% of the ST6 shooters came from the SEAL Teams whilst Delta is comprised of personnel from the Ranger Regiment, Special Forces, the conventional Army, as well as even members of other military branches (there have even been ST6 members who have vetted for Delta over the years).

For Delta, the majority come from the 75th and SF, two VERY distinct units with completely different missions and cultures.

Continue to The Difference between Delta and ST6.

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About The Author

Brandon Webb

Brandon Webb is a former U.S. Navy SEAL with combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the Middle East. His last tour in the SEAL Teams was as the Course Manager for the US Navy SEAL Sniper program, arguably one of the most difficult sniper courses in the world. He was formerly a contributing editor for Military.com, and currently the Editor-in-Chief of SOFREP.com. Brandon is regularly featured in the media as a subject matter expert on military affairs. An avid writer, his last two books (The Red Circle, & Benghazi: The Definitive Report) both hit the New York Times best seller list, and his writing has been featured in print, and digital media worldwide. You can follow him on Twitter @BrandontWebb

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sahaldelta
sahaldelta 5pts

Hey does anyone know the average age of a Delta/ST6 operator? Are many of them above 40? What do you think is the max age that someone can be in order to serve in those two units, and what is the minimum? Thanks.

ColonelProp
ColonelProp 5pts like.author.displayName 1 Like

Just a great read - keep this in the back of your mind as we get blasted with ads for Zero Dark Thirty for the next two weeks....

576575
576575 5pts

They are the Different Boys..

Mrod05
Mrod05 5pts

My favorite article this year. I specially enjoyed the comment of both Delta and ST6 being two different tribes. Now I understand why ST6 is enjoying the limelight now. For the past 30 years Delta force has been the preferred unit of the US armed forces because of their professionalism while ST6 had to prove themselves time and time again ( all thanks to D.marcinko)

CK5150
CK5150 5pts

Hope all of my SOFREP friends had a great Christmas/Holiday/day off.  Best wishes!

baronhobo
baronhobo 5pts

@SOFREP #SEALs have always trained to operate in VERY small numbers, whereas #Delta operate in small-to-multi-squadron size operations.

EliasFreire
EliasFreire 5pts

The article is great, but the comments section of that topic is excellent, I remember Eric Stratton (where is he?) coming here and explaining more about ST6 and the Vanilla Teams, so much information.

JohnAd
JohnAd 5pts

Interesting.

Mi6lethaltool
Mi6lethaltool 5pts like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

The main difference is that one group write books the other don't! LOL

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