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.

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.