Toughest military training in the world?
 

I forgot how the discussion started, but a friend and I had a talk about military training and how tough they are. I don't know much about this so I mentioned up the fact that the Navy SEAL are the hardest men in the world and their training is the toughest in the world based on the documentary I watched about them a few years back. He quickly said that the SEALs are overrated and that the SASR in his home country Australia train harder. He gave me a few links to read, a two-part documentary on their training, and brought up the fact that more men died in training than in actual combat. This piqued my curiosity so I spent the past couple of days Googling which military training is the toughest in the world. One source gave me a list of the top 10 most badass group in the world and SEALs came in second, the first was the British SAS. I looked up the SAS and their training is pretty insane as well. Another source on Yahoo Answer says it's like comparing apples and oranges as the different groups, while elite, train differently for different operational purposes. Yet another says it's the Russians, who are literally brutal to their recruits because they'll actually beat them. Some say it's the French Legion, the Israelis...it's hard to figure all of this out.

I realize that asking for a definitive answer might be impossible to achieve, so I won't ask that. Since I know some people in this forum have served in the military, and some are history/military buffs that can give me an "expert opinion" about this.

Apples to oranges is right. Even among US forces, you have SEALs, JSOC, HRT, and probably others I'm forgetting. I'm not familiar with other countries' forces and only passingly familiar with ours. On top of that, when you say "toughest," you could mean brutality of training, difficulty, discipline, adherence to guidelines, any number of things. It's pretty meaningless.

Should beating be considered as training? I don't.

I know someone who has two sons who are Seals. She told me stories about their training. Amazing that anyone can get through it.

I have heard those who served with them compliment the Gurkhas. I think you will find that youngsters start training in the hope of becoming one. If it were a question of who do you want guarding your back.... I think they are a popular choice.

A friends dad said they would crawl up and feel their shoe laces to see if they were friend or enemy - didnt know they were there.

A friend of mine recently completed his 8 years of service in the US Army. During part of that time, he was deployed to Afghanistan and did everything from routine patrols to providing support for special forces. He told me a bit about working with Gurkhas, and the essence of it was "Don't fuck with Gurkhas, don't piss off Gurkhas, don't even joke around with Gurkhas," in a way that suggested a mix of respect and a slight touch of fear. Hearing that tone of voice from someone who nonchalantly mentioned the time he shot a 40mm grenade through an insurgent who was pointing an RPG at him and laughed about the fact that he was lucky the insurgent's incompetence allowed him to get a shot off first really says something.

Oh, and one Gurkha recently received Britain's Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for repelling a Taliban attack and saving several lives
BBC News - Gurkha who repelled Taliban attack gets bravery medal
Not exactly the kind of person I would want to piss off.