MARSOC, Navy SEALs, and Army Rangers: SOF by the numbers
How big is a SEAL team? How many Green Berets are there? We have answers.
BY JOSHUA SKOVLUND | PUBLISHED DEC 20, 2023 8:00 AM EST
The U.S. military’s special operations forces (SOF) are home to some of the most highly trained soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen in the world. They must undergo grueling assessments and selections before they make it into one of the prestigious SOF units under the umbrella of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
But exactly how big is a SEAL team? Are Army Rangers the largest unit in SOCOM? How does MARSOC, a relative newcomer to the SOF world, compare in size? Cold, hard numbers aren’t easy to come by, but they do exist.
Each unit’s assessment and selection allows only the best to serve within their ranks, so only a few graduate out of the many that try out. That’s why there are not hundreds of thousands of service members in each SOF unit, but numbers alone don’t explain why they are elite. Special operations units are masters of the fundamentals of warfare, and they generally have better funding, better training, fewer restrictions, and a near carte blanche to select the very best while getting rid of anyone who no longer maintains the standard.
https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/special-operations-forces-numbers/
