Special Forces Around the World — A Sneak Peek

Called "Special Purpose Regiments," these soldiers are not combat experts, they're pain endurance experts! Their training is designed to break bones. By the end of it they're a formidable fighting force because they're total badasses.

The envy of special combat teams around the world for their expertise in every fighting technique. But that's not all. Their espionage training make them all real-life double-O bond agents!

Much like Navy SEALs and other U.S. forces the French specialize in different jobs, like snipers, missile launch experts, divers, etc. They don't work with allied special forces as much as other Western nations.

Israel has MANY units of special forces. Shayetet 13 specializes in hostage rescues and counter-terrorism. These are the Krav Maga experts (it's taught locally if you want to try it). If you've seen "Munich," these are some of the guys involved in the attack on Lebanon.

James Bond's agency, this is a real thing. Mi5 is the equivalent of the CIA and Mi6 is the combat agency that "neutralizes the threat."

A 4,000-man strong fighting force from Nepal, these soldiers fight for Britain and are famous for their long, curved knife they use to slice enemies' throats. Much like the French Foreign Legion, these are a kind of mercenaries and have about 25,000 applicants for the 200 open spots each year.

Formed when mercenary forces were common, France deployed these troops (mostly made up of criminals on the lamb from Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, UK and more) in their fight to conquer Algeria and Mexico. They still exist and are mysterious, mostly because their soldiers are wanted men in other nations.

People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces does, according to Wikipedia, "rapid reaction combat in a limited regional war under high-tech conditions, commando operations, counter-terrorism, and intelligence gathering."