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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"''
|'''Field Marshal Slim'''}}
Military fiction will generally focus on units considered elite in some fashion, even if it is obvious that the regular units found in the same battle are just as much in the thick of it.
This is particularly common in fiction set in [[World War II]]: If it is a US unit that is in focus, it is more likely to be Airborne, [[Semper Fi|Marine Corps]] or Rangers than standard Army. British units are more likely to be SAS or Paras, though curiously enough rarely Royal Marines, SBS or even the vaunted Commando raiders. Soviets are more likely to be Guards than regular. Germans in this era are more likely to be Waffen-SS with camouflage uniforms; even in late-war scenarios where German territory is being invaded you are more likely to face proper infantry with decent weapons and gear rather than teenage and elderly Volkssturm troops armed with crude "emergency weapons" or older captured stuff.
Presumably happens because of the [[Rule of Cool]]: famous units and battles are simply more "special". Also, since special forces units consists of [[The Spartan Way|better trained]] soldiers with high qualifications and (usually) superior equipments, it's generally [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|more believable]] for them to succeed. For works based on [[Real Life]], this focus can simply reflect historical [[Truth in Television]], as is the case with ''[[Black Hawk Down]]'' and ''[[Band of Brothers]]''.
Interestingly, the writers often have no idea what the unit designations actually refer to. "Army Ranger," "Navy SEALs," "Special Forces," and "Green Berets" are all conflated into generic commandos (most often referred to as 'operators' or 'shooters') with overlapping roles. Of course there is a certain amount of overlap, but in general terms these kinds of units are divided into two camps: Elite regular formations (Rangers and Royal Marines for example) who are highly trained regular soldiers; and Special Forces (SEALS, Green Berets, SAS etc) who operate in small teams and are brought in for specific missions.
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Most of the princibal ZAFT pilots in ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' and ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'' are "Reds", top military academy graduates.
* Invoked in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS'' by [[Colonel Badass|Lt. Colonel Hayate]] who initiated the Riot Force Six at the beginning of the series. They're not just a branch in the [[The Federation|Time-Space Administration Bureau]], they're a [[The Spartan Way|highly trained]] special force filled with prodigies and living legends from top to bottom, created specifically to prevent the Bureau's destruction which was [[Cryptic Conversation|ominously predicted]] [[Oracular Urchin|by Carim's annual prophecies]].
* ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' is an odd case. The main protagonist is a pilot of SMS, a [[Private Military Contractors]], which is outside of the regular NUNS. However, the SMS is equipped with the some of the [[Super Prototype|best weapons, vehicles and equipment]] available in the Macross Frontier Fleet and [[Ace Pilot|their pilots are regarded as better]] due to the high standard. Also, they mostly do missions considered to difficult for the NUNS. So, is it played straight or subverted?
* Section 9 in ''[[Ghost in
* The main character of ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' is part of the Special Response Team, a special forces branch of Mithril, itself an elite worldwide military anti-terrorist [[Private Military Contractors|PMC]] organization armed with [[Bigger Stick|advanced technologies and weapon systems]] superior to that of any national armed forces.
* All the named and important characters that are shown fighting in ''[[Code Geass]]'' are elite soldiers of some kind. The Black Knights consists of the Zero Squad, led by [[Action Girl|Ace Pilot Kallen]], the Four Holy Swords, led by Todoh, and former resistance members who've been promoted due to seniority. Britannia, meanwhile, has the bulk of its military power seemingly consisting of Suzaku and the Lancelot, Cornelia and her Glaston Knights, Schneizel's faction and his cool toys, and the Knights of Rounds. Regular soldiers are usually just cannon-fodder, unless they're used for an important strategic plot. Even the China arc focuses mainly on Li Xingke and those loyal to him.
==
* The ''[[Halo]]'' fan fiction ''[[
== Film ==
* ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' follows a squad of Rangers from D-Day onwards.
* ''[[Heartbreak Ridge]]''. Few marines fought at the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, so the backstory of [[Clint Eastwood]]'s character was changed to having first served in the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea, and joining the USMC afterwards. However it was the US Army Rangers who rescued American medical students in Grenada, not the Recon marines as portrayed in the film.
* ''[[The Elite Squad]]'' - a movie about Rio de Janeiro's [[Exactly What It Says
* ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' follows the journey of Captain Willard (505th of 173rd Airborne Brigade and assigned to MACV-SOG, a classified United States Special Operations Forces unit which conducted ops in Vietnam) on a military-sanctioned assassination mission (and not his first). He does depend on a group of enlisted Navy sailors to get the job done however, and is escorted up the Nung River by [[Colonel Kilgore]] of the 1st Squadron of the 9th Air Cavalry.
* In Sergey Bondarchuk's ''[[Waterloo]]'' a disproportionate amount of screen time is devoted to the Polish Lancers of the Imperial Guard, who in actual fact were just one squadron strong in 1815 and thus much too small a unit to make a significant contribution. In the film it is they who throw back the charge of the Union Brigade (Royal Dragoons, Royal Scots Greys and Inniskillin Dragoons), in actual fact it was two regiments of French line lancers, who wore a very different uniform (green jackets, brass helmets). Also not untypically the only British cavalry regiment shown in that charge is the Scots Greys, who were the only dragoons one to wear bearskin caps instead of helmets.
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* The ''[[Sharpe]]'' books by Bernard Cornwell are focused on a small group of skirmisher riflemen, and quite often portray them as highly superior to regular rank-and-file infantrymen of the British Army who are hardly able to achieve anything without the help of the protagonists.
** Even before they became [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]], Sharpe's men belonged to the 95th Rifles (previously Prince Consort's Own), a reconnaissance unit using skirmisher tactics, camouflage and advanced weaponry, the closest thing to special forces in the Napoleonic Era.
* According to the narrator of ''[[Starship Troopers (
* In his political treatise ''[[The Prince]]'', [[Niccolo Machiavelli]] complains bitterly about the Italian system of relying on mercenaries for war. One of his specific criticisms was that your average Italian mercenary group was almost entirely cavalry, because mounted soldiers were perceived as more elite. The fact that they could charge more for cavalry probably helped too.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* In a [[Speculative Fiction]] example, most ''[[
** Even in situations where the ''Enterprise'' is neither the flagship nor the most technically-superior ship in the fleet, it has always the best crew by far.
** The ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
* ''[[Band of Brothers (TV series)|Band of Brothers]]'' covers the story of Easy Company of the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In ''[[Warhammer
** Somewhat justified, Space Marines are central to their religion. Plus, there are so few of them that there is ALWAYS a more important target they need to get to.
** On the other hand, the Imperial Guard get [[
*** Although the Storm Troopers recently got a ''massive'' boost - AP3 hellguns that tear through Chaos Marines like a knife through butter, anyone? To be fair, the hellgun used to be crappy for an allegedly "elite" unit - Str 3, like a normal lasgun, with the "bonus" of AP5. To put that in perspective, that means that it had the ability to ignore the armour of incredibly basic mooks. You know, like ''most other guns in the game.''
*** In the table top game, it's a good general rule that an army's elite units are more ornate and fancy than the rank and file. Elites usually have more grandiose fluff. Headquarters units tend to have more [[Bling of War]] than a convention of militant pimps and fluff that goes [[Up to Eleven]]. Compare the already superhuman rank and file [http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1252454_99120101024_SMCombatsquadmain_873x627.jpg tactical marine] with an elite [http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1251575_99110101332_SMveteransmk2main_873x627.jpg veteran marine] and finally a [http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1000385a_99120101032_BACommander_873x627.jpg captain]. This same pattern holds for pretty much every army.
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** 4Chan's fan-chapter [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Galactic_Partridges the Galactic Partridges] tend to swoop in, make the last blow on the enemy, and take the credit from the people who actually did the work. They even spy on other chapters so they can better know when to take the credit. They have special drop pod that release a cloud of doves, [[John Woo]] style, in order to make more dramatic entrances. They are more of a parody of "elite" teams than anything else.
* Invoked by [[AT-43]]'s faction the UNA who's army's motto is "Better is Better".
* Most [[RPG
** In ''[[
** Star Wars [[RPG
** Subverted in ''[[Paranoia (
** ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' casts you as the servant of the Inquisition, which should in the 40k Universe come with great power and authority. [[Rogue Trader]] moves you even higher up the totem pole, putting you in a role which would be analogous to being Hernan Cortez while everyone else is a muck-farming peasant. ''[[Deathwatch (
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Many stories in the [[Alternate History]] ''[[Decades of Darkness]]'' are about members of the Jaguars, the * American elite troops / jungle fighters.
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** ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'' now gives us the U.S. Army Rangers, and the international special ops unit Task Force 141. Again, though, both are largely doing the correct missions for their sorts of units.
** ''CoD World at War: Marine Raiders/1st Marine Division'' and ''150th Rifle Division'' (Historically the formation whose soldiers raised the Soviet flag on the Reichstag). However, the 150th Rifle Division might not exactly be considered elite, but [[That Other Wiki]] states that the 3rd Shock Army they were in, all Shock Armies in fact, received more artillery and armour support than other armies in Russia.
** ''Black Ops'' is continuing this trend. You play as a member of the CIA's Special Activities Division, that performs, well, [[Exactly What It Says
** In ''[[Modern Warfare]] 3'', you play a large part of the game as Frost, member of the Delta Force squad "Metal"; as [[World War III]] has started, their missions are sometimes real special forces work and sometimes they are just called in to help for more conventional tasks. Also, Yuri, the other main playable character, is former Spetsnaz and {{spoiler|Captain Price, as whom you play during the last mission, is former SAS and Task Force 141.}}
*** NPC allies also include other elites, such as the French GIGN, US Navy SEALs, and more British SAS.
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* In ''[[Halo]]'' you normally play as a super-elite semi-secret armoured and surgically enhanced badass. The rest of the time? You play as an alien species called, simply, the Elite.
** ''Halo 3: ODST'', the "gaiden" game of the series where you get to play as a regular human instead of an uberl33t Spartan [[Super Soldier]] still has you take the role of an elite ODST (the UNSC equivalent of Force Recon) rather than a basic marine.
** ''[[Halo: Reach]]'', maintains the tradition, as well. For one thing, Noble team is fairly elite for a traditionally expendable Spartan-III team, to the point that one of their members is a much more valuable Spartan-II soldier. For another, the player character, Noble 6, is a black ops assassin who is the only other person with the same lethality rating as Master Chief, which is more impressive given that Noble 6 is a Spartan-III who should be significantly weaker than any living Spartan-II.
*** In fact, Noble Six was temporally chosen by half of Cortana to take her to The Pillar Of Autumn to reunite with her other half and John.
* ''[[Geist]]'' begins with the main character as a member of a suspicious paramilitary unit. Then [[It Got Worse]].
* ''[[Battlefield (
* In ''[[Rise of Nations]]'', the main infantry unit for the Americans is the Marine. This appears in a slightly different form elsewhere. As unique units of civilizations are upgraded past their historical ages, the game usually "elites" them. Sometimes, it's not so bad like companion cavalry -> cataphracts. Some are pushing it like Roman legions -> Praetorian Guard. But [[
* In ''[[Civilization]] 4'', the unique unit for America is the Navy SEAL. (Which, in-game, is mechanically a buffed version of the ''Marine''.)
* Averted in the beginning of ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' where your unit is made up out of a bunch of civilian militia recruits and local police forces with the only exceptional item being your main characters father's tank. However not only do your units gain 'elite' status when levelled high enough, by the end of the game your unit is taking on all the truly epic missions anyway. Hell, Squad 7 is the only reason Gallia doesn't fall. The entire
* ''[[Medal of Honor]]: Allied Assault'', ''MOHAA Spearhead'' and ''MOHAA Breakthrough''.
** The relaunch specifically noted that you were playing as Tier 1 operators (the elite of the elite of special forces). For the short period of time when you're ''not'', you're still playing as Army Rangers, which are the elite of the Army.
* The Americans at your disposal in ''[[Command
* The Americans yet again; this time, in ''[[Act of War]]'', although this is more towards a specific [[Badass Army]] branch known as "Task Force Talon". They get the so-called bleeding edge technology that no one else can get. Your basic grunt is the Task Force Commando. [[Rank Inflation|Tech up and you get the Future Force Warrior.]]
* In ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon]]'' and its sequels, you're either a [[One-Man Army|F.E.A.R. Agent]], a [[Red Shirt|Delta Force Soldier]], a [[Super Soldier|Replica]], an [[Private Military Contractors|ATC Black Op]] or a [[Private Military Contractors|Nightcrawler]]. Otherwise, you're minced meat.
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** Additionally, missions featuring special forces operative are usually stealth-based and include very little to no actual fighting.
* ''[[Rainbow Six]]'' comprises the Elites of the Elites. It's a multinational unit comprised of the best soldiers from each nation's commando teams.
* Hilariously averted in ''[[Battlefield: Bad Company
* Shepard of ''[[Mass Effect]]'' starts out as top-tier Special Forces (indicated by the "N7" logo) before joining the Citadel's Spectre program. The program is so elite that merely being selected, even if one washes out, is good for one's career.
** The multiplayer mode in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' centers around a squad of elite operatives with access to abilities and equipment comparable to Shepard's, and [[The Dragon]] Kai Leng was, like Shepard, an N7 operative.
* In the ''[[Crusader:
* The protagonist duo of the [[Army of Two]] series began their careers as US Army Rangers who decided to become private military contractors (which tend to be Elites who get paid more and don't have to worry about a government defense budget and NATO "lowest bidder" equipment standardization).
* [[Star
* The two protagonists of ''[[Resident Evil]]'' were both elites in their previous careers (Jill was Delta Force and Chris was a USAF Fighter Pilot).
* Averted in the ''[[Gears of War]]'' series, where all the main characters are their world's equivalent of regular enlisted men who keep stumbling into critical situations. The Onyx Guard, the actual elite of the COG military, only appear a couple times in the expanded universe, and get utterly slaughtered every time they do.
* [[Mortal Kombat|Lt. Sonya Blade and Maj. Jackson Briggs]] are both Special Forces. Sonya's attire in some games implies Green Beret.
* The [[
== [[Real Life]] ==
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[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]
[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]
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