(ASK) How well trained are the pla special forces?

I have been following the special forces on the anti-piracy deployments for a while and even though they are often labelled as special forces, they seem very amateurish compared to the forces from other countries such as SEALS or even the South Korean forces that conducted the hostage rescue last year.

Are these forces sent on the anti piracy deployments real special forces or just marine units? Do they reflect the training of special forces in other pla units?

I'm not talking about swat teams in cities, I am referring to the special forces that perform deep infiltration, recon, etc.

It's not really fair to access the PLAN Special Forces on anti piracy duty. Where as none of us has seen them in action or read any detailed accurate report of their duties.

Now if any member knows of such a report please post! thanks.

inzim said:

I have been following the special forces on the anti-piracy deployments for a while and even though they are often labelled as special forces, they seem very amateurish compared to the forces from other countries such as SEALS or even the South Korean forces that conducted the hostage rescue last year.

Are these forces sent on the anti piracy deployments real special forces or just marine units? Do they reflect the training of special forces in other pla units?

I'm not talking about swat teams in cities, I am referring to the special forces that perform deep infiltration, recon, etc.

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Can you enlighten us on what part of their operation makes you think they are amateurish? Like Popeye has mentioned, none of us has seen details of any of their operations.

I know sometimes, subjective feelings toward certain groups can make one "see" things that are not there. I think PLA Special Ops have won many awards on international Special Ops competitions. Not sure if these things amount to "professional looking" in your opinion though...

It is fundamentally ridiculous to try and judge the professionalism or effectiveness of combat troops based on appearances.

Not even the vaunted SAS looked that smooth or polished during their name making Iranian embassy seize.

If you are comparing the PLA special forces guys to movie marines, of course you are going to be disappointed. No real life special forces could compare to the CGI enhanced, well choreographed bullet porn you see in films.

plawolf said:

It is fundamentally ridiculous to try and judge the professionalism or effectiveness of combat troops based on appearances.

Not even the vaunted SAS looked that smooth or polished during their name making Iranian embassy seize.

If you are comparing the PLA special forces guys to movie marines, of course you are going to be disappointed. No real life special forces could compare to the CGI enhanced, well choreographed bullet porn you see in films.

Seems like a shallow, loaded flamebait question to me.

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While we are on that thought, has anyone watched "Act of Valor"? All the main characters are active-duty Navy SEALs. I haven't got a chance to see yet, but have heard good words about it.

Tone down the aggression man..

I was just wondering if anyone knew more than me since I have been unable to find any information on pla spec ops other than their formation dates. There is hardly any records of real operations.

So I was asking whether the training routines that we are seeing are comparable to international standards.

vesicles said:

While we are on that thought, has anyone watched "Act of Valor"? All the main characters are active-duty Navy SEALs. I haven't got a chance to see yet, but have heard good words about it.

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The 'active duty SEALs' bit put me right off.

Having active duty guys take time out of active duty to make a film means the DoD is going to be pulling the strings on this film, and they might as well hand you an enlistment form along with your cinema ticket.

From the tailer, it just looks like the film is going to be a feature length recruitment ad where the SEALs kill an improbable number of dutifully incompetent 'bad guys' with the token heroic death to 'keep it real'.

---------- Post added at 06:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:22 PM ----------

inzim said:

Tone down the aggression man..

I was just wondering if anyone knew more than me since I have been unable to find any information on pla spec ops other than their formation dates. There is hardly any records of real operations.

So I was asking whether the training routines that we are seeing are comparable to international standards.

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But that's not what and how you asked now was it? Surely I do not need to quote what you wrote back to you for you to see the difference.

The South Korean special forces did not see much if any real action until their recent rescue bid, were they more or less amateurish in your eyes before they mounted their raid?

Chinese special forces have not been confirmed to have seen real action recently because, surprise surprise, China is not at war with anyone.

Besides, the gold standard for special forces is to be in and out without anyone any the wiser. For covert missions to be leaked or even footage/evidence that special forces were deployed would mean someone somewhere screwed up.

inzim said:

Tone down the aggression man..

I was just wondering if anyone knew more than me since I have been unable to find any information on pla spec ops other than their formation dates. There is hardly any records of real operations.

So I was asking whether the training routines that we are seeing are comparable to international standards.

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But you first specified that you thought the PLA Spec Ops was "amateurish" in your 1st post. How and why did you come to the conclusion that the PLA Spec Ops was amateurish when you have absolutely no information on their operation, as you admit here?

I can't comment much on this subject, neither do all of us here in this forum. None of us are from inside the PLA, even if some were, still not from the special ops branch. We can only speculate and cannot make assertive assumptions.

But one thing certain is that the PLA special ops crews don't have as much real combat experience. The best they have done were probably fighting drug smugglers close to Southwestern border or crazy terrorists in the Northwest. But these are more small scale criminals, barely even have guns. Even if they do, they are probably only armed with few bullets, nothing in comparison like those hardcore players in the MiddleEast. Although they are in the Army, they are more like PAP in those situations. Unless another major battle erupts with a neighbouring country, there is no way we will ever find out how effective they are.

CottageLV said:

I can't comment much on this subject, neither do all of us here in this forum. None of us are from inside the PLA, even if some were, still not from the special ops branch. We can only speculate and cannot make assertive assumptions.

But one thing certain is that the PLA special ops crews don't have as much real combat experience. The best they have done were probably fighting drug smugglers close to Southwestern border or crazy terrorists in the Northwest. But these are more small scale criminals, barely even have guns. Even if they do, they are probably only armed with few bullets, nothing in comparison like those hardcore players in the MiddleEast. Although they are in the Army, they are more like PAP in those situations. Unless another major battle erupts with a neighbouring country, there is no way we will ever find out how effective they are.

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I dare say drug smugglers are better equipped and more experienced than Taliban draftees.