@knp7765:
Personally, I think it’s pretty cool that each country’s elite troops have different names (USA = Marines, Germany = SS, Russia = Guards, UK = Commandos, etc.)
The different names reflect the fact that the forces you mention had different roles and origins, and in many ways weren’t equivalent. The US Marines and the Royal Marines both originated in the days of sailing ships when those navies, in addition to having sailors who manned a ship’s guns, needed sailors who were trained for infantry-type combat – for example for boarding operations. The Commandos originated, I think, with Mountbatten’s Combined Operations Directorate and were intended to conduct hit-and-run raids in occupied Europe. I don’t know enough about the Guards to know why the Russians used that name. The SS – specifically the Waffen SS – were a military extension of the Nazi Party’s secret police force; in many ways, the Waffen SS were a private army under the control of the Nazi Party, operating parallel to the regular (Wehrmacht) German Army. I doubt the US Marine Corps would approve of being viewed as an equivalent “elite” to the Waffen SS, whose training included a substantial dose of indoctrination in Nazi ideology.
Almashir mentioned the US Army Rangers, which illustrates the point that some countries had several types of elite units. The British SAS (which originated in WWII) are another example. I think the French, German and Italian armies all had some mountain troop units which were considered elite forces. Paratroopers are also often put into that category.
