As a former service member, I can state with some authority that the SAS are considered damn hardcore by everyone I've ever spoken to in the service. They are some of the best on the planet.

And while Wiki isn't the most reliable of sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Air_Service

Myself I'd say the Australian SAS is better than the British army version though. (more well rounded)

The Spetznaz of the Former Soviet Union were also pretty kick ass, especially the east german versions.

I'd rank the Navy SEAL teams as the best though.

 

Don't ruin your good first impression by doubleposting. And next time, linkage.

I never said SAS were no good. Im sure they're some tough bastards, the prototype for a special forces unit and have a (relatively) good media coverage.

But "the acknowledged best" is something different. It's not like there's an official list, is there?

Mord: I understood the equal differently.

On that topic:

 

Sorry about the double post.

As to the linkage... If you're referring to Cadet Potter... the lack of linkage was deliberate. It's just not a very good fic (and saddly t's from loralee1 who we know is capable of better)... and I'd not want to be saddled with the rep of being someone that would link to such an uninspired piece.
It's just not worth the time of reading if quality is a concern.

That said, if you really want to read it... here ya go. linkage

Nah....every group always says "we're the best" It's not like some group would say, "Okay, we're the 6th best of the best... so lets go show them what we're made of"

On a side note, Awesome pic... Sorry, I was a Russian crypto linguist when I was in the service... so I loved watching the Beliu Shapukus do their stuff. They had some crazy ass training, but they got the job done.

 

In fics where Harry's lineage play's a role, I've always wanted to see the Potter family being a lesser-branch of the Longbottom Family, but Harry manipulates Neville into switching the family places. Minor cliche possibly, but if done right, could result in a very good plot.

 

Spetsnaz gave me a rather odd idea:

The Soviet Ministry of Magic has a magical equivalent to the KGB, and has somehow gotten to Snape before Dumbledore did, so now Snape is a triple agent. When Voldemort is defeated, Snape has been paid off by the Soviets to bring the 'Boy Who Lived' to Moscow.

So our young Harry has not only been raised with all the usual Communist Young Pioneers stuff, but we have the precedent that the Soviet government has put a lot of energy and effort into pushing childhood 'superstars' (there was one Olympic gymnast who was pushed to do well from a very young age, and through a bad accident she became paralyzed permanently. They gave her an Order of Lenin and everything, too.) and inculcating into them that the interests of the State demand that they do their best.

See where Soviet!Harry's saving people thing comes from?

Anyway, you can either have the Soviet Union continuing on as it did, or you can have it collapsing, oddly conveniently, right when Harry's supposed to go to Hogwarts. The Russians, realizing thet both the Muggle and Magical governments are essentially flat broke with a nonconvertible currency, decide to eat crow and scrounge up secret hard currency reserves and send him to Great Britain to get his magical education.

Wouldn't that be a culture shock and a half? Especially since Soviet!Harry will have been raised with all the usual 'socialist' ideals about equality, wage levelling, and so on, and here he comes smack dab into this world that almost reads like a laundry list of all the things his teachers said the decadent capitalist wizarding world looked like.

I think I'm getting away from myself here, but I think there's a lot you could do with Harry being raised in a 'nonstandard' cultural milieu.