When it comes to elite military units(yes, I consider US Navy Submariners an "elite" unit) SEALS, Army Rangers, Marine Force Recons, Fighter Jet Pilots, even Seabees and combat medics get some play. The most impressive group I personally found within the military are the men(and now women!) who crew our Nuclear Trident submarines.
The US Navy's submarine force holds nearly half of the US's entire nuclear arsenal....and guess what? No one can pinpoint where they exactly are at any given time. The average age of the crew? 24 years old. Divorce rates are high. Any semblance of normal family life is thrown out the window. The crewman are amongst the most intelligent people you will find anywhere. The training is brutal and constant. Living conditions aboard a sub are something that only few can do. Sometimes, a crew can be submerged over the period of 3 months as port visits are rare. Navy Nuclear school is amongst the most difficult schools to get through and actually ranks close to Harvard Law in terms of overall difficulty. Crews aboard a sub can pretty much do everyone else's job(similar to SEALS), unlike the surface fleet.
I just read a couple books on our US Navy submarine force and found it absolutely fascinating. The war games they play and the tech involved are just awesome......and yet, it seems so little of overall military conversation dwells on the US's submarine force.
