Quote Originally Posted by fenir
In the British army we are shown, as with the USA. Examples of Elite, not speical forces.
And every exmple you have given is exactly that, elite, but not speical.
The Idea of speical forces is generally that of Strategic, not tactical. Though not always.

A tactical force is Elite, a speical forces is Strategic. Is probably the best way to discribe them. And to have speical forces, you do actually need to have a stable structured culture. And the Zulus did have that. But did not have speical forces.
That is a pretty funny thing to say because if the Zulus call them special forces, then I'd call them Zulu special forces. Just because the modern west has a different definition of special forces doesn't mean the Zulus have to share it. And just because I call my chair a table doesn't mean you can't sit on it.

Maybe they weren't special forces according to the more closed definition today's westernized militaries use but for the Zulus they may have been special and thus they may have called them special forces, in a way elites are special or else they wouldn't be elites.