 What is the difference between the British SPS and the American Navy SEALs? And who's best? Well, you know what I always say about the British military being the best in the world because we haven't got any money so we're We're jack of all trades masters of the arm But one thing I'll say, you know at the end of the day when it comes to The SPS and the SEALs. I just think we have a bigger A bigger toolbox, you know We're good at a number of different skills. Fortunately the Americans do have a lot more money or budget For the military so that when it comes to you know They'll get one person to hold the rifle and the other person to pull the trigger But um, you know, I just did sorry, but whether you call me by or still what I just think the SPS Absolutely amazing and I've put them at the top of the pedestal any day. What I Was talking to somebody the other day SPS and They said They hadn't done the dive course, which I was really surprised about They'd gone straight out to the Middle East basically and hadn't they'd started the dive, but hadn't finished it. I was really Yeah, I just think a lot of that that's that's just because of circumstances Isn't that I think there's quite a lot of people that they join the SPS and because of the demand out in Afghan and various other Theatres, I just don't think they had time to do that. So although they join the SPS and You know, it is quite a specialist skill the SPS It's not to say we don't you know, we obviously can do everything we do on land anyway But our specialist skill is is waterborne operations and insertion But you know in a theater that's not demanding that then what you're gonna do stick people on a dive course or get them Out into into the war zone as quickly as possible to be to support the other lads So I think that was just circumstantial and I certainly know there's a few people saying Yeah, no, I think I think you're you're exactly right and just the two two Last questions Ali from just from a physical perspective for those of us that have found our physical prime at 50 years old What what's kind of the hardest like running Type or marching type event you do and what's the kind of hardest swimming or diving? On selection. Yeah The hardest the hardest part and I don't know if they do it so much before because Not many people know this but I was one of I think I'm one of three people in the world That has done the old SPS selection and the new SES selection so I You know, I did my first selection got to the end and there was a bit of an altercation with the Welsh farmer on the combat and survival Which meant that I got RTU'd at the last moment And when I went back that was that was the old special boat the SPS selection Which was we used to join with her if it for the the trees and also combat survival at the end But the rest was sort of done individually So then I went back out. Is that the jungle the trees? Yeah, the jungle. Sorry. Yeah And then when I went back it was it was the first I did the second course I missed the first one. I did the second course of the new selection, which is the joint selection But on the first selection You were used to do a thing called a portage, which was nine miles with a clepper canoe And that I mean, I we've actually got coming up in SES who there's wins in the next I don't think it's I don't know if it's tonight some Monday or whether it's next week But it's coming up anyway But basically that is where you split the you know the bones of the canoe It's a two-man military canoe a clepper That you take all the bones out, which is the wood parts someone carries that and someone else carries the skin And you had to carry that for nine miles. I think that's that's probably the hardest March I've ever done because the weight was just Insane insane amount of weight on your shoulders And then what was it the swimming was the other question about yeah To be honest you didn't I mean you had to be a good swimmer, but really You know Showing a level of swimming ability when you're on selection I mean the hardest swims we did was surface swims when we actually joined the sbs You know, I mean you would do a few k surface swim and also, you know, some of the ops dives you did, you know, some of the You know, you only use use diving in the sbs as a means of transport as a means of transit You know, you three meters below the surface thereabouts on a rebreather At night usually just following the compass board to target And some of those were absolutely hideous, but the surface, you know Sub surface was actually easier than doing surface swims, you know, you do five case surface swim Just hideous hideous this is is this way you've come up to the surface in your dive gear and you're finning say you're sure Yeah, yeah, that's that's correct and you can have or you know, you You could be swimming out to a target or for extraction. You could be swimming into target And you could more than likely have an ops bag as well so you'd have like a an aughtly bag with all your ops kit in there and You know sometimes You know, you're swimming it You know, you just stationary because you're swimming against the tide You just go swimming against the tide until the tide changes or Or or or becomes high tide or low tide before you can carry on So it's it's just horrendous. I found that hideous more than going sub surface