By Jeremy D.O. Rebmann
Every few weeks, I see a post on social media where a former member of an elite military unit talks about the “poor training” of American law enforcement. It usually goes something like this: “We were held to higher standards in my Tier One unit. Police should train like we did.”
Sometimes it’s sincere. Sometimes it’s a marketing pitch. But almost every time, it’s built on a fundamentally false comparison — the equivalent of comparing a single apple to an entire orchard of oranges and then declaring the oranges defective.
And it bugs the hell out of me — not because I’m defensive, but because it’s inaccurate, unhelpful and keeps us from having the real discussion we need to have.
Elite-to-average comparisons are intellectually dishonest
Delta Force is a Tier One national asset. FBI HRT is a Tier One national asset. DEVGRU is a Tier One national asset. These are the sharpest tips of our national mission sets.But when someone compares DEVGRU to every cop in America, the comparison collapses under its own weight.
If we want honest dialogue, we have only two fair options.
Compare elite units to elite units. DEVGRU vs FBI HRT vs Delta Force. SEALs vs FBI SWAT vs Rangers. Those comparisons are fair. They might even be useful.
Or compare entire institutions to entire institutions — all of the U.S. Navy vs all of U.S. law enforcement.
But if we do that, we have to accept this truth: the average Navy sailor is not a Tier One operator, and the average patrol officer is not a federal SWAT sniper. I know sailors who can’t load an M4. I know cops who can’t operate a nuclear reactor.
Apples to carburetors.
What people don’t understand about Tier One operators
Over the years, I’ve cleared rooms with Navy SEALs, Special Forces, FBI HRT, GSG9 and other world-class units. I’ve trained with some of the finest gunfighters on earth. And many of the best aren’t even in Tier One units — they’re simply extraordinary individuals.
But the defining difference between Tier One and everyone else isn’t just talent. It’s support. Unlimited, structured, institutional support. Not just armorers and logistics teams. Not just cutting-edge equipment. I’m talking about:
- Sleep and cognition specialists
- Sports psychologists
- Nutritionists
- Athletic trainers
- Dedicated therapists
- Audiologists and continuous TBI monitoring
- Uninterrupted training cycles
- Built-in recovery phases
- Months to rest, rebuild and refine before redeploying
They get the best. And honestly, they should.
Many Tier One units operate on a three-phase cycle that includes an entire phase off — recovering, training, repairing, mentally resetting. Law enforcement is nothing like that.
Most police officers are on duty or on call almost every day. No decompression cycles. No recovery phases. No institutional room to rebuild.
A former SEAL friend once told me something I’ll never forget: “No matter how intense my deployment was, I always got to come home and relax and rebuild afterward. Cops never leave the battlefield.”
Even on vacation, officers are still inside the U.S. crime landscape — their deployment zone. That difference alone is apples vs. oranges.
This is a resource problem, not a motivation problem
Most cops want more training. Most would gladly train like Tier One operators if they were given the time, staffing, budget and legal room to do it. But they’re not.
A Tier One operator might train 1,000 hours a year. A patrol officer might get eight hours of firearms training annually — then respond to domestic assaults, traffic stops, overdoses, stolen vehicles and armed robberies that same night.
It’s not a heart issue. It’s not a courage issue. It’s not a skill issue. It’s a resourcing issue.
If we want progress, we need honesty, not hype. There are meaningful gaps in police training that should be addressed. There are reforms worth pursuing that would save lives. There are military lessons worth importing. But we won’t fix anything if we keep comparing the best of one world to the broadest population of the other.
Elite operators exist in both communities. So do exhausted, underfunded, overtasked professionals doing their best.
If we’re going to have a real conversation, we need to end the orchard-wide fallacy and make fair, accurate comparisons. You cannot advocate for better police training while promoting a false comparison. Our cops deserve both honesty and improvement.
Share your thoughts on this topic below.
Police1 readers respond
- Retired Essex County Sheriff’s Detective in 2014. Taught defensive tactics in our County Police Academy and the powers that be need to read this article! They also need to take a proactive approach toward police training regarding “hands-on scenario training,” not just classroom stuff, or worry about the minimum due to liability or monetary value! There is no price on public safety! If politicians want to blame COPs for the woes in society, they need to give us the tools to make it better. But they won’t, cause they know nothing!
- This is a very timely article and as a full-time trainer that supports both groups, I agree 100% with this premise. I would further add that employing military SOF tactics across the US is not wanted by anyone. Not the public, not the administrators and most of all, not the smart, experienced cops. 99% of what cops do is not complex hostage rescue against known armed groups with guns and bombs, it’s dealing with members of the community that are having a bad day and need help. Thank you all for doing what you do — stepping into the breach. Both groups deserve the best support possible for the damage they expose themself too voluntarily, to our benefit.
- I agree with your assessment. I have 38 yrs in LE, 33 yrs with the SWAT team with countless high-risk operations. Trained with Fed and military units at Tier 1 level. The key is always training time and equipment, and yes, when you are in LE, your deployment never ends — 8 to 10 hour shifts with O/T and you never know what the day holds, even with planned ops that change or go south. Thankful I’m now retired. I pray for those still holding the Thin Blue Line and our military units doing the same.
About the author
Jeremy D.O. Rebmann is a recently retired FBI SWAT sniper with over 25 years of law enforcement service. He is the author of “Send Me: Chronicles of an FBI Sniper,” a memoir exploring the operational intensity and personal toll of tactical service. He currently volunteers in his community and continues to write about leadership, mental health, and life after the badge.
