These are the most elite special forces units in the US

via AmericanSpecialOps.com/photos/

Ever since the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in 2011, the American public and policymakers have taken an intense interest in US Navy SEALs and Military Special Operators in general.

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The Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, is constantly given spending and personnel increases while the rest of the military is making cuts.

Thee number of operators doubled between the 9/11 attacks and 2013, and their budget tripled from $3.5 billion to $10.5 billion. The trend will likely continue as the US military is in the midst of a shift to "smaller footprint"-type operations that depend on special operators and air cover.

Putting tens of thousands of troops and countless private support personnel on the ground in any given country s a costly strategy that US political are reluctant to embrace. Even in the fight against ISIS, there's been little talk of countering the group with conventional ground troops. But US special operators have been used throughout the fight against the jihadists, like the during the May 2015 raid in eastern Syria that killed ISIS commander Abu Sayyaf.

Though it was the SEALs who killed Bin Laden, it's worth noting there are quite a few more SpecOps units in the US than just the Navy SEALs. Here's a comprehensive list of all the SpecOps units we could find (with help from the extensive descriptions on AmericanSpecialOps.com).