Another factor: Expansion teams. 40 years ago there were 2 SEAL Teams, one on each coast, and 4 UDTs (which were NOT the same as SEAL Teams, even though they shared common basic training.)
Now I have lost count of how many SEAL Teams there are, but it’s double digits. Now, I think of them as “Sea Rangers.” Totally different from when I was in. We NEVER contemplated 50-man ops, for example. That was a Ranger op by definition.
Football analogy: What would happen to quality if, over a decade, the NFL expanded from 32 to 150 pro football teams?
Army Rangers: The quiet professionals. You really don’t hear much from them...which is good.
That's where we differ. As long as they go through the same endurance training at BUD/S and then on to combat training with Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE), the more the merrier in my book.
The same with some advanced Rangers, Special Forces, Delta Force, Marine Force Recon, Air Force ground controllers and their rescue counter-parts, and Snipers from each branch of service. Build entire divisions of each, with dedicated in close air support they may need at any given time. Think A-10 Warthogs and C-130 gunships.
As you know all the above are the guys who often make the difference in close quarter combat in specialized/clandestine inner-city missions nowadays. We can't have enough of them in this new urban warfare environment.
I'd personally like to see entire divisions in each branch specialty, so long as they continue the harsh training requirements. Women, no, no, no, and damn no on subs for other reasons. What say you about the above?