Military elite

French Imperial Guard of the Second Empire

A military elite is a unit of soldiers or recruits picked for their competence and put in a special elite unit. Elite units enjoy some benefits as compared to other units, at least in the form of higher status, but often also higher pay and better equipment. Napoleon's Imperial Guard and Saddam Hussein Republican Guard would be good examples.

Elite military

Grenadier Guards were formerly technical specialist troops

In the military community, it's not considered good resource management to create elite units that are expected to do the same things as a regular military unit only better, as opposed to special forces or military specialisms that are expected to do other things than regular soldiers. However, sometimes the words "elite unit" are somewhat sloppily used to simply imply "unit that is better than other". Major Reid-Daly of the Rhodesian Selous Scouts detested the word elite:

We do not consider ourselves an elite group of men, nor do we think we are of the highest calibre. It could cause the men to imagine themselves better than they really are and this could in turn lead to recklessness. We are simply just trackers out to do a job.

The US military uses the term "elite" for forces assigned covert missions which require better trained soldiers who are more disciplined and mentally and emotionally stronger.

Politically elite military units

Historically many elite forces have been created and maintained as much for political reasons as for military ones. The leaders feel they need something more politically reliable than ordinary units and create elite units, hoping that the privileges, the extra political indoctrination that such elite forces are typically given and the pride in belonging to an elite will make them more loyal. The German Waffen-SS is an atypical example of such a force evolving as it did into a war fighting force.

The following description of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or Pásdárán, can be seen as typical of the formation, evolution and continued raison d'Êtres of such organizations.

...From the beginning of the new Islamic regime, the Pasdaran functioned as a corps of the faithful. Its role in national security evolved from securing the regime and eliminating opposition forces to becoming a branch of the military establishment...[and its] independent military power acted as a check on any possible coup attempts by the armed forces....

....the Pasdaran, under the guidance of such clerics as Lahuti and Hashemi-Rafsanjani, was also "to act as the eyes and ears of the Islamic Revolution" and "as a special task force of the Imam Khomeini to crush any counterrevolutionary activities within the government or any political usurper against the Islamic Government." Over the years the IRP's leadership used the Pasdaran to eliminate opposition figures and to enhance its own position. Using the Pasdaran as a springboard to more important positions, Pasdaran leaders could always obtain access to the Revolutionary Council and Khomeini. For example, President Khamenehi and Majlis speaker Hashemi-Rafsanjani were both former commanders of the Pasdaran. Library of Congress Country Studies, Iran, Special and Irregular Armed Forces.