Therefore, we shall do it for them.

Some organizations spend their entire history trying to convince the world they're badass. Nobody would dare mess with a bunch of Navy SEALs, for instance, and if your girlfriend says her dad is a member of the Hells Angels, you're going to watch your ass. But some of the most badass groups on the planet don't put nearly as much effort into maintaining that kind of reputation.

6 The Salvation Army

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When we think about the Salvation Army, we get a heartwarming image of little old ladies in red aprons doing their bit to serve the community one bake sale at a time, which is why you'll probably be alarmed to discover that the "Army" part of their name isn't just a metaphor.

The roots of the Salvation Army play like something out of Gangs of New York. Although founded as a Christian mission by Reverend William Booth in 1865 in East End London, their "salvation" caused so much trouble for local pimps, brewers and other ill-merchants that they armed themselves and formed an anti-Salvation Army gang they called The Skeleton Army.



The Salvation Army's eternal foe.

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At a time when the Salvation Army was in its infancy and essentially fighting to stay alive, they were forced into a confrontation with the Skeleton Army gang on August 17, 1884, who rioted and tried to burn down their headquarters. The soldiers of the Salvation Army managed to outlast their adversaries, first with hope, and then with gunshots.



Then, presumably, with bells and buckets.

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And they were victorious.

But even that doesn't trump the action they saw in the trenches of World War I. It was during this time that the Salvation Army deployed 1,065 women onto the battlefield, "in the face of danger, with death striking all about them."

Although this meant having to offer their services while "under fire, day after day and night after night" from a host of technological terrors ranging from machine guns to planes to poison gases, these young soldiers in the Salvation Army "coolly went about their work, giving first aid to the injured or, as the occasion offered, serving hot drinks and sandwiches."