My understanding of the Waffen-SS is that they were the elite military force in Nazi Germany and didn't like to be confused with the regular army. Was it generally accepted that the SS were above the army, who were one of the highest establishments in Germany, and just how elite were they and why? Did they have more rigorous training? Or did war vets from WW1 in the army see them as jumped up upstarts?
I don't know if they would be considered "elite" like the Navy Seals, Delta Force, Army Rangers are considered elite in the American military. The Waffen-SS was the military wing of the Schutzstaffel (SS), which began as protection for the party back in the 1920s. At first they were much more concerned about race/ethnicity than the general army but eventually they had units entirely composed of foreign volunteers. Also, by the time the war rolled around, many veterans of WW1 were no longer in the army, and theres a strong chance that they would have been declared unfit for service because of their age. For example, if someone fought at the end of WW1 when they were 16/17, they would have been 37/38 when conscriptions started happening