I hate it when leaders that probably never served in the military use metaphors they don't understand for pushing employees to the limit.
SpecOps are all about having the best tools for the job, preparation, training, in order to succeed on a mission.
It's a brilliant bit of persuasive rhetoric, though. Very few people know what special ops does. They only know what they see in the movies, which is that they're badasses. The best of the best. Elon is taking a negative (no resources for you!) and making his employees think of it in a positive and flattering way (we're the best of the best! Only we can take so little and use it to make so much!).
Don't get me wrong, I think this is a reprehensible way to take advantage of your employees. But it's a good lesson that can be applied in other, better ways. It's also good to be able to recognize dark patterns like these so you don't fall victim to them.