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So, me being an Infantry Recon type, I have had the opportunity to attend some very difficult schools. What I pose is a two part question -- a very tough short school and a very tough long school. I won't put any more restrictions on that. It could tough mentally, physically, financially, tough on family, tough on your body. You were the one going through it...so you get to talk about it.
Two of the most difficult schools? hmmmn...Amphibious Recon School was tough, classroom and PT, long hours, I barely remember some parts...and Army Ranger School. I hallucinated in the Mt. Phase and fell asleep walking in FL phase. Both of those are considered long schools. The toughest short course had to be SERE school at one week.
Two of the most difficult schools? hmmmn...Amphibious Recon School was tough, classroom and PT, long hours, I barely remember some parts...and Army Ranger School. I hallucinated in the Mt. Phase and fell asleep walking in FL phase. Both of those are considered long schools. The toughest short course had to be SERE school at one week.
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Mental Health
Mental Health
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I see it has a strong focus on combat (grunt) style classes. I'd wager Cyber series classes would be tough in the mental sense. Not quite as sexy as a tab school, but an effective hacker can wage more hell (larger scale) by himself than a company of hard as woodpecker lipped Green Berets. Wanna destroy or shut down a countries complete infrastructure and not leave your house? Call your local hacker. Wanna make cool explosions and look great with a beard....call SOF guys. If you just wanna hear the coolest noise in the history of mankind call the AF and bring in the A-10.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
A phone call can cause havoc on a base far more efficiently than troops can. An effective infiltration by a skilled network technician would be orders of magnitude beyond that. That isn't to knock the idea of men on the ground. We MUST have someone to plant a flag. MUST. But the concepts are incomparable.
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You've got Physically demanding schools, and you've got Mentally demanding schools. Tough is a subjective measurement though. Generally speaking we "try" not to send people to places to where we think they are going to fail. There's a lot of selection that happens before you even get "invited." There's even more that happens behind closed doors for the follow on schools for "advanced courses."
The command team is constantly asking themselves "can he pass?" and "is he worth sending?" which are not mutually exclusive questions. I knew guys who could pass anything you could physically throw at them... but wouldn't trust farther than I could see with anything more dangerous than they could personally carry. It wasn't a knock on them, it was just outside their capability set.
The command team is constantly asking themselves "can he pass?" and "is he worth sending?" which are not mutually exclusive questions. I knew guys who could pass anything you could physically throw at them... but wouldn't trust farther than I could see with anything more dangerous than they could personally carry. It wasn't a knock on them, it was just outside their capability set.
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SFC Kevin Bazurto - I don't think anybody can realistically determine that unless they have been to all the schools and have the ability to compare them based on personal experience. Even then, there would be a bias.
This article sates it is the Air Force Para-Rescue School. Really??? And that is based on the attrition rate? As the article points out, it may be because of the caliber of personnel who started the school.
The toughest school I went to was Ranger School, as far as being physically demanding. However, I have attended academic courses that I consider "tougher". My point is that it is simply an opinion ... and you know what they say about that... and varies with the person stating the opinion. Really does not mean much in the long run.
Every school is important and every school worth anything is tough.
This article sates it is the Air Force Para-Rescue School. Really??? And that is based on the attrition rate? As the article points out, it may be because of the caliber of personnel who started the school.
The toughest school I went to was Ranger School, as far as being physically demanding. However, I have attended academic courses that I consider "tougher". My point is that it is simply an opinion ... and you know what they say about that... and varies with the person stating the opinion. Really does not mean much in the long run.
Every school is important and every school worth anything is tough.
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SFC Kevin Bazurto
COL Jean (John) F. B. Good point Sir. I do understand the difference with the physical and the academic courses. But like you said, there will always be a bias with the opinion of the writer or observer, unless they have been through them all, but I do not see that ever happening...
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Lt Col (Join to see)
I agree you can't make assessments unless one has been to all which is probably not possible.
I can see why the PJ's could be considered this as being the hardest. IMO from what I know about them they are very demanding for both physicals, mentally and academically. They go through a BUD/s style indoctrination this is where the chaff is weeded out. After that they enter the pipeline where they learn combat tactics just like above courses. My understanding is even after all physical rigors they have to complete some of the most intense medical training shirt of being a Doctor. Even during the medical,training they are doing more physical training running around Kirtland AFB carrying a tractor tire from one side of the base to the other. I used work next door to their facility I would show up to work sometimes while they running around with weighted duffel bags for an hour as a morning warmup sessions before they ruck runs around he entire base. This is while they are going through intense academics.
If you think about it these guys have to be embedded in the other SOF teams to help evacuate and treat in the field when things go wrong. They in essence have to be a jack of all trades.
The Chair Force gets a bad rap for not being the physically fit and hard core. I would say this group is an outlier in that.
Once looking at a training video on what it takes to be one and talking to some of them, it takes a but of drive to be one.
At the end of the day all of these schools have very demanding physical and mental rigors. I suppose some might have some have some aspects in some areas to be more rigorous in way or another.
Not saying that the others don't have rigorous courses at all. It's probably really hard to really make a fair assessment each will most likely have their unique challenges.
I can see why the PJ's could be considered this as being the hardest. IMO from what I know about them they are very demanding for both physicals, mentally and academically. They go through a BUD/s style indoctrination this is where the chaff is weeded out. After that they enter the pipeline where they learn combat tactics just like above courses. My understanding is even after all physical rigors they have to complete some of the most intense medical training shirt of being a Doctor. Even during the medical,training they are doing more physical training running around Kirtland AFB carrying a tractor tire from one side of the base to the other. I used work next door to their facility I would show up to work sometimes while they running around with weighted duffel bags for an hour as a morning warmup sessions before they ruck runs around he entire base. This is while they are going through intense academics.
If you think about it these guys have to be embedded in the other SOF teams to help evacuate and treat in the field when things go wrong. They in essence have to be a jack of all trades.
The Chair Force gets a bad rap for not being the physically fit and hard core. I would say this group is an outlier in that.
Once looking at a training video on what it takes to be one and talking to some of them, it takes a but of drive to be one.
At the end of the day all of these schools have very demanding physical and mental rigors. I suppose some might have some have some aspects in some areas to be more rigorous in way or another.
Not saying that the others don't have rigorous courses at all. It's probably really hard to really make a fair assessment each will most likely have their unique challenges.
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