What’s the most challenging school you ever completed or attempted in your military career?

PFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 May 2019 11:59:43 -0400

Response by CW5 Jack Cardwell made May 24 at 2019 12:02 PM

CW5 Jack Cardwell — Fri, 24 May 2019 12:02:54 -0400

Warrant Officer Candidate Course. At the time it had a high washout rate.

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made May 24 at 2019 12:11 PM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Fri, 24 May 2019 12:11:32 -0400

I wasn't able to finish Army ROTC, I'd been on a 3-yr scholarship I got in my 2nd yr, I had to go USAF OTS after that when it was still at Lackland before it got moved to Maxwell...I had to go through it twice, getting recycled once...I made my mile and a half in under 12 mins by literally 1 sec, plus, the tower to climb on the Lackland obstacle course, I barely got up the stupid thing, I literally had to climb up the wood ladder on one side without using the ropes, one rung at a time, then pull myself up from falling off the edge at the top using the ropes...the DI at the top said he was amazed I'd survived it, then said to go down the other side, I also had to go down a wooden rung at a time...sometimes, I do in fact wonder that I made it through at all, quite frankly, you know? I'd also been with the ROTC unit to train a good deal at West Point, on their obstacle course, which was pretty rough also, their orienteering range, and rappelling down their cliff...one guy did an Australian crawl down the cliff face first, totally blowing my mind...also, when I'd been at USAF OTS, one guy on the track had been an NCAA miler, he did, I swear to God, a mile and a half in 6 mins...he leaped like a gazelle, the only time I ever saw anything like that, guys, for real, that also totally blew my mind, honest....

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made May 24 at 2019 12:12 PM

SGM Bill Frazer — Fri, 24 May 2019 12:12:41 -0400

Ranger, Pathfinder

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made May 24 at 2019 12:13 PM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Fri, 24 May 2019 12:13:42 -0400

I'd just wanted to say, that was a quite good question, actually....

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made May 24 at 2019 12:19 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 May 2019 12:19:48 -0400

My civil Affairs qualification course. I had lots of Doctrine based essays. Cgsoc command and general staff officer course was tough as well because I was working 50 to 60 hours a week and my civilian job and having to make time for both and make time for sleep.

Response by CSM Richard StCyr made May 24 at 2019 12:26 PM

CSM Richard StCyr — Fri, 24 May 2019 12:26:26 -0400

For me it was the first few days of Airborne school. I could run and road march long distances, scored 300s on my APFTs, but the first few runs seemed fast and crowded and the Black Hats were not shy about physically snatching folks out of formation they were not happy with.
May just have been stress but the first two or three days were challenging.

Response by SSgt Paul L. made May 24 at 2019 12:30 PM

SSgt Paul L. — Fri, 24 May 2019 12:30:30 -0400

Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructor Course. I would've rather done bootcamp twice than do that again. It might've just been the instructor-trainer and the group. There were 5 students. We did all the way through black belt training. It was awful. Carrying big ass logs and running with 60lbs of sand at distances we normally humped at...

Horrible. I'm a PT stud (or was before I transitioned to 1st Civ Div) and that was the only course in 10 years where I nearly passed out. It was awful. I can only imagine how awful the Instructor-Trainer course at Quantico must be.

Response by SFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made May 24 at 2019 1:13 PM

SFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 May 2019 13:13:53 -0400

Drill Sergeant School was ruff for me learning all new lingo and the regulation and differences especially since I just transferred from the Corps 8 months before I went to school.

Response by LCDR Joshua Gillespie made May 24 at 2019 1:26 PM

LCDR Joshua Gillespie — Fri, 24 May 2019 13:26:54 -0400

That depends. On sheer "suck" value...USNA; four years can be a very, very long time. On mental difficulty, I'd say Primary flight training. On facing "fears", I'd say the water survival portion of API. On putting it all together...Ft. Riley during the winter.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made May 24 at 2019 1:41 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 May 2019 13:41:04 -0400

For me I would say physically, Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP). It was three weeks of trying to get you to quit. After that, Ranger School and SFAS.
Academically, Jumpmaster school was the hardest. I thought I was failing the entire time.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made May 24 at 2019 2:26 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Fri, 24 May 2019 14:26:10 -0400

Probably CGSC because transitioning from Army writing to essays was difficult for me, and there was a lot of reading involved.

Response by CWO3 Private RallyPoint Member made May 24 at 2019 3:03 PM

CWO3 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 May 2019 15:03:03 -0400

USMC Infantry Platoon Sergeants Course, SOI West, Camp Pendleton followed by WOBC, TBS Quantico.

Response by Sgt John Steinmeier made May 24 at 2019 3:21 PM

Sgt John Steinmeier — Fri, 24 May 2019 15:21:44 -0400

Not that USAF Security Forces Airbase Ground Defense Level I School could be defined as challenging, but one of our two Air Force Cadre (the rest was Army Infantry) sported a Ranger tab. He decided our class was going to set records. We rucked anywhere and everywhere and the PT was grueling. In addition most of the the school was during a cold March in New Jersey.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made May 24 at 2019 3:38 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 24 May 2019 15:38:17 -0400

Physically selection was miserable. Academically the 18D course with break a weak man.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made May 24 at 2019 5:12 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Fri, 24 May 2019 17:12:20 -0400

I found Armor Officer Basic Course challenging as the tactics are often fast and aggressive. The technical side was challenging. Case in point, we had to put a reticle on a moving target for three seconds without a break to determine the ballistic solution.

Response by MSG Frank Kapaun made May 24 at 2019 5:41 PM

MSG Frank Kapaun — Fri, 24 May 2019 17:41:12 -0400

Jump Master School without a doubt. Two weeks of self induced stress that was both mentally and physically challenging.

Response by SGT Philip Roncari made May 24 at 2019 7:53 PM

SGT Philip Roncari — Fri, 24 May 2019 19:53:08 -0400

I don’t know if it was a school per se ,but my time as an instructor on the patrolling range at Ft.Polk ,AIT Committee group was the most challenging time for me,returning from Vietnam and trying to impart what lessons I learned during my tour and also following the Army’s proscribed lesson plan,with only time allowed for two day patrols and one night patrol,I always wondered if I did enough,taught effectively and with professionalism to give these young Soldiers the best chance of surviving in that terrible place.

Response by SSG Byron Howard Sr made May 24 at 2019 8:54 PM

SSG Byron Howard Sr — Fri, 24 May 2019 20:54:38 -0400

The Joint Services Photo School. It was fun I had a good time but so much was packed into so little time. When I was an instructor there I tried to make it as much fun for the students as possible. Some class' had a lot of math enough said about that bb

Response by CSM Michael Chavaree made May 25 at 2019 8:21 PM

CSM Michael Chavaree — Sat, 25 May 2019 20:21:54 -0400

Prob the Special Operations Combat Medic course (SOCM)

Response by SPC William Weedman made May 26 at 2019 8:34 AM

SPC William Weedman — Sun, 26 May 2019 08:34:06 -0400

Only thing I attempted was EFMB. Didn’t succeed, CBRN lane, but it was 2 weeks of intense learning and doing for a kid 3 months out of AIT, still figuring out IAW local protocol meant. Carried stuff I learned there to this day.

Response by SMSgt Richard Fluke made Feb 17 at 2021 12:09 PM

SMSgt Richard Fluke — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 12:09:33 -0500

I'd have to say that the USAF Recruiter's course was the most challenging among my many training schools. Our class (All Volunteers!) began with 52 folks and graduated 36 which was about average for that time - Jul/Aug 1970. I had never expected to see E-5 through E-7
personnel staying up until 0300 or so preparing for speeches and sales labs. The attitude developed there is what carried us through the difficult years at the end of the VietNam. We were often assigned far from any military base and usually as the sole USAF Recruiter in that area
with a typical "Work Week" ranging from 70 to 80 hours.

In my case, I competed against 5 Army, 2 Navy, and 2 Marine Recruiters. I only succeeded because of the grueling preparation we had gone through. My own prized accomplishment was when I was named as the USAF Recruiting Service's "Airman Of The Year" back in 1973.