2LT Private RallyPoint Member 4188710 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Whether it be emotionally, mentally, or physically challenging, what made it hard for you? Was it worth it and what did the school teach you? 2018-12-06T23:59:03-05:00 2LT Private RallyPoint Member 4188710

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Whether it be emotionally, mentally, or physically challenging, what made it hard for you? Was it worth it and what did the school teach you?

2018-12-06T23:59:03-05:00 2018-12-06T23:59:03-05:00 1LT Private RallyPoint Member 4188735

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>EFMB. The margin for error is razor thin. I’m going back until I get it. It taught me that attention to detail is key

2018-12-07T00:39:21-05:00 2018-12-07T00:39:21-05:00 SFC Private RallyPoint Member 4188769

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>My top 3:<br />1. Ranger School<br />2. Jumpmaster <br />3. Career counselor course<br />SFAS deserves an honorable mention in there. It was like Ranger School compressed into a few weeks. <br /><br />Ranger School was the hardest thing I had ever done at that point in my life. I had always been told I could never do it. I learned you can continue long after you think you&#39;re done. <br /><br />Jumpmaster was physically grueling because we wore the T11s which are heavy as hell. I felt like I did a 12 mile ruck every day. It was mentally exhausting. You spend all day every day with bloody fingers looking for invisible deficiencies at a near impossible speed. <br /><br />Career counselor was the most mentally demanding course. You didn&#39;t even have to memorize anything, it was all open book. But you had to have laser like attention to detail, and you had to cross reference regulations and think through cases. I was brain dead every day.

2018-12-07T01:31:22-05:00 2018-12-07T01:31:22-05:00 SGT Private RallyPoint Member 4188793

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>DLI. Yes, it was worth it. But mentally, that’s just about the hardest thing you can do. It taught me a lot of things, but to relieve stress, I trained for and ran the Big Sur Marathon. <br />Looking back, that’s insane. I learned a lot about myself in that year +.

2018-12-07T02:14:44-05:00 2018-12-07T02:14:44-05:00 1SG Private RallyPoint Member 4188823

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Pathfinder. It’s like trying to take a small sip of water from a fire hydrant spraying full force. The instructors went out of their way to explain the course material, but it was still an exercise in sadomasochism trying to remember what was important while discarding all the tertiary information.

2018-12-07T03:10:01-05:00 2018-12-07T03:10:01-05:00 SSG Timothy Stevenson 4188963

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Ranger School<br />Jumpmaster<br />Both absolutely pushes you to be the best, teaches you that you alone can not do it yourself. <br />Teamwork.

2018-12-07T06:42:37-05:00 2018-12-07T06:42:37-05:00 SFC Private RallyPoint Member 4188992

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Battle Staff, closely followed by support operations phase II and an honorable mention to Airassult school lol

2018-12-07T06:58:08-05:00 2018-12-07T06:58:08-05:00 SGT Richard H. 4189420

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>SFAS. It really wasn&#39;t that hard physically because I was ready for it (but damn your feet get tired) or even mentally, but at 3 1/2 hours a night sleep and a 60# ruck (not including water &amp; weapon) everywhere you go you&#39;re pretty exhausted by the time you finish.

2018-12-07T09:39:28-05:00 2018-12-07T09:39:28-05:00 CW3 Private RallyPoint Member 4189524

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>1. Flight School<br />2. Pathfinder School<br />3. Jumpmaster School

2018-12-07T10:31:41-05:00 2018-12-07T10:31:41-05:00 SFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member 4189547

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I&#39;ve had a lot more physically harder schools but I have to say:<br /><br />For me DS School was the worst. I went to Drill School within 8 months of switching over to the Army from the Marine Corps and having to Memorize all these modules and manuals that I had no dam clue about mentally wore me out. <br /><br />Physically: Cold Weather training/Mountain warfare training in CA was brutal physically on me.. Having low blood circulation in the hands and feet my whole life made it 100 times worst.

2018-12-07T10:39:23-05:00 2018-12-07T10:39:23-05:00 SGT Kevin Berman 4189713

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>SFAS for sure - I&#39;ll admit though that we had a stud team, a number of Rangers and Airborne. We finished 1st or 2nd in all team events which allowed us to get off our feet far earlier than many teams.

2018-12-07T11:52:50-05:00 2018-12-07T11:52:50-05:00 CPT Ray Gilmore 4190246

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>(1) Ranger &amp; Sapper<br />(3) Mountain Warfare <br />----------------------<br />The physical demands of all three of these schools were high. Which makes them difficult..... but that is just a gut check.<br /><br />In my opinion, what made them challenging was the volume of technical knowledge thrown at you, in such a short period of time.<br />------------------------<br />SFAS isn&#39;t a school, but it would be in the top 3 if it was...... because it had the physicality, as well as the mental/psychological piece added in. It was hard, in a different way than Ranger &amp; Sapper..... but in a much different way.

2018-12-07T15:53:06-05:00 2018-12-07T15:53:06-05:00 COL Dana Hampton 4190381

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>All military schools I’ve attended have been challenging for different reasons. It didn’t matter to me if it was PME course or a skill based one. Some were more difficult for academics. Others were for the physical challenges offered. Just as some where more enjoyable than others. <br /><br />We’d have to discuss a specific school and address the specifics of that school’s curriculum and objectives on its own merits. Each has their own merit and add to your kit bag of skills to make use better warriors. As your question is worded, it’s a little bit like comparing apples and oranges.<br /><br />For me, it wasn’t so much about the challenge the schools offered as it was what I was gaining from the training and experience. My goals were always the same - I just wanted to be able to use the skills learned to be better at my job and make my Soldiers better at theirs.<br /><br />A Retired Soldier for Life!

2018-12-07T16:37:30-05:00 2018-12-07T16:37:30-05:00 SSgt Dan Montague 4190421

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Laugh if you wish. <br />Recruiting school. The curriculum was tossed at us fast. We would have several classes a day then test on some. 90% higher to pass vice the normal 80% in all other schools I attended. We were in class 0700-1700. We studied every night and even had practical app with the instructors in the evening making practice calls and practicing speeches. That was hard enough. But the PT was insane!! Others before me said they did pt on their own if they had time at the school. Not us. Our SgtMaj who was never a recruiter but a 2 time DI/force recon had other plans. He made sure that 3-4 times a week we did PT. He found time in between or 10hr day. We did 0500 or 1700. He freaking killed us with recon style pt. <br />Probably for the first time in the schools history, students graduated with a higher pft score and lower body weight then before. I know I lost weight and improved from my initial one 8 weeks earlier.

2018-12-07T16:58:26-05:00 2018-12-07T16:58:26-05:00 SGT Private RallyPoint Member 4190580

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Sapper Leader Course. It was hard to pass. Really hard to pass. When I was told I was a GO, I actually asked them double-check. (That probably doesn&#39;t happen very often.) Hard to complete, as well, but to get a passing score (all the mandatory GOs and at least a certain minimum percentage of available points) was notably hard. Get things exactly right - and there were so many things. Attention to detail + lack of sleep. Hard. It taught me the orders process and troop leading procedures as well as how to task organize and do checks, inspections, rehearsals, and supervise/change-the-plan during execution. It wasn&#39;t a very long course, but I left feeling 10x more competent and confident than before I did it.

2018-12-07T18:19:34-05:00 2018-12-07T18:19:34-05:00 SGT Philip Roncari 4190808

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>NCO Academy Ft.Hood TX. Though not as advanced as some already mentioned, I found it mentally challenging ,taught by what I believed some of the most professional soldiers I had met,just returned from Vietnam and ordered by my range officer to attend to sharpen my skills as an instructor ,I returned facing the NCO board with good results,totally worth every second ,still use the invaluable lessons taught to this day,mission first has many connotations even now.

2018-12-07T19:56:29-05:00 2018-12-07T19:56:29-05:00 CW2 Louis Melendez 4191042

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Jumpmaster for sure...

2018-12-07T21:50:31-05:00 2018-12-07T21:50:31-05:00 SGT James Murphy 4191071

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Dude you forgot the Scouts!

2018-12-07T22:24:49-05:00 2018-12-07T22:24:49-05:00 CPT Private RallyPoint Member 4191191

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Here is my list<br />1. Ranger School<br />2. Pathfinder<br />3. BNCOC when I was in the National Guard. It was the most unprofessional school that I have been too.

2018-12-07T23:54:44-05:00 2018-12-07T23:54:44-05:00 CPT(P) Private RallyPoint Member 4191708

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Pathfinder and CDE Methodology.

2018-12-08T08:53:39-05:00 2018-12-08T08:53:39-05:00 MAJ Matthew Arnold 4192753

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Not to say, mine is bigger than yours, but ORWAC/WORWAC, &quot;flight school&quot;, is the toughest thing I&#39;ve ever done. It&#39;s not physically demanding like, say, Ranger School, but it is HARD. Just to be clear, basic flight, controlling an aircraft in basic flight maneuvers is easy, anybody can do that, a chimpanzee can do it. Basic flight control is not what is hard. What&#39;s hard is all the stuff you have to learn to be an aviator. It is like 2 maybe 3 years of college crammed into 9 months. You have to learn the information in a box of books, yeah, a whole box, like 24&quot; inches of 11X9 army manuals. You have to KNOW the information in those books. Then you have to MEMORIZE the -10 and a couple other books. AND, thats just the book learnin&#39; part. Then try holding a racetrack pattern in the sky returning to the same point in space every 5 or 6 minutes while the 40 knot wind is trying to keep you from getting to that point, while maintaining altitude, and airspeed, and turn rate, etc., when you&#39;ve never done it before. Anyway, it may not sound like it&#39;s that hard, but my fellow aviators know what I&#39;m talking about. It is not easy. It&#39;s fun, but it&#39;s not easy.

2018-12-08T16:52:07-05:00 2018-12-08T16:52:07-05:00 SGT Albert Bowman 4196831

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Having graduated both Airborne School at Ft Benning, GA and Air Assault School at Fulda, Germany, I can say physically they are about the same with the exception of the timeframe (3 weeks @ ABN vs 1.5 weeks @ AAS), but IMHO AAS is more mental. But having already been immersed in Army Aviation, a lot of the classroom-stuff was refresher for me.

2018-12-10T09:12:44-05:00 2018-12-10T09:12:44-05:00 SGT Private RallyPoint Member 4197184

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Airborne school required a lot of running from me.

2018-12-10T11:54:50-05:00 2018-12-10T11:54:50-05:00 MAJ Jack Kelly 4201512

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>SFQC

2018-12-12T04:04:07-05:00 2018-12-12T04:04:07-05:00 MAJ Mark N. 4411051

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Ranger School. I was ready for the physical and mostly prepared mentally. Lack of sleep, food and the constant pressure to &quot;pass&quot; when in a leadership position made everything more difficult. Glad I went thru, learned a lot about myself and tactics.

2019-03-01T09:36:26-05:00 2019-03-01T09:36:26-05:00 CPT Bob Deissig 4416788

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Without question, Ranger School. Best preparation to lead an infantry platoon and company in combat. Learned an awful lot about myself and what I was physically and mentally capable of doing .

2019-03-03T13:46:39-05:00 2019-03-03T13:46:39-05:00 CPL David Wheeler 4421303

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>The most challenging military school you have ever been to?: Recondo School (Vietnam). Was it worth it? Yes. What did the school teach you? The value of Special Forces instructors.

2019-03-05T02:18:56-05:00 2019-03-05T02:18:56-05:00 SFC Private RallyPoint Member 4421367

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>SERE school

2019-03-05T03:52:41-05:00 2019-03-05T03:52:41-05:00 SSG Dave Johnston 4426969

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Reality; Being a SGT than SSG and having to &quot;Educate&quot; a new PLT. SGT. that had &quot;Homesteaded&quot; MEDAC/MEDCOM before being assigned to CBT ARMs Med. Plt. Having a SSG that had &quot;Homesteaded&quot; Ft. Campbell, and had no idea what a DA 4187 is used for

2019-03-06T23:47:16-05:00 2019-03-06T23:47:16-05:00 CPT Private RallyPoint Member 5389069

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>1. Ranger(mental/physical) more margin for error but grueling non stop. Seen way more pathfinders and Jumpmasters than ranger qualified personnel- at least on FBNC/FBGA<br />2. Pathfinder(mental) non stop fire hose of info. Attention to detail, solid study habits, and math skills- Graduate level of Jumpmaster and Air assault combined<br />3. Jumpmaster(mental/physical)- zero margin for error, wearing the parachute wears on you, being hyper focused for 2-3 weeks

2019-12-28T15:39:27-05:00 2019-12-28T15:39:27-05:00 2018-12-06T23:59:03-05:00