Posted on Jul 11, 2015
CH (MAJ) William Beaver
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What US military school is the most absolutely challenging ever, in your humble opinion?
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Responses: 118
MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca
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Edited >1 y ago
Ranger School, SFQ, SEAL/BUDS. Airborne, Pathfinder - nah.

25U AIT. There isn't an O-3 or above in the Army who can get by without a PV2 25U to load, decode and operate their radio! The mightiest GOs shake in their boots at the thought of performing anything beyond PTT. God forbid they turn the wrong knob on their radio w/o the say so of their qualified RTO to make sure their hop sets, COMSEC and freqs are set in order for them to control the violence on the battlefield. There is no other job that has as many repercussions for zero fault tolerance than that of the RTO!!

Just my humbly and humorous opinion :-)
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SSG Lyle O'Rorke
SSG Lyle O'Rorke
7 y
Coming from a signal intel field we all had to know how to work and load the crypto for all our equipment and radios. I respect the 25 Us but we would go to our 33Ws for our radios because they were far more qualified
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SSG Robert Cosper
SSG Robert Cosper
7 y
As an old school RTO,, I thank you for the shout out. We do our best sir!
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SFC Counterintelligence (CI) Agent
SFC (Join to see)
5 y
If an EOD Tech messes up, they don’t have to hear anyone complain about it.
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SPC Herold Bush
SPC Herold Bush
5 y
MSG Loren Tomblin - BIP It, best RSP there is.
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COL Charles Williams
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Edited 7 y ago
CH (MAJ) William Beaver I would say it would depend on who you ask, and what is the measure of difficulty? Mental, Physical, or other skills. I would say Ranger School, BUDS-SEAL, or SFAS... but, I think to get the best answer you need to find a pragmatic SEAL, who has attended Ranger School; There were several in my class, and they were sucking like the rest of us, as were the Marine Recon guys, and all the other special ops folks. Those require physical and mental toughness that is not found in everyone, a never quit attitude, a desire (real desire) to be there and see it tough, and some luck.

I also know Jump Master, Rappel Master are tough on a different level. Sniper school is another that requires a unique set of skills and abilities; the standards are very tough.

Then for brainiacs, it would the USN Nuclear program...
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SPC Herold Bush
SPC Herold Bush
5 y
SFC David Szucs - , Nothing like two study hall sessions on Sunday and the Academic Review Board had grown men crying.
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LTJG James Tipton
LTJG James Tipton
>1 y
I think all suck in their own way. Each requires a different set of skills that you get better at as time goes by. Either way you're going to have to have the mentality that you will get through it and then use that to compel the physical side of you to finish.
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PO2 Brad Broerman
PO2 Brad Broerman
4 y
I've never done BUDS, Ranger, or the others, but I will definitely agree on the USN Nuke School.
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SPC Richard Stengline
SPC Richard Stengline
3 y
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This one is no longer at Bragg but it kicked your ass for 2 weeks straight.
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CPT Company Commander
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You would really have to ask someone that has been through both. I wouldn't say that Seal is default more difficult than Ranger. I have never been through Seal Training. It is like saying a degree in Applied physics is more difficult than a degree in Nuclear Energy. I don't have a clue. They both sound hard. We had SF guys in my Ranger class. They were sucking just as much as the rest of us. They did well overall. But I am caution to say this is better than that just by word of mouth or youtube videos.

But for me, I would say the most difficult school I have attained is Ranger. The only way to sum it up is that you are going to get kicked in the balls everyday. Sometimes you may get kicked once and some times you may get kicked there 20 times. You just know that tomorrow you are going to get kicked again.
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SGT(P) It Support Field Technician
SGT(P) (Join to see)
>1 y
Sir, where would you rank AOCS as far as stress/physical demands?
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CPT Company Commander
CPT (Join to see)
>1 y
SGT(P) (Join to see) - I would say it like a hyped version of Basic Training. Even though I actually have more experience than some of the cadre I was really never at a point were I wasn't being pushed. The only time where I didn't have any trouble at all was in the field. I ended up correcting some of the cadre. I was in my natural element and they were not. But at the school house it was the other way. They find ways to stress you out. It wasn't bad and I handled it better due to my age and experience but there were a lot of younger soldiers cracking all around me.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
CPT Lawrence Cable
7 y
CPT (Join to see) - Except that your drill is there to get you through the program and that isn't exactly the function of a TAC. Physically, it wasn't challenging. I came out of an Air Assault unit, so I was in shape and used to living in the woods, so in a mixed unit (both male and female, Infantry and POGS) they would have been hospitalizing half the class to smoke any of us on the Combat Arms side. Frankly, the grunts and cav candidates were in much better shape than the Cadre. The academics aren't that difficult, but the TAC's can ruin your day if there is a weak spot in the chain of command.
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Cpl Mike Samu
Cpl Mike Samu
7 y
Mad respect to all. SEAL, RANGER MARINE RECON.
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