[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

[

He was right (of course), each Phase, from my observation, had one or more guys who were already tabbed in there mind, and failed the “technicality” of completing the course.
And stay off the roads.[/QUOTE]

You bring up a good point. When I was running the Special Forces Department we had folks who felt that because they had "been tested" and gotten through SFAS and other little hurdles in the course that they did not have to "follow the rules". One officer in particular was picked up on the roads during "Officer Stakes" and was recycled because of it. Now I knew this young Captain when he was an solid special forces NCO and it really bothered me that the standards to which he performed when we served together sort of went by the wayside. I don't know if he thought that because he was now an officer that he could sort of operate at a tempo that he saw fit and to which he had become accustomed in his previous assignments as an officer rather than meet course standards or what it was. When I told him he had two choices which included quiting or being recycled he was shocked. He brought in a couple of his contemporaries to support his case who all felt that they had been tested, and retested, and had measured up and that this was just one more test and "just when would the testing be finished"! You see as far as they were concerned they had already earned their "tab". To make a long story very short, the converstation was very one sided professional attitude adjustement session. At the conclusion of this "discussion" 7 very uncomfortable young Captains almost simultaneously had an epiphany. You see they realized the fact that this was in deed a school and that this testing was very forgiving in the fact that the only casualties for failure to adhere to mission type orders and exercise the level of integrity expected of officers that were going to operate without supervision would only be them-this time. They also realized that "testing" never really ends and that it was a whole lot easier to sew on that "tab" than to wear it. They also grasped that in the real world where they were going to be expected to operate without someone checking on whether or not they "followed the rules" their integrity, leadership, and professional lapses would cost the lives of their men and mission failure with all the consequences from their individual discomfort to the impact it might have on national security. The Q is not the goal it is the tool we all use to assess whether or not you have what it takes to truly function as a Special Forces soldier when the results of the tests are evaluated in terms of lives and mission success or failure and where recycling is terminal.