Thanks for your humility. Failure is important for growth. If you’re not failing here and there, you’re not pushing yourself to grow.

As a Marine I had the opportunity to attend SF dive school in Key West in 1993. The new facility was just getting built. I was shocked at how many E-6 and E-7’s showed up our-of-shape. They were gone in the first few days. Ranger school (12-92)- same thing. People dropped like flies. But I did meet SFC Sarun Sar who was in my squad and was impressed with his leadership.

Those "gentleman's courses" ain't easy....

This guy is the real deal, Hollyfield. I appreciate when a real man isn't ashamed when he fails at something, this guy is a real man. I served 21 years in the U.S. Army and I also failed at some Army schools, but the important part is being able to get back up and keep going. I have lots of respect for this guy, he's REAL and keeps it real. He even knows how to and when he needs to apologize for whatever reason. Takes a real man to take accountability. Thank you for keeping it real, God bless you Brother. -Georgie Porgie 1/144,000

Excellent video. Nothing like failing a school to take you down a notch. Very humbling experience.

Most of the guys I knew in the pathfinder det at Ft Campbell were E4's. My Ranger class was mostly E4's and 2Lt's. I failed CDQC the first time, academic failure. A week later, I started pre-scuba again and 2 weeks later I was back in KW, and crushed it. Would not have been able to live with myself if I hadn't.

No matter what, you miss every target you don’t shoot. Never follow a leader without failures.

I’m not special forces material, but for some reason I really find it interesting to hear about failures of my heroes, because it inspires me to keep facing life’s defeats as well. God bless you. ❤

I just retired but I am still watching his content! I wish I had his videos to watch when I was in. He is a leader who displays a great deal of humility

I failed the Army's Counterintelligence Special Agents Course. It was rough. You fail a test twice and you were gone. Each part of the test you had to get an 80% or higher. They didn't recycle me. I felt pretty defeated.

I appreciate your honesty. I don't know how many other people on KZfaq would have brought this up.

Retire SF SGM Knowing your failures and responding is what counts. You did that. “The Man in the Arena “

When I went to jumpmaster school, I had two Green Berets, one and 18 bravo in the other and 18 delta fail JMPI. I had a special forces captain that commanded an ODA. he failed actions in the aircraft. When those two guys fail JMPI all of my confidence, leaked out my ears. Because here I am a regular airborne guy and two green berets just failed. I’m thinking to myself. Where is this going to leave me? But I passed and a Jumpmaster qualified. Nobody was more surprised than me.

i attended pathfinder last year and we had one green beret in the class, he failed the second written test and i was shocked. the dream vision of them as superhumans was shattered and i realized he was just another dude like me lol. i failed the sling load inspection too, it was heartbreaking as it was my first real army school and it was most likely the only chance id ever get to go. but i learned a lot from it and moved on.

The only reason I graduated ranger school is 1st phase got lucky 2nd phase did good and third phase was made platoon leader cried instructor asked me why upset said I’m a private and don’t know anything just putting one foot in front of the other. He told me to get the guys and walk west. 5 min later new platoon leader. Passed. That instructor saved me because he knew I was in ranger battalion and he was in same batt❤

Pathfinder got a lot of people. When you said Ranger school I thought: Watch it be packing list or a heavy batt-boy class because we like to peer SF guys, lol (joke but not really).

Excellent video. You kept it real and shared some genuine insight. Thank you for sharing 👍🏽🇺🇸🦅.

Honestly that pathfinder school was probably the most beneficial thing to happen to you at that point in your career to make you as grounded as you are. Great lessons to take forward and to use your personal style of leadership

Hey man, I failed out of the CCT pipeline at ATC because I was too worried about failing and looking back, it made me the man I am today. I don't let it define me and I know that at least I didn't quit and took that to the civilian side of life. I'm currently working on my second master's degree utilizing the Post 9/11 GI Bill and I'm happy. I have a buddy who failed out of Jump School and now he's an Officer. You only fail if you quit and your true character is tested on how you respond to failure.

I failed MFF my first time (spinner),started skydiving and then went back to MFF with 250 skydives. Passed with flying colors...even though I fractured my ankle on the 2nd to last jump. Graduated SFARTAETC first time...graduated SOTIC my 2nd time...lol I almost didnt pass Pathfinder because I went into the school to "slow down the tempo"...lol I recycled Florida phase....

I won’t lie. The timing of this video is really amazing. I just failed ESB. Appreciate your honesty

Level 3 is a MONSTER! A lot of guys fail that course

I failed 2 PT test, but it was because I had asthma and nooooobody knew it. I kept it to myself. None new that at times I could barely breathe. Every time I went to Benning it was spring and my allergies kicked my ass. It was awful.

Failed Air Force Weather which was academically hard but three other schools and left AFSOC went back to Army LRS

Just came back from POAS . Non Select, 12 months ETR. Thank you for this video.

Simply outstanding

The first time I went to SWAT school, I failed a pistol qual just before graduation. To say I was gutted was an understatement because I knew I had to go back to my agency with that stink on me. I continued to train and passed with no issues the second time. I have to say that failing a course such as that is a truly humbling experience and it can either lead you to say fuck it and never try again to say fuck it and crush it the next time.

I failed CDQC soon after I graduated the Q and guess what? I still retired as a Green Beret 15 years later. No one cares. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Some guys who were CDQC qualified, failed SFARTAETC we attended together. They’re great divers but can’t shoot safely in advanced CQB. They’re still great operators. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Certain schools do not define a Green Beret.

Just like everything in life, you learn more from your failures than you do your successes. Great videos. 🇺🇸👍🏾

Bro I failed the fucking armorer course. It was an open book test and I forgot the book on the bus

Same body type, and I do the same thing to prep my run time.

I failed RTAC and Ranger School in 2017. Never got a chance to go back as a 88H unfortunately.

Pathfinder was the toughest school I attended in the Army by far, and there was nothing physical about it. I didn't make it past slingloads 😂

This video has one of the topics that has me wondering around for some time.. Thanks for the honesty Jay you're the best!! Btw how hard is the sniper school for SF? I hear that is one toughest besides dive school

Respect to this man for being open and honest

Great video man!! Nobody tells about their failures.

How do you fail Patchfinder?!?!? You're a good and humble man.

Failure is the best teacher and the harbinger of humility. Great vid

Turn on that notification bell gentleman. This made my day. More content LFG!!!

Lil bruh, your the realist. Jeff M USMC occasional hero nuff said.

Thank you for the knowledge!

Thanks for the perspective.

Thank you. This is good advice especially for new recruits.

how one deals with failure is many times more important that the failure itself

Hey man I've been training for a long time because before I was able to remember or even before i was conscious of my own actions i wanted to be the best of the special forces and to day i felt like a faker because I failed to run for 30 minutes straight witch i messed up I was at 20 minutes when I accidentally hit the emergency stop button and I could feel my legs rest it pissed me off i wanted run till I hit the 30 minute mark so started it up again and walked for the next 8 minutes and the last 2:minutes I ran I can't tell if this is quitting or being persisten but ether way thanks for this video I feel better knowing that even good people like you make mistakes

The course I have the biggest hurt feelings about was dog handler course. I was pulled off the day before graduation. So devastated even more than failing selection. The airborne courses I quite thoroughly enjoyed, very theory heavy though, but inspections on course always put me off and gave me the biggest anxiety. There was one I did where the second day we had to do load inspections it was there as a barrier to make sure you had pre-existing knowledge or at least had taken the effort to get trained by someone before arriving. About 20% failed that.

Much respect!

This has been very helpful

I do not know what it is like now but in my time in the military no one tells you that your very best wasn't good enough like the US Army. I was voluntold that I would be attending Airborne School at the home of the US Infantry formerly known as Ft. Benning (now Ft Moore) after completing OBC its BOLC now or that might have changed as well. But anyway I had a tough time there. I might have jumped out of the 30 Ft. tower maybe 50x hell could have been more, I finally made it to jump week and broke my leg. I didn't know it was broken until I was waiting on the bus to take us back to the rigger shack or wherever we had got our chutes and just sat for hours not moving. I felt like a total failure and honestly I think that failure kind of effected me for the rest of my career. I told that story to a good friend of mine who was a GB and we just laugh at our failures and no go's we have experienced along the way. Builds character that's for damn sure!!! Cheers

Can you go into more of a deep dive into that professional development, regarding being competitive for the board? Most first line leaders don’t do that nowadays.

Empathy is hard. You've had to endure a lot. Any, well almost all specialty courses I've been one of those 75% guys I suppose. Well, not all, but a lot. Seems like I've gone through courses enough times that you would suspect I would be ready the first time. I guess it's just easier after you've already learned what they are about to present again. ha ha Thanks for the video.

The first I’ve heard to talk about this

Thank you.

I could of sworn path finder was no longer available did they bring it back because back in 2001 when I was in my understanding that is was no longer available

Not sure how often you look at the comments but just a question. During SFAS what was the best way that worked for you to move the wheeled apparatus during team week?

back in my day ANY school you failed was a career ender. top in class # 1 in class. always got promoted and good jobs. WORST in the field. Spear evals killed some of the best in class but they were the best in the field. Just did not play games.

Failure is part of the process. Never understood why any SF operator would attend Ranger School, but more power to them. I've seen a couple not make it (PT test mostly) and many complete it, but I saw it as a pride thing and nothing more. I always believed in the old saying "Why attend High School when you've already graduated college?" when it concerned SF attending Ranger School. You can learn a number of things at Ranger School, but i don't think it makes an SF operator a better SF operator, and those 60+ days could have been spent doing something more beneficial. That's just my opinion and I respected anyone that attended the course.

In my day, you failed a couple of schools, they wouldn't sent you to another one. You QUITTED and school and hey wouldn't sent you to another one ever. Pipelines were less defined back then.

If Ranger School is a leadership school, why would they send qualified SF guy that has BNOC under him for leadership? Was it a prestige thing among operators?

Any tip for SFAS i know not to quit what some thing i should bring with me to selection?

When your in SF is Sniper school an option, or does it fall on needs of the team? Can you just volunteer for it if you have down time?

Bottom line, you went for it. That speaks more than anything else. Don’t be scared to go to any courses in the military.

Speaking of Ranger school, what's the general consensus 18 series guys have with it? Is it a requirement even though you are already wearing the green beret?

Too funny You didn't want to go to Ranger School.Of course you're already SF tabbed.I failed the Expert Medical Field badge 3 times Before Earning it.Hardest badge I earned.Also Airborne ,Air Assault.Wanted 18D

Honesty. Great leadership trait Top. Keep sending 'em.👊🏾🪖🇺🇸✝️

Is it a thing, that foreign military members cannot fail a US military school? It's what I've noticed.

Did you ever go back to retake/go to the shcools that you failed?

As an SF guy, what would be the most useful thing you would learn at ranger school?

The duffel bag drag sucks big ones.

I thought that the pathfinder course was now in the SF pipeline. Is that correct?

Can prior service guys do the 18x program?

Level three mhm

What's Swick?

ASOT

👍

HooAh

Fail Forward.

I got kicked out of USMC boot, Army boot, police academy… and became a bountyhunter, bodyguard, PI. Won an award in pistol shooting, became an instructor in a couple of disciplines, EMT- Ineridiot, got a cdl with a passenger endorsement, and learned how to get into any vehicle. P. Got my courses completed than the department of courses has. Lol. PS. Love the story!