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Great observation, WM, about "experience". All of us get that on a daily basis. No matter what your "experience" level, bad judgements are made just the same; and each bad judgement provides a learning experience.

Speaking for self, one of the things that I can say is that the SF experience made me more confident. Or, maybe gave me the OPPORTUNITY to prove to myself those qualities/character traits that I posessed. ...those qualities that were/are still taught to me by my parents.

dennisw, I can't speak for sure what your son was "taught" because that is a function of the person receiving the instruction, however from a 'maturity' and 'experience' standpoint, one thing that SF training will give you is a large amount of both in a compressed timeframe. Of that, i assure you. That your son is walking the path that he is is a testiment to your mentorship/parenting.

Again, from my personal experience.... I had faced adversity/diappointment in my pre-Army life....however, the key event that I can remember (nothing spectacular, but important to me at the time ...) happened during my re-test for the STAR land-navigation exam as part of the SF Qual Course (SFQC). I got misoriented (otherwise knon as 'lost') and lost a very large amount of time. I finally got myself reoriented and proceeded to conclude that I had no chance of completing the course in the alloted time limit and had an internal debate on wether or not I should quit right there. I stopped, drank some water, and decided that, although there was no hope, I shoud continue and try to do my best and at least fail with dignity. (This was probably the lowest point in my life as it was at this time that I saw all my dreams slipping away.... ) Additionally, I saw history repeating itself in that I had, as a cherry Lieutenant prior to 'the Q', ended up being medically dropped from Ranger School....HOWEVER, I knew I could never face my parents (who taught me to never quit and to FINISH any fight that I got myself into) or live with myself if I quit.) So, I started to run, and I ran through the water across Scuba Road, back North along th Bowling Alleys ...knowing that I was going to fail. I got to my second to last point and then the instructor at the point told me (I don't know why... ), that I "Neeed to hurry". So I ran. Maybe not fast, but as fast as I physically could with a ruck on my back and a M16 in my hands, and with all the desperation of a young man chasing his dreams. I got to my attack point, and shot my azimuth to where I thought my last point was and proceeded onward...and eventually came upon my final point wiht an instructor and a bunch of sleeping students sitting around trying to care for their worn-out feet.

SUCCESS! I had made it!... Probably the greatest achievement of my life.

And the NCO instructor said. "What took you so F_ing long?, you only had 30min left. You're the last one. Grab a seat and get some water." Looking back on that, I couldn't have wished for him to say anything more. Internally, I knew I had triumphed, but in the grand scheme of things, I was just another student who had barely made the cutoff.

I didn't LEARN anything that day, however, I AFFIRMED a lot. I had LEARNED a lot from my parents and my experiences as an adolescent, however I hd just AFFIRMED them as a MAN.

To this day, you're going to have to kill me before I'd quit something that I've commited myself to. (BTW, I did end up going back an graduating from the Ranger Course following my graduation from SF Language School). I'm not saying that I'm the best/smartest/fastest/strongest, however I'm not going to embarass my name or the beret that I wear for lack of effort. In anything.

I'm just one of many.... Hope your son joins the ranks.

Good Luck to him!