Not everyone was considered and not everyone passed this grueling school that crammed 280 hours of training in a few weeks time frame: RECONDO.
In order to qualify, participants had to be in-country at least one month and have at least 6 months remaining on their tour upon completion. Students also had to have a combat arms MOS and had to be in excellent physical shape.
The curriculum of the school included improving students' skills in the areas of map reading, intelligence gathering, weapons training, communications, medical, guerrilla tactics, evasion, demolition and much more; but the focus was mainly patrolling deep into enemy lines.
They learned different patrolling techniques, preparation, organization, and trained heavily in immediate action drills to react to or initiate enemy contact.
The final exam: an actual combat patrol.
In the early days of the program, the area the prospective graduates patrolled was relatively secure and quiet. As the war progressed, however, contact with the enemy became a given. This led to students saying "you bet your life" to graduate from Recondo School.
At least 2 students died with many others wounded. An unknown number of Viet Cong were also killed in the skirmishes during the "you bet your life" patrol. This led to the school itself receiving a nickname of its own: "the deadliest school on earth" #recondo #gonnalearntoday #zerofoxtrot #stayzero #commieslaying