The real question is what is the leader’s (LTs) motivation and how relevant is it to their first assignment?
In my opinion, Ranger School is the premier leadership school in the Army — definitely not just a tab school. I encouraged all of the leaders in my Troop to attend when I was in command. I was alright losing them for a few months, because the payoff on the backside is that valuable in my opinion.
Are you going to pathfinder, but your next (or first) assignment is an ABCT? In that case it’s probably just a badge school, because the likelihood of you using that skill is slim and I believe you’re better served getting to your unit and gaining experience there. Now this is different if you’re going an IBCT, especially the 82nd/101st, but I digress.
The bottom line is that many of these schools that produce badges and tabs absolutely have value — I don’t believe they would have been created otherwise. The question is what motivates one to go to the school and is what they are going to learn relevant to their near/long-term developmental needs?
