Just discovered this site, and finally found something worth responding to...
Not mentioned on this thread was one of the reasons Canadians generally do well on the course. (And if memory serves, contrary to the lead article, many Canadians have come off the course as top dog - I personally know of two others). Unlike our American comrades, patrolling is a key component of our training (Phase 3 officer and ISCC). For most of the Americans, the first time they encounter patrolling is while in a sleep deprived state during the course.
I'm also not sure who copied who, but much of our patrolling doctrine is the same. Therefore, Canadians are able to work on instinct, and just have to focus on the hardships, while the Americans have to work through the stress and try and perform tasks they have never before done.
The attrition rate truly is phenomenal...They generally have over 500 candidates show up on the first day of the course, and can only proceed with 300 and change. The initial testing is a bloodbath. On the 40 minute five mile run, if you're more than an arms length back, you move to the back of the formation...a second warning and you're gone. Depending on how many they have to lose, much of the run is done at a 10 minute pace, and then the sprinting begins. If you fall back during the sprint, you move to the back.
The course starts in earnest on the third day when they are in the 300 range. Over the next four phases of training, a course typically is whittled down to fifty originals. However, in each phase, retreads join the course. These are candidates that failed a particular phase once and are allowed to retry that phase. The true measure of success therefore, is not whether you passed the course, but whether you did it without a 'recycle'.
Although geared as a leadership course, it is truly a course of endurance and toughness, and it's nearly impossible to fake your way through. At the end of each phase, a peer rating is conducted. If you rank in the bottom, you fail the phase.
Try running a Canadian Infantry course where you're restricted to one IMP per day, marching countless miles with over 100 pounds in your rucksack, no sleep for seven days straight and no sympathy from your DS....Any Canadian taking the Ranger course gains new found respect for how a war fighting army trains its members...