Failing Physical Fitness Tests
I found this reel the other day on YouTube and though it shows clips of Marines, it is obvious that this story was about someone from the Army.
The video opens up with a soldier going through Ranger school and having to give a hand salute on the slide for life. We have this very obstacle in Marine Corps boot camp and I can relate to the soldier having to offer the hand salute. My first time on the slide for life, I didn’t have enough upper body strength to make the transition, so I fell into the water.
The ‘Slide for Life’ is a 90-foot rope that is connected to a 25-foot tower on one end and runs down the ground on the other. You start going down the rope face first with a leg hanging over the rope. You pull yourself down the rope and halfway, you are to hang on the rope and then transition to having your legs hooked on the rope and you slide down upside down the rest of the way. It requires upper body and abdominal strength to make the transition. If you can’t make the transition then you fall in the 4-foot deep pool of water.
In my case, as I failed the first time, the next time towards the end of boot camp, you do the course again, this time, I knew I could do it, and I got to the transition point and one of my Drill Instructors, Sgt Clayton (who was basically known to be a dick) made me and many other recruits from my platoon, hand only by our right arm and then he called us to hand salute, so we fell into the water.
Now back to the video, the one thing you need to understand is that the drill instructors are not there to make everyone wash out, instead they are there to make sure that everyone who has what it takes to be a Marine, will get the training they need. They want to make sure that they and the other Marines in the Corps are surrounded by the best. With that being said, if you thought you were going to walk your PFT in the Marine Corps, then you didn’t do any preparation for boot camp.
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Welcome to the Average Joe Weekly blog. This is basically my place on the web where I can help spread some of the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years. I served 10+ years in the Marine Corps on Active Duty, but that was some 25 years ago.
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