Chinese Hand Grenade Drill,....FAIL

[tombogan03884]

It wasn't much different for the Navy in my day.  We lost a couple of guys for various reasons.  Considering the close quarters required aboard ship, they really screw with your head in basic.  We had the physical stuff as well but no combat stuff at all.

Football practice in HS was harder!

It's to be expected, Manning a sensor system, or navigating a ship or aircraft may require discipline, but they are less physically demanding than the types of things a grunt is required to do.

[Solus]

For The Army:

Aside from psychological problems or disciplinary problems you had to pass some tests before graduating.  

1. Marksmanship. If I recall correctly 70% hits on timed pop up targets from 25 to 350 yds.

2. Bayonet course.  Demonstrating the ability to parry, thrust and stab with the bayonet, and use the butt of the rifle to in two butt strokes.

3.  Physical Fitness course.  5 tests.  Low Crawl, Run Dodge and Jump, Mile Run, Horizontal Ladder, and Grenade Throw.

Fail minimum performance on any of these tests and you got "recycled", which means you started over and did basic again.

We were also told you had to successfully negotiate the Obstacle Course, but I had my doubts as it was done at night and in company sized groups so it was not observed closely.

I seem to remember you could get recycled twice before you were discharged "Unfit for Military Duty", but that might have been barracks rumor.

I also found that other Basic Training camps had a different mix of the PT tests.  Mile Run seemed to be in all of them and often Run Dodge and Jump, and Low Crawl.

[billt]

Running a mile is harder than it looks for most people, especially at my age! 

[Timothy]

It's been 36 years for me but as I recall, our final PT was 2 miles in under 15 or 20 minutes, 6 pull ups, 50 push ups, 50 sit ups and something else.  We too had to run an obstacle course but it wasn't difficult and not part of the final.

We had one guy nearly 300 lbs that managed to finish and graduate!  His hardest was the pull ups but that was the hardest for most!  I actually gained weight in Boot, I used to exercise out of boredom.  I wish I had that discipline today!

[fightingquaker13]

As I said, its being mentally compatible and checking the boxes. The boxes are going to be harder to check in the Marines as far as the physical stuff. Just barely scraping by there would probably be considered outstanding in Airforce basic. OTOH, the Air Force probably wants more mechanical/technical apptitude than other branches. Even so, someone needs to drive the trucks, cook the food and run the copier in all branches. And that is a fine and noble thing, as without the support staff the teeth are pretty useless and the military knows it.
FQ13

[Sponsor]

[Timothy]

I'm sure that timing has something to do with it as well.  When my brothers and I enlisted in the 70's, recruiters were having a heck of a time find kids to enlist after the Viet Nam conflict.  In fact, we all enlisted prior to the end of the conflict!  Like anything else, they have a quota and the bar is raised and lowered based on current billets to fill.  My company in basic was mainly technical geeks and nuclear billets.  Other companies were unrated squids destined for basic shipboard duties.

[billt]

Why would anyone want to be a doctor in the Army or Navy? Do they get special benifits or pay? I'm just not seeing why someone would go through all of that schooling and make crap compared to what they could in private practice?

[BAC]

Pathfinder and TAB have covered it for the Marines. I assume the Army is similar.
Navy and Air force are probably more lenient since they both are far less focused on field oriented close combat and have far more chairborne billets.

I went to Army Basic in 1981.  At the same time a guy from high school went to Air Force Basic.  Later I got a letter from him telling me they had a weekend pass on their first weekend, and every weekend after.  We got a weekend pass on our last weekend (and every weekend after).  I remember thinking I signed up for the wrong branch.

Our PT test consisted of push ups, sit ups, and 2 mile run.  I was lucky enough to be part of the last cycle to take all PT and PT tests in fatigues and combat boots.  It was also the last cycle to be issued OD green fatigues and khakis.

[BAC]

Why would anyone want to be a doctor in the Army or Navy? Do they get special benifits or pay? I'm just not seeing why someone would go through all of that schooling and make crap compared to what they could in private practice?

I seem to remember hearing something about the military paying off your medical school loans.  I don't know if it's true or not, but that could be a good incentive.

[Timothy]

Why would anyone want to be a doctor in the Army or Navy? Do they get special benifits or pay? I'm just not seeing why someone would go through all of that schooling and make crap compared to what they could in private practice?

Yes, they get special pay, you can find military pay rates on the web.  It's still going to pale to what can be made privately but lets assume they're doing it for other reasons than money!  I certainly didn't enlist for the money nor did my brothers or father!  The reason I didn't re-enlist was because of money though!  I couldn't live on what they were paying me!

In a combat zone, a surgeon or ER doc can learn more in a year than what they can learn in lifetime.