re: Female Captain struggles to finish 12 Mile Foot March

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I would love to see some of you wannabe hardass crossfit figs ruck 12 miles with a 70lb pack.

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Ive been averaging about 3 miles a day, 3 days a week with 122 lbs, only after I get back from the high school and am done with my sprints and runnings stadiums. Im not in crossfit. Im getting ready for a mountain hunt, meaning Im doing this for my own leisure. If it was something that I literally had to for my career, especially a career where people's lives are in danger, then yea I would surely be an "OT wannabe hardass crossfit fig" rucking son of a bitch.

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Why didn't they move the range closer to the barracks? That seems stupid to have to have to walk that far whenever you want to practice shooting....or at least they could have provided you with busses so you could spend more time there.

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those are damn fine suggestions, you could have been an awesome DI

That's really great and all, honestly, but the fact that she's a female really does nothing for me.

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If you have to ask, you'll never know

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So in other words I didn't say anything out of the line of what others are saying. Instead you're just trying to be a blowhard internet tough guy a-hole and start shite.

Here's an idea, stop trying to hijack the thread by lame personal attacks and stick to the subject at hand. If that's impossible for you to do, you can always go frick yourself.

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I'm pretty sure they also have to take an APFT and the written test also

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They don't have to take the APFT at the site anymore. A current passing is all that is required.

All these internet bad-asses think this is a piece of cake. They have no idea.

They don't have male/ female or age group standards. There is only one standard and all must meet them in order to earn the badge.

Her fighting to the finish really impresses me because so many others (men or women) would have just given up. She did what she had to do in order to accomplish the mission.

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Why didn't they move the range closer to the barracks? That seems stupid to have to have to walk that far whenever you want to practice shooting....or at least they could have provided you with busses so you could spend more time there.


those are damn fine suggestions, you could have been an awesome DI

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This wasn't basic or AIT...we did that shite for BRM when I was active

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Her fighting to the finish really impresses me because so many others (men or women) would have just given up.

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After all the crap you gotta do to get to that point in the EFMB, I would have low crawled the last 100 feet if it meant getting across the line in under 3 hours.

She wasn't gonna give up or quit.

yea man, you for sure that type

dudes who instantly bow up when called out always are.

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Human endurance is amazing. I have never been THAT exhausted. That's a different level when you legs won't work.

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A lifetime ago, I had to do ruck marches as part of a number of training iterations - OSUT, ROTC, OBC - the 20 mile was something else. we maintained about a 4 mph pace over the road - we took a short water/rest break at about 6 miles, and a little longer one at 12 miles (change socks, get assessed by drill sergeants, etc.) and finished the thing in just over 6 hours on the clock.

We didn't weigh packs, but mine was in the 45 to 50 pound range. Boots 5 pounds, rifle 6 pounds, helmet/clothing and other gear another 4 or 5 pounds, so, conservatively, 60 to 65 pounds. Toting that over 20 miles is absolutely no joke. I might as well have run a marathon. I was not out of breath at the end, but my feet were blistered, my shoulders were sore and my legs were really just going on muscle memory. I was in 3rd Platoon, and that meant we were on the 3rd floor. Still not sure how I got upstairs after that.

Oh, to be young and invulnerable again.

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Human endurance is amazing. I have never been THAT exhausted. That's a different level when you legs won't work.

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I've been there before, and it sucks.

I can pretty distinctly remember the most difficult foot march I ever experienced...and it wasn't OCS, Ranger School, or even in combat. It was in IOBC (Infantry Officer Basic Course).

It was like week 10 or 11 of the course, and we'd been out on an field exercise for like nine or ten days at that point. It was the middle of July at Fort Benning, and it'd been in the upper 90's or approaching 100 for the entirety of the exercise...very dehydrated and internal core temps were already elevated. Most of my IOBC class was classing up at Ranger School in a month and a half, so the IOBC instructors were dogging the hell out of us to get ready for an August start there.

We started the march at like 8 PM to avoid the heat of the day, but it was still quite hot and extremely humid.

All of us had done quite a few of these, and no one in our class struggled to break 3 hours, and most typically would do it in 2:30 or less. Yet this particularly night was just brutal - lieutenants who had been enlisted Rangers and SF or superstars at West Point and ROTC just dropping like flies around mile 10. I bet half the class keeled over at some point. These are, physically, the best of the best second lieutenants in the Army. No other branch in the Army approaches the conditioning of these guys.

I turtled (fell on my back and ruck...think a turtle that has been flipped on its back with its legs kicking) about a quarter mile before the finish line. Rifle went flying into the woods, and I couldn't bend my knees at all - muscles had just totally locked up in cramps from dehydration and exhaustion. Buddy of mine found my rifle, pulled me up, and I Frankensteined the way home. Went straight to the medics and got an IV put in along with half the rest of the class.

Just a miserable, brutal night. Woke up the next morning, and my legs were basically still locked out.