Yep, the reaper is a joke because it is the early in the 15 miler back to Edson Range, the hard part is 60lbs on your back and humping through the sand on the beach for a couple miles. Figures they change the name of everything. The reaper is a reasonable incline and medium long, MMF is medium short and the incline is almost vertical, or just seems that way.
I had fun watching all the big guys fade to the back and drop out on the reaper though.
KW: you may have been able to beat me, but your better be far ahead of me close to the end of a race. I just didn't know you could do 3 miles in 13 minutes. ;p Sometimes I'd rather have those days of 120—145lbs body at 16-20 years of age, over what I have now.
well, ole KW did roll a 1:53 800 back in the day so I don't know how far in front I'd have had to be, but it all came from strength as I couldn't break 51 in the 400 to save my life!
Push ups were always my toughest event. Sit ups were easy and running was nothing but a thing.
Aw to be young fit, fast, and racing well! Those were definitely the days!!
Danimal - Things have seriously changed since you were in. Now we don't go to the beach anymore. We did ALL humping out in the field which is probably part of the reason why I was in such good dang shape come the Crucible. We went up every little hill we could for 3 weeks before the Crucible and all prepatory hikes were in the hills. They took us away from the beach a couple years ago for some unknown reason.
Yes, the days have passed me by. Thanks for picking up the torch 400Stud.
Dang Army does pushups, we do pullups for PFT. Anyways, I could score well on both now tests, but not at the level I would like, I even think they would age-adjust it. If I could figure out how to drop the weight without fasting, I might give it another try.
Not a problem….I'm more than delighted to take the torch and run with it (figuratively speaking…lol). Like I said, there's no better feeling in the world than earning the title :D
As far as the Army…that doesn't surprise me. Heck, I even heard that the Army has something called a "Distress Card" that they use in Boot Camp now that the recruits can pull out when they feel they're working too hard and need a break….enough said.
the distress card must be a new thing. Don't be one of those Marines who has to rag on other branches to gain props for themselves. It's just a weak tactic.
I hear ya KW, each branch has their own skaters and maligners as well as their own hard corps go getters. I envied the Army engineers and Navy Seabees for what they could do, and I think they showed us respect because Marine Engineers ended up doing a lot of grunt work that most did not think they signed up to do. I did not see any Air Force engineering units so I can't comment on them, other than they probably were excellent at what they did as well. That is professionalism and what is considered professional courtesy.
I'm not so much ragging on the Army as showing my disappointment. I'm not one to brag about the Corps either, though my Esprit de Corps is off the charts right now because, as we were taught, even though we may think we're the best because we obviously have that pride in what we're a part of, we all have our place and the country wouldn't be where it is without all of us.
Heck, I'll admit, had I had access to an ROTC program in HS I would probably be in the Air Force now myself, no lie. So who am I to say anything negative about another service?
Also, there were 2 idiots in my platoon alone that I'd like to punch in the mouth because I don't think they deserved their title, so I know exactly where you're coming from. Each branch has its own.
Oh, there are slackers in every branch and truth be known, after I found out about the physical training in the Marines, I would have gone that route had I had it to do all over again. The service to service thing is just a pet peeve. Everyone has an important and necessary job to do and working well together helps that job to be done well.
Yeah, I personally love our physical training. But that's just me. I know many a people who won't join because of the physical training itself.
Oh, and I found a thing on MSNBC where they followed the Marines in Iraq on an 8 month tour with 30+ pictures and plenty of excerpts and stuff you can check out here:
I found it quite interesting and in a way it makes me want to do a tour over there….and in a way it scares me to go over there. But supposedly it's better over there now. Check it out for yourself.
Hey y'all, I'm getting ready to roll out here. My flight leaves in a few hours and I have to finish up my last minute packing so I may not be on the computer anymore today, but if I can I'll try.
Anyways, good luck to everyone in training. I don't know how much computer access I'll have if any over the next 10 weeks so I just wanted to tell everyone to keep working hard and good luck with everything.
I hope you don't have to go to Iraq. I hate to see good kids go there to fight in a region in which we will never understand why or what they are fighting for. Although this war may ultimately prove to be neccesary, if it is waged long enough we will experience the worst attrocity of war. Kids killing Kids. Good luck, man
