OLD MAN STRENGTH
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Welcome to the Jungle
I have come to realize in the past couple of months that in order to stay fit enough to lead Marines at 44, I need to put out physically on the same level that a professional athlete does. I feel Brett Favre's pain. In a Corps that is at war, there is not room for slackers.

If you want to know what I am talking about, in order to get a perfect Physical Fitness Test score of 300, I need to do 20 dead hang pull-ups, 100 crunches in under 2 minutes, and an 18 minute 3 mile run. I can do 10 dead hangs and 100 crunches, but alas...in the last 3 years (due to back problems) my run has dropped from a 19:30 to a solid 24 minutes as measured on my last PFT. Still a first class score at 199 points, but I don't like that.

In addition, the Corps now has a scoring system for the new Combat Fitness Test. Perfect score of 300 can be obtained by lifting a 30 pound ammo can (from chest height to arms extended overhead) for 90 reps in 2 minutes, a movement to contact (880 in boots and utilities) in 2:45 minutes, and a maneuver under fire type course consisting of low-crawls, grenade tosses, casualty drag, 100 yard fireman's carry, and 100 yard sprint with 2 30 pound ammo cans, in 2:14 for the youngest.

My age group gets scored 300 points  on the CFT for 89 ammo can lifts, movement to contact (MTC) in 3:03, and maneuver under fire (MUF) in 2:34.

There is nothing like going out every day and tossing a thirty pound ammo can over your head 61 times in two minutes. I did it today and it's killing me. We figured out the math afterwards. To get a first class score of 270 or higher at my age, my MTC of 3:15, 61 lifts, and MUF of 3:20 is good enough to score a 272. But that just barely makes it. And a Marine leader leads from the front, not the rear.

It may be time for me to retire at 20 years and leave this to the kids. I'm still considering it... Nah, I'll just push a little harder. I want to be a Master Guns.

SF
Mike