All Marines, recruit to Generals, have to take and pass the Physical Fitness Test or P.F.T twice a year. The PFT is broken into three sections; 1) A 3-mile run, 2) crunches and 3) pull-ups for males and flex arm-hang for females. Each section has a maximum score and a minimum score. If you run the 3 miles in 18 minutes or less you get 100 pts. If you run the 3 miles in 28 minutes or longer, then you fail. Crunches are one point a piece, and you have to touch your crossed forearms to your thighs while raising your shoulders off the ground for it to count. You have two minutes to do 100 for 100 points. If you do less than 60 in two minutes you fail. Finally there are the pull-ups. They are worth five points a piece. 20 is the max and less than 3 is failing. For a pull-up to count you must come to a dead hang, raise your chin above the bar and return to a dead hang. If you kip (kick your legs to assist yourself) it doesn't count.
We have taken several practice PFT's over the last several weeks but this one was by far the most intense. The DIs were scoring everything extremely tight. Not counting crunches, or pull-ups that have counted for weeks. I average 8 pull-ups every time and Sgt Smith only counted "four". Three is passing but when I reported my "4" to the Senior, he screamed in my face, "THREE?!?!? Jesus Christ Connors that's barely passing!!!" and wrote my name on a list. Later that day the Heavy called out a list of names which included mine and we all had to go up and do three max sets of pull-ups. He told us that we would do this five times a day until the PFT because we were all pathetic and weak. So that's fun, but I digress.
I have heard guys crying in their racks at night about wanting to go home. I have seen guys try to commit suicide to get sent home. I have seen one guy attack a DI to get sent home. But one of the guys in 2070 tried to get sent to sent home by failing the PFT?!?!? I don't know what Blice was thinking about or if he even thought about this at all. Either way what he did was monumentally stupid. Guys fall out formation runs and marches all the time due to heat exhaustion, heat stroke, heat cramps, blisters, having to urinate or deficate, or some just can't keep out. When a guy falls out of run due to a heat injury they usually fall flat on their face and don't move. If they do move they usually get up and then eventually fall back down again. Whenever this happens a corpsman needs to take their temperature. They don't take your temperature orally when you pass out on the ground. Do you get what I'm saying?!?! They use what's called the silver bullet and it is a rectal thermometer. Blice had apparently decided that he was going to fall out of the run. There were three whole miles to figure when to do this. Where might you ask did Blice decide to hit the pavement? The halfway point? After the first turn? Before the last turn? How about 100 yards from the finish line and in direct view of all the Drill Instructors? The last one just seems idiotic, doesn't it? Well, you guessed it... that is exactly where this genius decided to play sick. And he didn't just fall down, this silly bastard jumped and dove head first like Rickey Henderson dives when stealing second. The Senior saw this and lost his mind. He was so glad at Blice that he smoked him right there on the side of the road. Just for good measure he dragged Blice by the shirt to the finish line and wrote a passing score on the sheet and screamed, "THE ONLY WAY YOU ARE LEAVING THIS ISLAND IS ON YOUR FEET LIKE A MAN OR IN A BAG!!! YOU MAKE SICK!!!" So I guess having to do some extra pull-ups isn't all that bad.
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