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New CFT a true ‘gut check’

ARLINGTON, Va. — The commander of Henderson Hall passed on the first run. So did the command sergeant major. At 47 and 43, respectively, that’s no small feat considering the unforgiving rigors of the Corps’ new Combat Fitness Test.

And both Col. William Lietzau and Sgt. Maj. Ronald L. Green finished with the contents of their stomachs still intact.

Not so for 22-year-old Cpl. Jacob Pena, who learned the hard way that a full breakfast, a bottle of Gatorade and the CFT make for unpleasant company.

Col. Brian McGuire, physical readiness programs officer at Training and Education Command in Quantico, Va., said Pena’s constitution is not the first to be flushed by the CFT.

VIDEO: Taste the pain of the new CFT

“If vomiting during the event was an injury, we’d have an injury problem,” McGuire said. “But it isn’t, so we don’t.” Pena was applauded by the roughly 100 Marines gathered in the 90-degree heat Monday morning on a patch of Henderson Hall grass to watch six Marines perform the test created to prepare leathernecks for the uncertain demands of combat. Soon, the CFT will be well known from the Carolinas to Okinawa.

“I think it’s more of a gut check,” Pena said roughly 20 minutes after his battle with nausea. “It’s not impossible, but if you suck at it, you need to start preparing a lot more.”

The Combat Fitness Test is one part of Commandant Gen. James Conway’s move to forge a leaner Corps.

Unlike the traditional Physical Fitness Test that measures endurance and strength with pull-ups, crunches and a distance run, the Combat Fitness Test is designed to measure abilities demanded of Marines in a war zone.

McGuire conducted an hour-long introduction to the CFT and how it will complement the 36-year-old Physical Fitness Test.

Monday’s demonstration was the first in a series for McGuire and his team of CFT experts, who will travel the globe explaining the test to Marines.

When the test is implemented Oct. 1, it will be pass/fail. Starting Oct. 1, 2009, however, it will become a three-tier scored test that will be factored into cutting scores, meaning poor scores could damage promotion potential.

The CFT takes only about 20 minutes to perform, but it’s a challenge.

“Taken separately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be that difficult,” said Lietzau. “Suddenly, when you string these things together, you get more winded than you think you should.”

The CFT starts with a 880-yard run, followed by two minutes lifting a 30-pound ammo can.

The third and final installment is where Marines test their mettle. The “maneuver under fire” drill is part obstacle course, part pre-season football conditioning glazed with a unique Corps mindset.

Participants run between cones, haul a mock casualty using two different carries and sprint, while saddled with two 30-pound ammo cans, the approximate distance “from the tree line to a helo.” Download a diagram of the obtacle course at http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/combatfitnesstest.

Lance Cpl. Antonio Young, 21, of Decatur, Ga., was among the fortunate ones who simply watched the six Marines perform the CFT on Monday. But he’s done it in the past and knows it will challenge even the fittest Marine.

“It sucks. It hurts. And I work out a lot. A whole lot,” Young said. “The third part is hell on wheels. It’s so long it wears on your mind more than your body.”

DISCUSS: What’s your take on the CFT?

VIDEO: Taste the pain of the new CFT