Packing a Ruck

[dangerboy]

I think that people that can't accept the fact that there are females in the Infantry are telling stories.  I joined in 1988 (reserves) and don't recall hearing about an official 30 km march that the Infantry had to do.  I do remember doing a 32 km marches back in the 90's and there were females doing it also.

 

[PuckChaser]

There's women that complete the Ironman/Mountain Man competitions in better time than some men.

 

[sidemount]

The last 2 years Petawawa was doing a brigade wide 20km.

Thats the longest Ive been required to do in 13 years in the army (eme tech). Ive never heard anything about it being because of women in the military. To be quite frank there are plenty of women that are more fit then most guys and quite a few butterball guys as well.




Ironman, Mountain man, and Nijmegan are all much more...but thats by choice and plenty of women do well in them

 

[Rick Goebel]

Hello everyone,

I've recently applied to join the Reserve and of course, relatives are popping up and sharing their experience in the CF.
I've heard that "back in the days" it was a 30km ruck march for the infantry. Now it's 13km. Quite a drop! The justification given was that .. "now there's girls".
I wanted to double check the validity of the statement. The 30km would have been in early 1980.

Thanks,
PS: Yes, I used the search function before posting.

Back in the dark ages of the early 1990s, 1 Bde had a discretionary 32 km ruck march for infantry only and as a culmination of a sequence of the 13 km as the fitness test, the 2 x 16 km as a unit competition, and then the 32 km.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Back in the dark ages of the early 1990s, 1 Bde had a discretionary 32 km ruck march for infantry only and as a culmination of a sequence of the 13 km as the fitness test, the 2 x 16 km as a unit competition, and then the 32 km.

This is a great example of a progressive and truly 'battle fitness' focused standard. Combined with complimentary circuit/ weight training, it would do a great service for the combat arms and anyone required to work with them IMHO.

I units I have been part in the past of we did similar tests at least once a month or so when in barracks. 20 miles/ 32kms should only take about 5 hours, a simple afternoon hike.

It's easy to keep the fitness levels up if you do it consistently, even for support arms and services attached to the infantry.