On May 12, 2022, Mr Albright’s classes “ran through” the United States Marine Corp Combat Fitness Test. The CFT consists of the following movements:

880m run (it is a sprint)
Ammo can presses (as many as you can do in 2:00) The ammo can weighs roughly 35lb
Maneuver Under Fire.

The Maneuver Under Fire is a little like an obstacle course. A Marine, or in this case an AP Gov or HN Gov student in my class, begins at the start line on their belly. Once the instructor says GO! they will get up and run to the first set of cones. There they will “hit the deck” and low crawl to the next set of cones. Once there they will then high crawl (baby crawl) to the next set of cones. Then they will get up, run through the zig zag cones to their buddy (We used a 75lb sandbag for the guys and a 45lb sandbag for the girls). The Marine will drag his buddy to the first set of cones and then pick them up and carry them to the start line. Once they “drop” their buddy, they will pick up two ammo cans and sprint through the cones to the place they picked up their buddy. They will set the ammo cans down, pick up a “grenade” and throw it into a circle. If they “hit” the circle the Marine will get 5 secs taken off their time. If they “miss”, 5 secs will be added. After they toss the grenade, they will do five pushups, pick up the ammo cans and spring to the start line where time stops.

My students are given this opportunity to run this for an extra credit test grade (easy 100). It is strictly voluntary, and the students do have to sign a Hold Harmless agreement (what I call a “death waiver”) for the Marine Corps.

Here are some before and after photos: