The body
Six rungs. No partial credit in either direction.
To rise, meet the ceiling on every event in your battery. To hold what you have, meet the minimum on every event, every cycle. Fall below on one event and the color is gone until you earn it back.
The ladder interlocks: each battery’s ceiling is the next battery’s minimum. The number you hit to advance is the number you must keep hitting to stay. Advancement and maintenance are one threshold seen from either side.
The ladder
- WhiteWhere everyone begins.
- RedEvery ceiling standard in Battery One.
- BlueEvery ceiling standard in Battery Two.
- PurpleEvery median standard in Battery Three.
- GoldEvery ceiling standard in Battery Three.
- Navy BlueThe nineteen feats. Gold is a prerequisite.
Battery One
| Event | Minimum | Median | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull-ups | 2 | 6 | 10 |
| Push-ups | 16 | 24 | 32 |
| Bar-dips | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| Sit-ups (2 min.) | 30 | 45 | 60 |
| Standing broad jump | 6'0" | 6'6" | 6'9" |
| Shuttle run (200 yds.) | 38 sec. | 36 sec. | 34 sec. |
| Rope climb (18', standing start) | Hands and feet | Half hands only | Hands only |
| Agility run | 21 sec. | 20.5 sec. | 20 sec. |
| 880 yard run | 3:30 | 3:15 | 3:00 |
| Mile run | 7:30 | 7:15 | 7:00 |
| Man lift and carry | 440 yds. | 660 yds. | 880 yds. |
| Pegboard (vertical) | 2 holes | 4 holes | 6 holes |
| Swim, 50 yards freestyle | 40 sec. | 38 sec. | 36 sec. |
Battery Two
| Event | Minimum | Median | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull-ups | 10 | 12 | 14 |
| Push-ups | 32 | 40 | 48 |
| Bar-dips | 12 | 15 | 18 |
| Standing broad jump | 6'9" | 7'0" | 7'3" |
| Hanging leg lifts (30 sec.) | 20 | 22 | 24 |
| Shuttle run (300 yds.) | 55 sec. | 53 sec. | 52 sec. |
| Rope climb (18', standing start) | 18 ft., hands only | 20 ft., hands only | 15 sec. |
| Agility run | 20 sec. | 19.5 sec. | 19 sec. |
| 1320 yard run | 4:40 | 4:30 | 4:20 |
| Man lift and carry | 880 yds. | 1000 yds. | 1320 yds. |
| Pegboard (vertical) | 6 holes | 8 holes | 1 trip |
| Extension press-up | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 1½ mile run | 11:30 | 11:00 | 10:30 |
| Swim, 50 yards | 36 sec. | 34 sec. | 32 sec. |
Battery Three
| Event | Minimum | Median | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull-ups | 14 | 18 | 22 |
| Bar-dips | 18 | 28 | 32 |
| Handstand push-ups | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Extension press-up | 15 | 20 | 30 |
| Pegboard (vertical) | 1 trip | 2 trips | 3 trips |
| Two arm hand hang | 1:45 | 2:15 | 3:00 |
| Standing broad jump | 7'3" | 7'6" | 8'0" |
| Rope climb (20', sitting start) | Hands only | 13.0 sec., hands only | 11.0 sec. |
| Shuttle run (300 yds.) | 52 sec. | 50.5 sec. | 49.5 sec. |
| 2 mile run | 16:00 | 15:00 | 14:00 |
| Man lift and carry | 1320 yds. | 1 mile | 1¼ miles |
| Agility run | 19 sec. | 18.5 sec. | 18 sec. |
| Hanging sit-ups | 20 | 25 | 30 |
Navy Blue
Nineteen feats, each a single absolute standard, accumulated over time rather than in one sitting. Gold is a prerequisite. In the entire history of the original program, two men finished it.
| # | Feat | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bar-dips, parallel bar | 52 |
| 2 | Pull-ups, horizontal bar | 34 |
| 3 | Handstand push-ups | 50 |
| 4 | Alternating one-arm burpee (30 sec.) | 26 |
| 5 | 300 yard shuttle run | 47.5 sec. |
| 6 | Rope climb, 20', hands, sitting start | 2 trips |
| 7 | Agility run | 17 sec. |
| 8 | Extension press-up, 8 inches | 100 |
| 9 | Vertical pegboard | 5 trips |
| 10 | Handstand | 45 sec. |
| 11 | Man lift and carry | 5 miles |
| 12 | Mile run | 5:15 |
| 13 | Five mile jog | Finish |
| 14 | Obstacle course | Complete |
| 15 | Swim, front prone position | 1 mile * |
| 16 | Swim, underwater | 50 yds. † |
| 17 | Swim, any combination of strokes | 2 miles * |
| 18 | Front hanging float, arms and ankles tied, deep water | 6 min. † |
| 19 | Stay afloat, deep water, vertical, within an 8 ft. circle | 2 hours * |
The water events can kill you. All nineteen are published in full, because a man who intends this is owed the whole standard rather than an edited one. What follows is a condition of the standard itself, not a matter for anyone’s discretion — a scorer may not waive it, and a feat attempted without it does not count.
* Deck supervision. Qualified water-safety supervision watching from the side, free of any other duty, for the whole attempt.
† A safety swimmer in the water. Within arm’s reach, one per man, able to extract him immediately. Required for the bound float and the underwater swim, where the failure mode is silent: a man in trouble under water does not thrash or call out, and shallow-water blackout arrives with no warning at all. Someone on the deck will see nothing until it is too late to matter.
Standards transcribed from the 1966 source program. Where the original imposed gates belonging to a high school — a semester grade, a haircut — the shape is kept and the substance is a fort’s to set. See the fire we carry.