We walked for about an hour, before the drill sergeants rounded up the stragglers - many of whom were in tears - and drove us all back to base in company trucks. We did visit the obstacle course - for stress-free play.Īnd that much-anticipated 12-mile road march?

Women didn’t have the upper-body strength to succeed, they said. New military rules prohibited bare-handed pushups on the pavement the drill sergeants also said females were no longer required to pass the obstacle course as a condition of basic training graduation because it was perceived as too difficult. Our daily physical fitness workouts were sporadic in terms of toughness some days, our runs were about a mile - barely - as drill sergeants were forced to accommodate the weaker fitness level of an all-female company of varying ages and maturity levels. I actually lost all the fitness gains I had made while training to enter the Army. We already had been warned by our male drill sergeants about a 12-mile road march with full gear that was set for a month into training. Nonstop physical and mental tests that stressed the body and mind. Running-miles-upon-miles tough, pushups-to-exhaustion tough. This is where I thought things would get tough - military tough.

Casting a shadow of doubt