When trying to become a pararescuemen, you have to go through some of the hardest training schools the military has to offer. To become a pararescueman you have to do around 2 years of training, which is called the pipeline. The pipeline has many different schools you have to go through. Before you can really get into the schools that make PJ’s so good at their jobs, you first must go through a 9 week course from hell called indoc or indoctrination.
Indoc is the first step on a long road to becoming a PJ. At the beginning of indoc you usually start out with a class of upwards of 130 students. In many classes, after a week of training you could be down to a class of fewer than 60. Indoc has an average dropout rate of 90%. That is higher than the navy seals dropout rate.
Before you start indoc, you first must pass the PAST test or Physical Ability and Stamina Test. The PAST test includes push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, 1.5 mile run, a 500 meter swim and 2x25 meter underwater swim.
2x25m Underwater Swim: Pass or Fail 10:00 Rest o
Swim: 500m = 10:07 30:00 Rest
Run: 1.5m = 9:47 10:00 Rest
Pull ups: 10 (1 min) 2:00 Rest
Sit-Ups: 54 (2 min) 2:00 Rest
In the 2x25 meter swim you swim underwater for 25 meters then freestyle swim back after touching the wall. 3 minutes after the start of your first underwater you will do it one more time. If you pass all of the requirements then you may end up with a slot into indoc.
The things you do in indoc are some of the toughest things imaginable. Most of the toughest things are done in the water like drown proofing, buddy breathing, 10-ups, treading water, snorkel and mask recovery, and under water knot tying. In drown proofing you have your hands tied behind your back and feet tied together and then you are dropped into a 12 to 13 foot pool. For the first 5 minutes you bob up and down, after you perform a 2-minute dead man float where you just float on the surface for 2 minutes. After you swim 100 meters, go to the bottom of the pool and perform a front and backflip and then recovery a mask with your teeth and finish with 5 more bobs. That is not an easy task. All in all indoc is an excruciating 9 weeks of hell and there is a lot of stuff to talk about in it. I’ll save the rest for next week when I talk about Extended Training Day which is the most brutal 21 hours of hell in indoc.