I was at the gym today and got to thinking about the old "Pack Tests" (i.e. Work Capacity Tests) I used to do and/or administer.

Very simple "Yes" or "No"

Could you pass the basic (minimum) physical test to work "Wildland Fire"?

Complete a 3-mile walk over level terrain in 45 minutes or less while carrying a 45-pound pack?

https://www.nwcg.gov/term/glossary/work-capacity-test-wct

Running is NOT permitted.

I answer Yes.

If ya wanna try it... 8 or9 ceramic tiles in a backpack will get ya to #45... typically.

How much of the 45 lbs can be beer that you can drink on the way?

Um yeah. That's a small training pack for rucking.

But the guys I know doing fire training are doing a lot more than that.

I use to do it annually for the feds, think the fastest I ever did it was 32 minutes ( spent a month hunting barbery sheep in the Sacramento mnts in preparation)

I don't know I'd want to try it today.

$20,500 in ones also gets you close to 45 pounds, for all you high rollers.

Yes, 36.53 this year.

Smokejumper pack test? Hell no.

If you are going to try it....take the pack test on gravel or dirt.

Much easier on your body than asphalt.


I used to get my red card pretty frequently.

Of course...

The test is kinda a minimum fitness level... time, weight, distance et al.

I used to train on a treadmill at 10% grade with #60+.

Point as we all get old and fat... who can still muster the minimum?

This is NOT a "who is the baddest ass MoFo" post...

Moreover... who keeps basic minimum fitness... kinda thing.

Yep passed it again last summer. Around 36 minutes I think and I was talking it easy.

LOL... I hear ya.

I never jumped, but did do some Hotshot stuff...

MANY YEARS AGO!

+1

I’m a volunteer and this past fall after my fitness test I thought that it may be my last one lol.

Yes.

I could and DID pass it when I was younger and I could pass it now. Even after multiple surgeries and a lot of hard miles in between I could still do it. The difference is that back then I was just warming up but nowadays while I could pass the test I wouldn’t have as much left in the tank.

Something about the old…..”I ain’t as good as I once was but I’m as good once as I ever was.” Rings more true everyday.

I could do it, but my short legs would be spinning. A 30” inseam requires a fast pace to keep up with you long legged bastids.

Left knee would really be pissed for a while but yes. Have in the past and could again if necessary.

Yes

Aint that the truth....first time I took the test when I was 18 it was EASY.....i honestly felt like I was purposely moving way slower than I could have and probably could have completed it a second time after finishing but last summer at age 42 while doing it I didnt really feel like I was pushing myself hard to do it in around 36 mins but damn sure knew it afterwards!!

That is easy.

Heck yeah, if I walk, run or jog on asphalt my knees and surgically repaired ankle hurt like hell but I can hike etc off road for much farther and over rougher terrain and not have the pain. Thankfully our pack test is on a flat gravel former railroad bed converted to a trail.

Years ago I could have. Most of the villages I've worked in had at least one seasonal emergency wildland fire crew. I could probably do it now with about a 4-week tune-up period before the test.

Smoke jumpers? No fahqin' way. The Alaska Fire Service is based on Ft. Wainwright with smokejumper training. One morning while I was at Ft. Wainwright, we were doing one of our long runs for PT that took us off onto one of the back roads behind post. About half way through while we were all draggin' ass and suckin' air at an airborne shuffle pace, a single file of about ten smokejumpers ran past our formation like we were crippled. I don't recall noticing any huffing & puffing on their part as they ran by.

Funny, I never pictured you as a soccer player.

But I can see you stacking up the red cards.

I can't walk 50 yards until I am out of breath. Too old and broken down for that stuff.

I have my flop perfected.

Ha I resemble that remark but am to stubborn to admit it and would kill my self before admitting it.

Not sure but smoke filled "escape" houses in the dark and HUET were a pass.

I can barely walk across the house right now.

I can still do that and I'll be 73 this summer. I just carry a 40 pound bag of wood pellets for weight (in the summer) and carry the rifle in my hand; as I do in the fall. I am definitely slower and tire more easily than I did 10 years ago. I don't expect I'll have more than another ten years of mountain hunting ahead of me. Today, I carried two 7 foot, 5 inch fence posts on my shoulder and the posthole digger in my other hand, up to the back of the campground. It's only about 3/8 mile and a moderate hill away and I was real happy to set that stuff down. In truth, by the time I was halfway there, I was wishing I had thrown them in the truck and driven up. GD

Back in the 90s when I was chasing smoke our national forest in Region 6 used the 5 minute step test for red card certification. I think the pack test came into the picture shortly thereafter. Good times

Prolly. Made three packs of moose last fall. Gear from camp was three miles. 2 of the packs around 100 pounds each. The one hind around 130 or so. Each pack to the truck 2 miles. Slick, rolling terrain (had been raining.) At 66 years, I do not plan to be in that situation this year!
I see what the fire training guys do now and know I could not come even close to their level even in my dreams...

Yes.

For sure, “Getting there” is the easy part. IMO

Yes.

Yes that includes saddling the horse…

Yes

Yes

No problem now, at 64.

I hope that is true at 80.

Yep, and I'd be sweety at the end

Yes, that’s a faster hustle then my usual loaf tho.

Yes

Put on a backpack, wrap a 45lb plate with a towel or 2 , then go run 3 to 5 miles. Enjoy.

I am 64 and walk 8 miles a day. I am confident I would be able to do the test.


WS

15 min miles...

45 pds.
Just the pack?


No dome of obedience/ brain bucket?
No lbv loaded up with water and ammo?
Vest with front plate?
Wpn?


Easy with just a pack weighing that.

12 miles 3 hrs
24 miles 6hrs.
Loaded like a armed pack mule with a 55 60 pd ruck.

Homie don't and couldn't do that schit anymore.
Been almost 14 yrs....

45 pds
3 miles level terrian
15 min miles

Can I smoke also???
👍👍👍🙂

That’s gonna be a NO for me. I’ll bring the marshmallows though 😀

My knees do barely enough to carry my gravely, morbidly obese body around. lol

#hogkitty

Mopp4 2 mile run 8: 30 min pace.
Suck meter pegged out...

Mopp4 12 mile rd march from Hovey, up face of Casey 39er, to ROK Airborne Pass, down thru Dragon Valley, and back up to Hovey.
4 hours for that one.

Bn cmdr got his azz chewed for that one from Bde Cmdr after the 3rd jungle penetrator medevac of line dogs and HHC types on the face of Casey 39er that day.

Suck meter broke the metal stem and pegged out on the glass that day.




24 milers are a gut check and a team building thru common suffereance experience.
Bout 3 asprin every 6 miles dissolved on your tongue help.

But the next day your walking around like Festus from gunsmoke all fuuucked up.
Do em on a Friday morning.
Start about an hour before sunup.
Cut your boys loose afterwards around 10 am to call it a weekend.

Yes

8 mile gorilla runs suck too...
Run half a mile or so.
Do push ups, sit up,s , mountain climbers.
Ect ect ect.
Repeat runs varying paces....


Ground medevac runs in Battle Rattle suck also...






Glad I'm retired.


I might run 50 to a couple hundred yards varying speeds and using terrian to get a shot on a deer after a fast decision making process now.


Nothing to lose
Everything to gain sorta thing.

Yes. Without a doubt, but I'm only 51.

I don't think so, I've fat, and 78 years old.

Wabi you can man the turn around point and give some encouragement and yell out times👍👍👍😁😁😁

I'd race in the mile run in basic!

I just talked to our youngest daughter, she's been running since 6:15.

Before I shattered my ankle and had it fused, I'd have said yes. I could still walk that far with the same amount of weight, but it would probably take me an hour. If I trained for it, I could probably get it done right at 45 min, but my left leg would be doing most the work.

I'm amazed at how much leg strength I've lost in my right leg since my accident. It sure has slowed me down, in the walking department and I can't really run anymore. I still walk 3-5 miles a day on average at work on railroad ballast.

Not no, but "Hell NO!"!!!! LOL!

No brag, just fact!
Between arthritic joints, pins, implants and a crushed heel, I feel extremely lucky I'm walking --- much less three miles in 45 minutes.

....but I admire those that can....or do!

😉

Yep, I just took mine Wednesday. It will be the last one for me. 32 years of doing that line of work is enough.

Yes

"are you in shape?" "yes Sir, round is a shape!" lol...

I’m out of shape now days but that’s still pretty easy. The way the test is set up is stupid and pointless anyway.

Yes, I could do it. I’m not in very good shape but the boy and I go to the boundary waters every spring. I carry a 45# pack there and then some. He carries the same pack plus the canoe around 95#. Sorry to hear of the injuries and surgeries many have had. I’m always sore and not sure why, always have been but today I feel fortunate to be able to do what I can do.

I sure as hell hope so, not exactly an Olympic feat.

My give a phuque and bucket list in this category were complete years ago! Now, if I had to do this, I reckon I could, but I would need a few doobies, a bottle of Hooten and Young and a few days off afterwards!

Cash;
Top of the morning to you my cyber friend, I hope the first week of May behaved for you all.

I'm cognizant you asked for a "yes" or "no", but as you know about me, I struggle with brevity and answering anything simply... sorry.

I shall then answer - yes I believe so for the following reasons.

About 7 years back now my good wife and I started to walk every weekday morning at 5:00. The loop we do is about 2 miles - 3.25km - which takes us 37 minutes on average, but nothing in our part of BC is level, so there is that.

That said then, I'm fairly sure I could knock off another mile in 9 minutes, especially if it was level.

The walking routine has helped immensely in how far and how long I can hunt in the fall, I noticed it the first year but for sure as I've aged it's been extremely useful. My daypack is way too heavy, likely pushing 20lb when the Mystery Ranch frame is on first and the day pack strapped to it and then there's the rifle too.

As an aside it's been a good way for us to start the day as a couple - no devices, no details of the day to mess with yet, just us and the local wildlife up at that hour for the most part.

Thanks for making me think this morning Cash and for allowing me to encourage folks to walk as it's been literally life changing for us.

All the best and God bless.

Dwayne

Don't go back to freebasing cocaine, don't let it be a part of your life.

The Canadian version of the "pack test" seems lame....but it's apparently just as arduous or maybe more so.

You walk up an down some steps.

Yes

Oh yeah!
1990-2014, for some reason had a tough time with the stress test. But when the pack test came along, easy peasy. I realized pretty quickly that the test was a little physical and a bunch mental. I AD'ed for a couple of years then ended up working for DOC. Blessed with starting and running a program using the inmates on fed and state fires. Not only rake technicians but we also put them thru the same fed training for urban interface, pumps, and chainsaws, had several C fallers over the years. We did Rx prep, Rx fire, and wild. We stayed pretty busy year round. I had no co workers that enjoyed it like I did, do their 8 and hit the gate. They all thought we were crazy. Had several inmates that got jobs in fire once they were released. Wouldn't have traded it for anything.

R.D.

Did it annually 1990 -2000 as a fire crew supervisor. Usually an hour and five minutes or so. The course was up and down the coastal hills near San Luis Obispo CA.

No way can I do that anymore.

We quit the step test in the US around 1997 or so.

A resounding yes and with more weight and in much less time.

My first year on a U.S. Forest Service fire crew was 1969 at the age of 19. That was before the pack test or the step test or Nomex clothing. Fought a lot of fire in cotton clothing. I worked on 25 man helicopter "helitack" fire crews in the 1970s. I remember taking the step test in 1976. The guy taking my pulse after I performed the test didn't know what he was doing and came up with a pulse rate of about about two times the actual rate, causing me to fail the test. An option at that time was to run 1.5 miles in under 12 minutes. So I immediately ran that test and easily passed it. One crew boss we had was a stickler for physical condition and led us on a 20 mile hike through mountainous terrain. I was glad I had a good set of Whites boots at the time. From 1990 through 2008, I had a side business as a contractor with a water tender and a Type 6 wildland fire engine. I worked on wildland fires in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and California during that time. In 2010 at the age of 60, I started having trouble passing the pack test which wasn't surprising, since I had had serious smoke exposure on a fire in 2007. Also, with a 30 inch inseam, 5' 8" height and 200 lb. body weight, the pack test became a problem. If I had lost about 40 pounds, it probably would have been much easier. Could I pass a pack test today at age 71? No.

Easily.

I used to do a lot of backpacking and keeping the pack in the under 50 pound range was the sweet spot for being able to stay nimble and not feel it much for an all day hike at a fast pace. 45 pounds for three hours isn’t asking much. Sinch most of that weight down on your hips near center of gravity and you’ll hardly feel 45 pounds.

LEVEL ground? Where do you find wildfires with level ground? A good share of them are 45 degree ground.

Why do I suspect that the training standards have been lowered to accommodate women?

*Probably maybe*

Standards are the same for all...

Flat and level is a standard as well...

NOT really a complex test.

The topic was offered as a basic... Yes or No... do you maintain basic MINIMAL level fitness?

War is here...

Minimum fitness is a reasonable consideration... IMHO.

We need a "Like" button.

Not really

we use J8 Bombadiers with 500 gallon water tanks with a pump to refill tanks with water at ponds and streams . we leave the shovel diggin and crap jobs to the younger fire fighters when we unload those big J8 Bombadiers they are happy to see us , we work right with the fire helicopters when we fill up at a pond they drop down right next to us it is a heck of a experience . we also fill the tanks for the ground fire fighters with their tanks on their backs and other bombadiers . our old J8 Bombadiers are on call most of the spring and some falls too. at my age and health carrying a pack is no longer what i care to do but i can drive and load anything on the ground no matter the size.

Doing stuff like that gave me several lower back surgeries.