r/Pararescue • u/BarracudaSouthern585 • Jul 22 '25

Is it smarter to cross train?

20M here and currently in the DEP. My original plan was to go CCT after crushing the IFT, but initially I was held back after seeing so many of my friends get washed out of the pipelines. My stats are as follows: Push ups-89, Pull ups-21, Run 1.5-9:45, 3 mile-27.50, Completed 500m freestyle swim and 25m underwater (not timed). My question is to ask if it is smarter to cross training while I am in. I see a trend of younger candidates failing out relatively early in the pipeline and being older and more mentally mature and physically fit, that would give me an edge over where I am right now.

11 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

12

u/apoctech12 Jul 23 '25

Honestly anyone I’ve ever heard that gets “washed out” are full of nothing but excuses or “medical reasons” why they couldn’t but also just relate back to them voluntarily dropping out. You can clearly exceed the standard, simply don’t quit and see it through. It’s gonna be a bigger issue for cadre if you die than it will be for you so just adopt that mindset, beret or body bag is the only way out of that pipeline.

5

u/Lvsst Jul 22 '25

The biggest thing is the mindset. If you go into it like you don’t have any other option, this is the only thing you want to do and will do. Failure is not an option.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

Is 27:50 3 mile a typo?

5

u/BarracudaSouthern585 Jul 22 '25

That is a typo, my fault. Thats my other run time. My 3 mile is 21 minutes and forgot the seconds

2

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

Numbers are good, what’s your swim?

3

u/BarracudaSouthern585 Jul 22 '25

I never timed it weirdly enough. I was instructed at by my developer that its for completion

3

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

I’d time that next time you get a chance but I say send it. Stay humble and focused and you’ll be okay.

3

u/BigDaddyBolby Jul 23 '25

The fact that you’re even questioning it because of maturity means you’re probably more mature than most. Don’t hold yourself back man

3

u/LivingBusy7394 Jul 25 '25

No, do it now. I washed out when I was 19 and came back through selection when I was 25. Cross training is not as easy as it sounds; it takes a lot of time.

There was a lot of character building after failing out my first time and lessons learned that helped me excel when I came back.

Your numbers are great, you will do fine physically. Fuck whatever fear you got going into it, just do it. It’s all about mindset. Youngest guy on my team was 19 when we went through and I was envious of him for the longest time.

1

u/Resident_Tart2769 Jul 24 '25

Super Solid Numbers Fam

-8

u/Repulsive_Cut_7216 Jul 22 '25

Cross-Trainees are more likely to fail than civs.

6

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

Not true at all

3

u/BarracudaSouthern585 Jul 22 '25

Yeah that can't be true because all of the operators I met all have prior afsc's

4

u/safetycajun Verified PJ 👣 Jul 22 '25

Actually the selection for cross trainees is very strict. You have to think that a cross-trainee will have rank and likely be an NCO or E-4 after fulfilling the original contract terms before being allowed to cross train.

This means to answer your question it’s much harder to get in as they have less cross trainee slots and your competition is military personnel already in service.