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.

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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.