The Australian Infantry Obstacle Course poses the question: will it beat you? Army physical training, especially infantry training worldwide, utilizes the obstacle course as a test of toughness, leadership, and teamwork for the simple reason that it works. You will go from a standing start to exhaustion in moments, and you will then spend the next however long feeling like you are in the last minute of a crucial football game. Knowing that if your section does not perform, you are doing it again. Infantry training doesn’t care about your feelings; it is designed to identify breaking points and test weaknesses of both body and mind. It aims to see who emerges as a leader under pressure, getting the team going, or the character that turns inward, becoming selfish and the weak link.

There is no hiding on the Infantry Obstacle Course at the School of Infantry. You will be watched the whole time, and you must succeed at every single hurdle, or you and the section will fail. You will be wet and weighed down with the equipment you wear into battle. This is the ultimate CrossFit test, and the secret ingredients are muscular endurance, mental and physical toughness, and mateship.

The Infantry Obstacle Course will expose weaknesses in men, and if you are only Kapooka fit, you will fail this course. Then, good luck looking your team in the eye when they get told to get ready to go through it again. You are tested as a section, not just as an individual, and we don’t care about your feelings. Every infantry soldier has done this before; now it’s your turn to prevail or fail. What you do to prepare determines your ability to pass.

Duty First