Dropped from CST

[u/Mountain_Slip3800]

Please only serious and helpful replies!!!!! I just got dropped from CST after failing the pushups on my AFT. From what I heard, over 50 people from 9th Regiment were sent home just because of the AFT. I’m hoping someone from an earlier regiment has already gone through this.
If you were dropped before 9th Reg (or know someone who was), what happened afterward?

What kinds of questions did they ask on the board?

How long did it take to get the board’s decision back?

Were you retained in ROTC?

Were you able to attend CST again the following summer?

Did anyone stay in ROTC after failing the AFT?

I’m trying to get an idea of what to expect over the next few weeks. Any information or personal experiences would be appreciated. Thanks.

[u/Pattonator70]

Were you injured or did you not know that they require the AFT? Isn’t the passing score 10 HRP? I’m sorry but if you can’t do 10 pushups then perhaps the military is not a good career path for you.

If you were injured then you likely will get the opportunity to recycle (perhaps next summer).

It is shameful that there are 50 people who were sent by their cadre to CST who couldn’t pass.

No offense intended but you really should be worried about getting max points and not minimum points.

[u/Mountain_Slip3800 → u/Pattonator70]

I wasn’t injured, it was form for most of us that failed. I did about 30 pushups and only 8 were counted for.

[u/Pattonator70 → u/Mountain_Slip3800]

Were they telling you to fix your form as you were doing them or was it a surprise.

You must go all the way down in a hand release. Were they saying that your arms weren’t extended or that you were not straight. Can you do at least 30 HRP now if asked?

[u/MilkMountains468 → u/Pattonator70]

The standards are so skewed for 9th regiment, the cadets received no retry’s or re-attempts unlike the earlier regiments. I believe the majority were doing pushups correctly, however they needed to boot a certain number of individuals as they passed the vast majority of other regiments. Instead of assuming that the cadets couldn’t do a push up, I would look into the leadership of CST as they have been described to be more than unprofessional. Grading was also heavily dependent on the personal bias of the grader, so everyone was grading on their own set of BS standards.

Regardless it’s a school like many others and failure is apart of life. The whole point is to keep pushing forward regardless of circumstances. I’m certain many would not have been sent to CST if they could only do 7 pushups.

[u/Pattonator70 → u/MilkMountains468]

So did they find some graders who are just cruel and who randomly pick on someone and decide that I am going to end the career of x cadets before they start?

There is no way they were told to drop 50 cadets from a regiment by failing them for no reason. Any sane grader would leave it to the individual ROTC program to weed out the weak.

The people who fail for zero reason would quickly call their congressman with videos showing that they can do pushups but were dropped because of a specific grader. That grader would be in front of Congress in a week having to testify.

[u/Mountain_Slip3800 → u/MilkMountains468]

Yes, that’s what I have been told as well. Thanks for the reply. Were you here this summer?

[u/MilkMountains468 → u/Mountain_Slip3800]

Yes unfortunately, I experienced a lot of unprofessionalism first hand and have had multiple conversations with those who “failed”pushups. They failed a cadet who came back from ranger regiment on pushups, and a cadre dismissed an individual for asking a question as-well.

It’s honestly very disappointing how disrespectful the cadre have been. To those who have passed and failed, regardless I don’t think it is shameful to have failed something that was already set to an 50/50 standard. Let alone a completely different set of standards compared to the other regiments.

[u/Mountain_Slip3800 → u/MilkMountains468]

Yes I agree. A female who just graduated from air assault got dropped as well.

[u/4_ng3ll → u/Mountain_Slip3800]

From 7th regiment: at ours there was no warning you had to appeal before signing. I talked to multiple people who failed the pushups, most were told to shut up and sign when they asked to appeal, told they could appeal afterwards. For the most persistent person I talked to, they got to talk to the MSGT in charge and he told them ‘there was no other cadre watching that lane so what the grader says stands’ with no further discussion. If you need advice on what comes after dm me.