Chapter 43: Transfer Students Can Only Be Seated at the Back

Chapter 43: Transfer Students Can Only Be Placed at the Very End

"The reason I spoke to you like that at the time was to ignite your potential, Student Zhou, in the hope that you would deliver a stellar performance in today's tests. Only then could we honorably send you back to Randolph Air Force Institute. This also proves that the training methods and techniques at our Army Institute are truly world-class!"

Major Jeff Hunter was quick-witted and quite magnanimous. "You'll have breakfast with us today, and in the upcoming tests, perform well and secure a strong score for me. As long as you show good results, I will personally write a letter to the Commandant of Randolph Air Force Institute, giving you glowing praise and recommending your advancement!"

Major Jeff Hunter's remark, "Perform well and secure a strong score for me," instantly bridged the distance between him and Zhou Zhihan, dissolving the awkwardness caused by the earlier commotion.

At Zhou Zhihan's request, Major Jeff Hunter instructed the squad leader, Steven Goode, to go to the quartermaster's stores and fetch a brand-new set of clothes, shoes, socks, and even a new belt for Zhou Zhihan to change into.

Second Lieutenant Jonas Hansen frowned, urging Zhou Zhihan to quickly put on his oversized shorts. Zhou Zhihan stood outside the tent with his hands clutched over his groin and his neck shrunken, looking like a molted autumn chicken shivering in the cold wind.

After morning exercises, Zhou Zhihan ate breakfast right by Major Jeff Hunter's side, arousing envy and jealous glances from quite a few soldiers.

Zhou Zhihan simply pretended not to see them. Only mediocre people are never envied! To not be envied is to be mediocre.

Following breakfast and a one-hour break, all first-, second-, and third-year cadets gathered at the West Point parade ground, which was fully equipped for specialized physical fitness testing.

All fourth-year cadets had arrived earlier to warm up and prepare for the physical fitness evaluations.

Stretching from north to south, a total of thirty test lanes were laid out horizontally from east to west.

The testing consisted of ten individual events.

There was no rigid time limit for completing each event, but cadets had to avoid being overtaken by the person starting behind them.

Every cadet held the right to temporarily withdraw, with one opportunity for a make-up test.

Two students from the first to third years were stationed beside each event to record the scores.

Dozens of drill instructors patrolled back and forth along the testing lanes. The moment any cadet was caught cheating, all their test scores would immediately be reduced to zero and they would be expelled on the spot. Supervisors and recorders caught negligent would receive a disciplinary mark, which would be entered into their future promotion evaluations.

Therefore, the graduation testing was exceptionally rigorous.

To introduce a competitive mechanism into the trials and encourage remote rivalry among the cadets, a new batch of cadets was released onto these thirty testing lanes every ten minutes. If a trailing cadet managed to catch up to the preceding cadet with an exceptional time, they would receive bonus points, while the overtaken cadet's score for that event would instantly drop to zero, requiring a make-up test.

On the battlefield, seizing the initiative requires moving a step faster. When traveling the same route with similar equipment, if you start first only to be overtaken by an enemy who started behind you, you essentially have no path to survival.

Consequently, although individual tests lacked a fixed time limit, the pursuit from the cadets behind instilled a strong sense of crisis in everyone, driving them to give their absolute all.

Being overtaken by someone behind meant more than just having one's score wiped out and facing a make-up test; losing face was the far greater blow. Having endured four years of arduous study only to be surpassed by others at the crucial final moment—that psychological shock was a bitter pill to swallow.

The individual events for today's tests were:

One: Deadlift.
Two: Standing backward medicine ball throw.
Three: T-pushups.
Four: Twenty-five-meter sprint, weighted shuttle run, and carry-and-run.
Five: Pull-up hanging leg raises, followed by weighted squats.
Six: Unassisted climbing of a 4.8-meter obstacle, running, jumping, and crossing trenches, followed by a standing long jump.
Seven: Grenade throwing and dragging an ammunition crate forward.
8: On-land breath-holding apparatus, manual excavation of a single-soldier trench, followed by rapid refilling.
Nine: Sit-ups, crawling through a barbed-wire section set fifty centimeters off the ground.
Ten: Weighted five-cross-country run (this event was exempt from the rule where being overtaken resulted in a zero score).

For these ten tests, the passing threshold for each item was sixty points, with a maximum of one hundred points.

A cumulative total of six hundred points was required to pass and meet graduation standards. Achieving a total score of seven-hundred-thirty across the ten events was considered excellent, while reaching eight hundred points qualified a cadet for the next phase of testing.

Once everyone completed all ten tests today, the school administration would officially compile and report the scores.

The day after tomorrow, cadets who achieved eight hundred points or higher would participate in selection trials hosted by the Marine Corps to recruit promising talent.

The Marine Corps selection criteria were even more rigorous, and cadets who successfully entered the Marine Corps would be commissioned as second or first lieutenants upon graduation.

To ensure fairness and impartiality, all 1,126 graduating cadets had drawn their group assignment numbers during breakfast.

Every number was drawn under the supervision of multiple departments to guarantee absolute fairness, and then distributed to the cadets by their respective company instructors.

As a transfer student sent by Randolph Air Force Institute to study physical conditioning at the Army Service Academy, Zhou Zhihan was assigned to the very final group.

Assigned alongside him were several dozen other fourth-year graduating cadets.

These cadets had been specially pre-selected under strict fairness guidelines to act as the rear-guard testing group. Their purpose was to exert pressure on the preceding cadets, drive up their scores, and prevent any students from slackening off once they felt they had secured a passing grade.

These final dozens of cadets possessed an extraordinarily fierce competitive drive and freakish physical fitness; they required no urging to give everything they had during the tests.

This final group was a gathering of powerhouses—the absolute elite among the entire fourth-year class.

True to the principle of fairness, a one-minute buffer was added between this final batch of top cadets and the second-to-last testing batch, making the interval eleven minutes.

Ordinarily, as a first-year student and a mere transfer student at that, Zhou Zhihan had no qualifications to participate in this graduation physical test.

Thus, placing him at the very end was the only way to maintain the appearance of fairness. Putting him earlier in the rotation would have been unfair to the other cadets.

Given his slight build, he wouldn't pose any threat to the preceding cadets, making this arrangement relatively equitable.

Major Jeff Hunter, Mr. Don McLean—who specifically managed freshman admissions and withdrawals—and Second Lieutenant Jonas Hansen all agreed that as long as Zhou Zhihan could manage an average score of four hundred and fifty points or higher in today's tests, he could be sent right back to Randolph Air Force Institute.

Second Lieutenant Jonas Hansen believed that not placing Zhou Zhihan at the front of the test was also a form of protection; if he were to be overtaken by the cadets behind him, it would deal a heavy psychological blow.

After all, today's battery of physical tests was tailor-made for fourth-year graduates. Demanding that Zhou Zhihan meet the six-hundred-point passing line would be unfair, unreasonable, and entirely devoid of justice.

Therefore, Zhou Zhihan was treated as an insignificant pawn and tucked away at the very end.

An hour and a half later, upon hearing his name called, Zhou Zhihan and thirty-odd graduating cadets stepped up to their respective testing lanes, preparing for the first event: the deadlift.

This test primarily simulated a soldier's operational environment—hauling ammunition crates, rescuing injured comrades, and resupplying or transporting other essential equipment for fellow soldiers, all of which required a foundation of robust physical strength.

With the shout of "Begin!" from the supervising instructor, this final batch of cadets officially commenced their physical tests.