This is usually people's least favorite event. This was the one I dreaded. I barely got through the endurance course at OCS (I did have a broken foot though), and I remember my OCS Platoon Commander warning me "the TBS endurance course is much more difficult. Twice as long, with much more weight." It was a blessing I was sent to Mike Co to heal from my injury, as in order to pick up, I had to pass the PFT/CFT, endurance course, double obstacle course, and a six-mile hike. Some companies will not let you run the endurance course by yourself. I had the luxury of being able to run the endurance course with Mike Company (never with full weight though). I walked it a couple times too.
The biggest thing that helped me with the endurance course was being familiar with it. There is a strategy. Out of all the women in my platoon, I had the lowest PFT score. BY FAR. It turns out, people have different strengths and weaknesses, and I guess mine ended up being running with weight. I had the lowest PFT score, but I came in second out of the females in my platoon for the endurance course (the lady that came in first crushed it) and I even beat some men. I beat two women in my platoon that had 300 PFT/CFT. I know if these two women were as familiar with the endurance course as I would, they would have blew me away.
Why is being familiar with the endurance course beneficial? Because I knew where to conserve energy. Did you know, if you run with 50 lbs up a very steep hill, you actually do not go much faster than if you were to power-walk up the same hill. BUT! You will conserve a lot of energy. It is very unnerving to be running for time, and then purposely WALK (power walk) in key areas. But trust me, this was a life-saver.
The endurance course is 5 miles long. You will be running up hills. But there are some hills that are very steep and are littered with rocks. Power-walk. This is aimed for people in danger of failing. If you can get through this easily and you can run up these hills faster, by all means do it.
Other tips:
When going over the wall, throw your pack over first. Then climb over.
When getting to the net, climb toward the side where there is less slack (instead of the center). Keep three points of contact when going over. People have gotten really hurt when the weight of their pack catches them off guard when they climb their exhausted selves over
Put CLP on your LBV so the zipper slides easily and you don't waste time zipping it. A prior service Marine gave me this tip at OCS.
I put my canteen pouches as high on my pack as possible, to get the weight higher on my body. Usually we place them at the bottom of our assault pack, but I placed mine as high as possible. I did this on hikes too. I saw no one else do this, but it helped me.
If you're exhausted and have to hop over high logs, just throw your pack over. This is authorized.
There are some obstacles that you need to wear your kevlar for. You can wear your kevlar the whole time, or take it off when you don't have to wear it. Some people wear it the whole time. Do NOT put the kevlar in your pack. It's time consuming to take it out. I secured it as much as I could to my pack. Be careful with this though, make sure it's secure! For the first run-through, I had it in my pack and I wasted 20 seconds taking it out and putting it on. You'll need it about half-way in at the ropes, and then towards the end for the net. People often remove it after the ropes, and then put it on later. I put it on at the ropes and left it on for the remainder of the time. I did the final e-course in July, so it was very hot, so it may be tempting to take it off, but I made it through the heat a-okay. Funny enough, I tripped badly around mile 4 and landed head first. My kevlar made a BONK as my head hit the ground, but I was fine! I honestly think I would have hurt myself if I wasn't wearing it.
There are two water obstacles. One is a pit with logs overhead so you'll have to crouch. The thing is, people crouch and wade through. DON'T DO THIS. This is time-consuming, and since you're going to get wet anyway, and soon as you get to the pit, just immediately drop down and crawl through like a baby. You're going to get just as wet, but instead of wading slowly, you're saving time. Be careful, there is a rock underwater. Just like OCS, your rifle has to be clean when you finish. Make sure your rifle is clean here! The first time I went through the TBS endurance course, I did not clean my rifle here because I knew there was another water obstacle near the finish. What I didn't know is that this second one sometimes dries out! So I basically sucked water out of my camelback and kept spitting it out on my rifle to clean it. Time waster! Clean it at the pit.
The second water obstacle has barbed wire. Just get low. You're already wet!!!!
Don't get lost. Follow the very obvious signs... it has happened though. There's also a rule. Turn right on all roads, left on all trails. For the purpose of the endurance course, a road is what a vehicle can drive on (even though they are called trails...). A trail is anything that looks like your standard wooded trail with leaves and hidden roots. The signs will be red and yellow. Ignore the yellow and black signs.
An additional note: be honest. Don't make short cuts. Don't misrepresent alibis. There are only two places for alibis, your instructor will tell you them. (They are the rappelling ropes and the net, NOT the ladders). I ended up not even needing alibis, I didn't even count for the five seconds I maybe could have had. Don't cheat.
Seriously, I was nowhere near the fittest person in my platoon, but the endurance course ended up being my favorite event. I only did well because I was familiar with the course and I readjusted my strategy between the first and second time through. I knocked more than 8 minutes off my time! You got this!