Freeking Army...now giving recruits bedtime snacks!

No ... puke, gag, puke... comment!! I just think of all of those sweet recruits, and Officer Candidates I will have cheated out of their Dorito’s rations if the Corps follows suit. My Darlings that I bill fucked to sleep could have been enjoying a cookie and milk... oh my... “ The horror...the horror”
 
Research based, bone remodeling started in as few as 8 weeks. The bar provides calcium and VIT D along with nutrition to help recruits who otherwise would go 12-14 hours without eating (train - Dinner 1700-sleep-PT-0800 Breakfast). Google USARIEM and Performance Readiness Bar
 
Fit, nourished and resilient The Performance Readiness Bar (PRB) is a calcium- and vitamin D-fortified snack bar developed to optimize bone health in basic trainees. The snack bar was distributed at Fort Benning, Georgia, in the summer of 2017 and will be distributed at all four Army basic training locations in 2018. Calcium and vitamin D have already been proven to be necessary nutrients to improve bone health. However, USARIEM researchers’ findings indicated that basic trainees needed higher-than-average amounts of calcium and vitamin D to support bone health during initial military training.
 
AWP said:
Just because something was hard "back in the day" doesn't mean it was smart. We can grumble about it being easier or whatnot, but think of all the good dudes you met who washed out because of a stupid injury or how your body will feel as you age. I wish we had all of this exercise, physiology, and nutritional information available to us pre-Internet. We can wear those injuries, especially to our backs and knees, like some badge of honor and while I'd do it all over again I do wish we had some of the tools available to "kids" these days.
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I agree with you 100% on this one...got off a plane after a 4 hour flight yesterday and the knees and back were a definite no-go. My daughter keeps reminding me of all my 'bad' eating and training habits in my past life. If only...
 
I got an orange before hitting the rack once in basic; because I re-directed the supply line in the dining facility at breakfast. ;)
 
rhanzlikusaf said:
Call of Duty; DFAC warfare
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There would have been warfare if the DS found that orange, still feel a twinge of guilt for taking it out of the chow hall. Tsk tsk

I actually used it for a ruck march the next AM. Never FELT an orange give me energy till that day. The timing of my consumption of said orange was perfect. Almost immediately after gobbling it down we were ambushed, at the top of a rather large hill called Big Bane. The OPFOR purposely attacked us at the top of the hill knowing that we would be more fatigued, but that little orange gave me some extra kick.

The point of the story and all kidding aside though, despite my war and service being pre-internet, no AC and snail mail, I don't judge. Deployments today are long and back to back. I have nothing but respect for every single service member serving today, in any branch or MOS. So, I say give them AC, internet, video game care packages and bedtime snacks. If that means we will be more fit to fight, great.
 
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MikeDelta said:
There would have been warfare if the DS found that orange, still feel a twinge of guilt for taking it out of the chow hall. Tsk tsk

I actually used it for a ruck march the next AM. Never FELT an orange give me energy till that day. The timing of my consumption of said orange was perfect. Almost immediately after gobbling it down we were ambushed, at the top of a rather large hill called Big Bane. The OPFOR purposely attacked us at the top of the hill knowing that we would be more fatigued, but that little orange gave me some extra kick.

The point of the story and all kidding aside though, despite my war and service being pre-internet, no AC and snail mail, I don't judge. Deployments today are long and back to back. I have nothing but respect for every single service member serving today, in any branch or MOS. So, I say give them AC, internet, video game care packages and bedtime snacks. If that means we will be more fit to fight, great.
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I feel the same way, As much as I wish we could continue to breed hardened soldiers, the saying "work smarter not harder" applies everywhere. We wouldn't have flying robots firing missiles from space if we only produced hardcore grunts.
 
rhanzlikusaf said:
I feel the same way, As much as I wish we could continue to breed hardened soldiers, the saying "work smarter not harder" applies everywhere. We wouldn't have flying robots firing missiles from space if we only produced hardcore grunts.
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The Army is always trying new things. During my OSUT they had low, medium and high stress training BNs. One BN, I believe B40 had a pizza party during training, they were obviously a low stress BN. The diametric opposite was my BN. One day my platoons DS ordered us to fall in on the PT stand where they had all the care packages laid out that they had held as contraband; this was because they were full of cookies and such. They then told the privates to eat as much as they wanted and then proceeded to SMOKE the shit out of us, once it was obvious some of the privates had their fill.The gluttons were vomiting while trying to keep their composure and follow the exercise commands. We kinda had a laugh about it afterward, but this was our mentality. If the DS pointed to the sky and told us to run after a chopper, we would’ve followed it till it landed.

However, my first trip to the PX for razors also yielded some multivitamins, potasium and BCAAs that I kept in my personal drawer. I ended up earning a PT Excellence patch and I'm ure the supplements incrementally helped. So, taking some smart advantages certainly doesn't equate to being soft

Ironically the low stress pizza party BN had some poor private blow his own brains out during BRM. So you never can tell the outcome till you test and test again.I wonder who had to sift through all that data for an answer on better training? Anyway, my .02 cents.
 
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If you look at the generation that the military in general is currently recruiting, and where the world is going, the military doesn't need to be full of "hard chargers" as much anymore. Future wars are predicted to be won before the actually fighting happens, and in order to do that we need smarter people. In many instances you have to lower one standard in order to raise another standard and I believe that this is what is happening now. If the "brainiacs" that are going to save the world need a protein bar before they go to bed, let them eat it. lol
 
TheReal0651 said:
If you look at the generation that the military in general is currently recruiting, and where the world is going, the military doesn't need to be full of "hard chargers" as much anymore. Future wars are predicted to be won before the actually fighting happens, and in order to do that we need smarter people. In many instances you have to lower one standard in order to raise another standard and I believe that this is what is happening now. If the "brainiacs" that are going to save the world need a protein bar before they go to bed, let them eat it. lol
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I agree in that we need to tailor training to expectations. I don’t give a shit if the drone operator can do a 12 miler to Army standards. I do think the 11B and other combat arms training courses need to be as tough as ever- yes, proper nutrition is great. I want smart training that actually makes guys strong and healthy and able to do 20 years without being physically incapacitated after retirement. With all that said we still need guys who can suck it up when it’s cold, when they’re chaffed from heat, when they have the runs in the field, or when they roll the shit out of an ankle and still finish a Long movement in kit. Combat arms needs to train smart when appropriate, and hard when necessary.

And regarding the support aka smart guy jobs- you should still look like a professional soldier. No need to be shredded or a PT stud but fuck don’t look like you need a Lil Rascal scooter to show up to formation.
 
So the reasoning into turning the bar into "candy" is to get a higher compliance. The military per this MilitaryTimes article states it tried pills, but 3/5ths voluntarily took it.

Military.com | By Matthew Cox
...
The Defense Department's Combat Feeding Program began issuing the Performance Readiness Bar this year to trainees in Army Basic Combat Training and Air Force Basic Military Training, according to Jeremy Whitsitt, deputy director of the Combat Feeding Program.

"I guess what the services had noticed over the past 10 to 12 years is that, due to the nature of the recruits, they were getting kind a more sedentary individual as opposed to what they have experienced in the past," Whitsitt said.
"They noticed a dramatic increase in stress fractures that would cause either the recruits to get recycled, where they heal and basically start over from the beginning, or they get hurt so severely that ... they are just out of the military," he said.
The Army medical community attempted to combat the issue "using a mixture of calcium and vitamin D, knowing clinically the calcium and vitamin D increases bone density ... so they initially tried to administer it through pill form," Whitsitt said.

The approach was not effective because only about 60 percent of the soldiers in the test took the pills as instructed, he said.
"They said, 'Well, maybe if we put that same dose into a food component like a snack bar, they would get a better compliance rate,' so we developed the bar," Whitsitt said.

The Performance Readiness Bar contains a mix of vitamin D and 1,000 milligrams of calcium. Recruits are given one bar each night before bed, he said, adding that the program has achieved a 90 percent soldier compliance rate.
So far, Army BCT sites at Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Jackson, South Carolina; Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, have taken delivery of 5.2 million bars, Whitsitt said.

The Defense Logistics Agency awarded a second contract in April for 18 million bars, he said.
"There are clinical studies that show that calcium and vitamin D in certain doses will increase bone strength. The medical command is in the process of collecting the data that shows that this ... scenario is actually decreasing the amount of stress fractures," Whitsitt said. "The anecdotal evidence is very positive."

This Performance Bar Could Keep Recruits from Breaking Bones in Basic
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This was published a month ago and states the Air Force is interested in a similar product.

Army researchers develop tasty, healthy performance bar
By Yolanda ArringtonAugust 31, 2018

NATICK, Mass. -- Optimizing bone health and preventing musculoskeletal injuries in service members is a complex science. The U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine consistently takes on that challenge.

USARIEM is a U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command laboratory based in Natick, Massachusetts, the home of the Soldier Systems Center -- the only place in the Army that touches every element of a Soldier's performance, from boots to increasing readiness and lethality. USARIEM's Military Nutrition Division researchers work to understand the physiological needs of the Soldier and then aim to meet those needs through nutrition guidelines and recommendations for food items.

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Army research physiologist Dr. Erin Gaffney-Stomberg says coming up with the PRB was a lengthy process.

"USARIEM studied the effects of calcium and vitamin D starting about six years ago. The results of the first randomized, controlled trial were that those who consumed a bar containing calcium and vitamin D daily throughout basic training experienced greater increases in bone density compared to those who got the placebo," Gaffney-Stomberg said.

Calcium and vitamin D have already been proven to be necessary nutrients to support bone health. However, the USARIEM researchers' findings indicated that basic trainees needed higher-than-average amounts of calcium and vitamin D to support bone health during basic training.

...

The two labs developed the PRB, which provides the nutrients necessary to support physical readiness by fueling muscle growth and bone health.

The bar addresses nutritional deficiencies that some recruits come to basic training with, such as low vitamin D levels. The PRB works to correct those deficiencies.

...

"With the help of an expert panel including the Center for Initial Military Training, the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence, the Defense Logistics Agency, USARIEM and CFD the bar was rolled out at four Army basic training sites," Gaffney-Stomberg said. The program's evaluation is ongoing.

So, how does it work?
"The bar is a standalone item and is offered once a day, each day," Gaffney-Stomberg explained. "It's essentially a fourth meal." Recruits are offered the bar every day. Each bar is counted and recruits get one per day, somewhere between dinner and before going to sleep.

Researchers from USARIEM's Military Nutrition and Military Performance Divisions are now taking a detailed look at how daily consumption of the bar impacts recruits. In one of the largest data collections in USARIEM's history, this multidisciplinary group of researchers is collecting bone and muscle data from 4,000 recruits as they go through basic training and onto the start of their military careers. The goal of this four-year study is to better understand who is more likely to get injured and exactly what factors can affect injury risk. One of the factors the researchers are looking at is whether the recruits ate the PRB, which will help them evaluate whether the bar makes a difference in injury risk.

When the researchers finish collecting data from all 4,000 recruits, their ultimate goal is to use these data, including the findings collected from evaluating the PRB, to provide guidance that will make a substantial impact on reducing injuries in our nation's warfighters.

This nutritional advancement is cost-neutral for the military. An underutilized commercial energy bar was removed from dining facilities to make room for the PRB. Cliffbar? The new bar is provided to the units where control of the bars is managed by cadre leaders and eaten outside of the dining facility.

Researchers aren't simply working to provide recruits and Soldiers with something that only tastes good; it has to make sense for their bodies as well. The PRB was created with evidence-based science and was designed to sustain performance consistent with the modernization goals of the Army. It helps recruits endure the pace of training.

And, the PRB isn't just for Soldiers. The Air Force is in the acquisitions process for a PRB or a similar product.

Army researchers develop tasty, healthy performance bar
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I have another thought. When I write another post I might include that idea.
 
DasBoot said:
I agree in that we need to tailor training to expectations. I don’t give a shit if the drone operator can do a 12 miler to Army standards. I do think the 11B and other combat arms training courses need to be as tough as ever- yes, proper nutrition is great. I want smart training that actually makes guys strong and healthy and able to do 20 years without being physically incapacitated after retirement. With all that said we still need guys who can suck it up when it’s cold, when they’re chaffed from heat, when they have the runs in the field, or when they roll the shit out of an ankle and still finish a Long movement in kit. Combat arms needs to train smart when appropriate, and hard when necessary.

And regarding the support aka smart guy jobs- you should still look like a professional soldier. No need to be shredded or a PT stud but fuck don’t look like you need a Lil Rascal scooter to show up to formation.
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Hard agree. Future big wars may be techno, robotic and EMP-heavy, but how many big wars against near-peer powers are we expecting to fight? None of the countries we've fought in since 1945 have had any kind of industrial or military parity with us.

The future: More small wars, proxy wars, asymmetric wars, limited wars because big wars have big costs and consequences.

The bottom line: It always comes down to tough young dudes with rifles and frags.

The uniform: If you wear it, have enough respect for it to keep yourself in shape even if you're not a combat-arms MOS.
 
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AWP said:
This statment is utter madness. You're being sarcastic, right?
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Poor wording, if we only ever produced infantryman, ONLY INFANTRY, and didn't incorporate science/ scientist, then yeah wouldn't we? I must be missing something.
 
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