ThunderHorse
Verified Military
US Navy Grants 48,000 Sailors a Fitness Pardon...
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Devildoc
Verified Military
Not sure what I make of this. The Navy really does need to update and modernize its body fat and fitness regulations, and a lot of the people they were forcing was it's just stupid. But 48,000? Really??
I've seen about a 300lb Ensign. How does that happen? Whatever happened to PT being good for unit cohesion, discipline, and morale?
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The older I get, the more I realize that the military is not the mystique organization I once believed. Similar to the civilian world, the military is full of 'bosses' trying to keep their jobs and maybe get promoted once in a while. That's not going to happen when you are short handed...regardless of the reason. So if Ensign Blutowski can still fit in his chair and run the radio....cool....everyone above knows he's a fat ass, but they're in the same boat (figuratively and literally) so there's no pressure there either. A wink, a new regulation, and everyone is meets their manpower quota.
And THAT'S how the military ruined Christmas, my friends.
Show me a naval profession other than Teams that actually necessitates daily hamster ball training, or isn't better served by the bane of fitness tests across the DOD... lifting fucking weights?
Just like the USAF, the Navy really has few jobs that actually require even a medium level of fitness, and/or couldn't honestly be manned by disabled individuals otherwise (amputees, specifically).
Just like the USAF, the Navy really has few jobs that actually require even a medium level of fitness, and/or couldn't honestly be manned by disabled individuals otherwise (amputees, specifically).
After reading about the sailor's actions in the wake of the recent ship collisions (plus other damage control efforts on Navy ships), I think fitness and waist size matters for those folks. Across the branches (can't speak for the Marines) there are a lot of jobs that don't need track and field stars. The weight (pun gratefully accepted by not intended) placed on PT scores in the Army is ridiculous. You can be an absolute turd with a 300 PT score and go a long, long way in the Army.
Sure, same thing with the Marine Corps. However, making your sailors do 30mins of PT a day, with someone who is actually fit leading it, will not only help the Navy cut down on health costs and fewer Sailors on light duty, but it will also increase their ability to learn and retain information better according to Harvard. Regular exercise changes the brain to improve memory, thinking skills - Harvard Health Blog
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
My french professor was an SF SGM, and he would quote one of his old SGM's in the class: "You can fix almost all human problems with PT." The research behind daily exercise is pretty clear. I understand not being able to do organized PT while underway. However, while in homeport 30 minutes of running and 30 minutes of calisthenics would help out their population significantly. But I guess culturally we knew what was going on when they did an episode of JAG on a kid who exceeded the BMI standards...he was also fat.
Its been a long time since anybody's had to abandon a sinking ship and swim for their lives through burning oil slicks in shark-infested waters.
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
I sort of wonder how fit our forces would be if the money actually did go away every time they talk of sequestration. IE, no money to train in the field except for yelling bang bang. Back to before the Pershing Expedition and the inter-war years you had competitive company athletics for conditioning marches for almost all of your PT. So if we went back to every Soldier having to be on an athletic team per company element and three days a week of legit practice and the other with marches. It's an interesting idea...and I almost thought we went that way. And then sequestration hit and my unit was still in the field testing all kinds of whoonya as the NIE brigade for BMC.
It's not like they haven't tried.
Probably half of our unit physical fitness is tied up in playing sport within the Brigade. We would have aussie rules football training twice a week and a game on Thursdays, the Rugby and touch rugby dudes were doing the same thing.
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I appreciate FOX putting this in their headline for me.
US Navy to lower fitness standards as it looks to boost headcount
Grunt
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The body fat standard needs to be done away with and only used for those guys that fail due to being "body builder" types.
The average military member that can do the physical requirements need to be considered a pass rather than the body fat.
The average military member that can do the physical requirements need to be considered a pass rather than the body fat.
I thought that's what the last year was like for Navy folks dodging the Reenlistment counselors?
Get out of here with your common sense argument. You know the military can't have that. /sarcasm
Devildoc
Verified Military
A good friend of mine, a former corpsman, went to OCS and became a boat driver (SWO). When they are deployed and at sea, it is legit non-stop: 8-12 hour watches, paperwork, counseling, meetings, preparing for watch...when he's at sea he sleeps maybe 5 hours a night. And that's most sailors. I can see how the ol' waistband might expand a bit. Now, ashore, different ballgame. But for the 60% of the Navy who are ashore, there really is no excuse to not be 'in regs.' But the regs are notoriously outdated and unscientific and really screws otherwise good sailors' careers, so yeah, I am OK with changing it up.
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
I disagree, I've never had a "bodybuilder type" fail the tape test. Only the rolly pollies. And to be honest, if they do, and their 1SG puts them on the program, their 1SG needs to be hit over the head with a frying pan. (If you can see abs, you're definitely within standards)
How many ships at one time are out to sea? 40ish? So let's say out of the 326k active Sailors, roughly 17k are at sea, or roughly 5%. Most sailors are on shore duty anyways, or they catch the right cycle and never complete a tour at sea. The lack of pt is a cultural issue, not a duty issue.
Grunt
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That's ok, you can disagree because that doesn't make it false. I saw it a couple of times and knew some dudes that failed because of so-called body fat causing them to need waivers.
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