I don’t see the problem of kicking out soldiers who are not fit enough.... provided they are given a warning and adequate time to shape up
Make them charge up a hill all day and night till they get it right.
That’s non-PC!
Should they fail to measure up there, they can become nurses as they are among the fattest in nation's history.
I retired in 2011 from the Navy and glad to not have to participate in the dope a rope anymore. What a terrible way to handle fitness. There has to be other ways to find out if people are healthy and can do their job. I passed all 48 tests I took and passed the tape but it was a close call quite a few times after 35 until 42 when I took the last test.
“Gay Pride” parades show homosexuals to be “fit” in the manner being described. Is this an attempt to increase their ratio of numbers in our former military?
I know in the Marine Corps you could get a weight lifters waiver from the corpsman. It had to be documented though that you were over your weight limit because you were a muscle bound gym rat.
It is perfectly all right, however, to f*ck your buddy up the arse in the shower, as long as you look svelte while doing it.
All hail the New Age.
"...I'll confess, I paid someone $5.00 to do three laps of my qualifying "run" while in Thailand. Some guy who obviously was part deer (and needed the money)gladly participated. The course was laid out around the gym and a group of barracks (4 laps). I started and the first half lap, pinned the three digit number on my deer, he ran the next 3 laps, stopped by my observation and refreshment station (grins),I got pinned (the number)and finished the last half lap. He got paid and went off happy with two beers, I went to sleep. Running wasn't high on my objectives that day after doing a 14 hour night shift and 95 degree morning....well, it showed initiative and thinking outside the box, and I slept well
It doesn't matter if you are all muscle and sinew and not an ounce of fat, because the medical department has this height, weight, body mass index chart and if you run afoul of it because of your body type, you are screwed. You will be thrown out and your career will be over. If you haven't reached the magic years of service to qualify for retirement age, you lose everything. You don't get a dime and it applies to active duty, national guard, or reservists. You will get no thank you from a grateful nation — instead you'll get a ?get lost and don't bother us again”.
Sgt: You are 20 lbs overweight. You are out!
Pvt: I’m gay.
Sgt: Welcome back.
I don’t know about the Army, but the Navy separates members for not meeting their standards. Those physical standards quite often have nothing to do with being “fit”.
The Army sent out a survey to all Commanders asking for their input on fitness standards. This was back in the days of the old five event PT test. I wrote back and told them to go around the world and talk to combat veterans and ask them what level of fitness was required for combat. They didn’t do that. They were expanding the Army and wanted something cheap, so we ended up with the three event test. It had nothing to do with combat fitness. It had to do with being cheap. There is no equipment required for the three event test of pushups, situps and a two mile run. So, Soldiers, your senior leaders could care less about preparing you for combat. What they cared about was cost. We’ve been fighting for eleven years in Afghanistan with skinny, fit Soldiers and we can’t win. Maybe we need smart leaders instead.
If they do this how are you going to tell who the quartermasters and cooks are?
Running for the bunker.
I dunno. Back in the day a lot of Nam vets who got shot up and didn’t want out of the Army ended up in support units where they could not only do the job they were billeted to but they were experienced combat vets who could be counted on in a pinch if their support units ran into some deep doodoo. We called them “profiles” back then and they couldn’t pass a PT test or a tape test but they could do their job. I think guys like that earned staying in for their 20 but that’s just my opinion.