bkmrk
“Navy gives 48,000 sailors ‘fitness pardon’ who can’t meet fitness demands”
Curious if that includes swimming. No I did not read the article.
Interesting how far through the bottom of the barrel is the Military Industrial kleptocracy is tunneling these days...
Bet the Chinese aren’t having that problem.
No participation ribbons?
I think that it’s essential that sailors be able to run two miles in under fifteen minutes so they can run across the ocean and attack the enemy ships.
They should be able to fly, too.
“Social promotion” by another name.
Just one reason why we had multiple ships collide in the Asian sea?
One more confidence builder (not) in our armed forces.
Perhaps it’s just the media doing what it does, but I don’t get the impression we’re at our highest levels of preparedness right now.
Would love to have someone destroy that perception.
And yes,I'm prepared to be slammed by former Sailors,Airmen and others.
When I was in you could be charged for 2 failures on the Physical Test.
They first time you failed, you were put in a daily exercise program and when you weren’t on leave you had to exercise daily for 20 mins and weigh in twice a week.
They also changed your diet in the galley, you weren’t allowed to eat what everyone else eats.
I never failed (I always showed up for the voluntary pre-tests to make sure I was going to pass) , but I think being humiliated in the galley was the worst because they made them go to the front of the line so they could make sure what they were putting on their tray.
We even had a Chief that failed. Apparently the other senior enlisted were shunning him because of his failure.
You think Putin or Red China gives their forces this kind of slack ? He’ll, do you think Mexico does?
Our forces today are not the same as our Father’s Day sadly
Is the fitness test a proper measure of the required fitness?
In the old days, a sailor had to climb the rigging, furl and unfurl sails, move cannon and lift cannon balls and powder, among other things. The work required physical fitness, but it also helped maintain physical fitness.
Now you may have sailors working on a flight deck doing what they have to do to launch and land aircraft and that activity probably helps keep them fit, but you also have sailors who are sonar or radar operators, work that I doubt contributes to their physical fitness. Should the deck hands have a higher standard of fitness? Should those who sit for their whole watch be given a break? Should the latter be given extra time off to maintain the physical fitness that their job doesn’t help them with?
The majority of the guys and a couple of the girls were doing them correctly - nose touching the ground, or close to it.
Howver, most of the girls and some (too many) of the guys were barely flexing their arms, ie ~four inches of drop to 'push up' from.
As a 170 lb old guy who can still fit into the clothes he wore in high school and college, am I allowed to 'tsk tsk' at such ?
ps: although, given a couple current health issues, attempting to run 1.5 miles would doubtless kill me ;-)
“....“Other major changes will include making sailors take a body fat test immediately after reporting to a new command and also making sailors who fail the fitness test ineligible for advancement or frocking,” the report said.....”
The above is the sanction remaining. There is some reason to shape up.
Sailors spend all their time working on qualifications, collateral duties, volunteer hours, higher education, and standing watch, in addition to the job they were hired to do while being fed high-carb navy chow (on a ship even the veggies have bacon), and are given little time to work out on their own.
Now President Trump (MAGA) wants a bigger Navy. We need a bigger Navy! And we've shown the door to too many good sailors who knew their jobs and were qualified to operate the gear they used.
This is what happens, with no draft as a practical option to staff our military forces.
The further result is a great many in our population who are distant from the services, having no family members or friends in the military.
I believe the draft is good for our country.
Back in the days when we won major wars, which stayed won, we did have a draft. (I have seen all of the stats. Many enlistees for Vietnam did so to avoid the draft, get training/duty stations of their choice)
Unfit sailors contribute to readiness?
Sort of like an offshoot of the Cloward-Piven strategy.
Overwhelm systems until they do not have the capacity to respond.