Don't forget this killer.
Posted on 10/04/2025 8:10:12 AM PDT by John Semmens
Speeches by President Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to America's top generals and admirals were assailed by anonymous ex-Pentagon employees. "What difference does it make if a general or admiral is too fat to pass any of the fitness requirements that front-line soldiers and sailors are expected to meet?" one source wanted to know. "They're not going to be storming enemy positions or flying combat missions. All they have to do is give orders."
Another fretted that "all the effort we've expended to compile a force that exemplifies diversity, equity, and inclusion is being cast aside. We're a diverse society. Why shouldn't folks of divergent abilities be participating in active combat or in the ranks of those giving the orders?"
Hegseth said "I think it is important that our military be a fearsome force. By weeding out the unfit we ensure our enemies that there are no weak spots for them to attack. The basic problem with the DEI emphasis we've seen over recent years is that lowering the fitness standards to accommodate weaker women lowers the average performance of combat units. Women who can't meet the fitness requirements expected of men have no place in combat units."
"Second, I think it is important that our military be seen as a serious organization," he added. "Individuals who are grossly overweight, men pretending to be women and wearing dresses detract from the seriousness of the organization. They project an image of confusion that undermines the deterrence function of our mission and makes actual warfare more likely."
Former Vice-President Kamala Harris asserted "this is a very wrong turn in the history of our nation. Modern warfare doesn't require that soldiers be strong or agile. Anyone can launch a missile or drone with the push of a button. Why should women and transgenders be denied this opportunity? Just because our adversaries might not be intimidated by this doesn't negate the right of these individuals to have equal opportunities to join our armed forces. If I had won the election I would have expanded the DEI program to include every type of individual. No one should be barred from pursuing their dream by artificial and unnecessary standards of the sort Trump and Hegseth want to impose on those who defend our nation."
Combat fitness needs to be different from combat support fitness and combat service support fitness. Truth is, they are that way right now, naturally.
If you visit any of the major combat training posts, like Ft. Bragg, Ft. Benning, etc., they seem to be exercise fanatics. Highly aggressive, highly extroverted places.
Other posts have other priorities than exercising.
This gets chaotic when leaders want all branches to be as fit as 11b infantry. There needs to be slack for those who fail fitness standards but excel in other ways. This happened a LOT when the “fat man” program dictate threw out hundreds or thousands of exceptional, superior or even unique soldiers because they were overweight. This DID NOT help the Army.
I remember seeing an anonymous parody of that, called the “ugly man” program, that proposed kicking out soldiers if they didn’t meet beauty standards, because you have to be pretty to be good war fighters.
It’s common sense.
As they say in the Navy and the Coast Guard - "Fat floats."
(and keeps you warmer for longer in cold water)
Don't forget this killer.
“”What difference does it make if a general or admiral is too fat to pass any of the fitness requirements that front-line soldiers and sailors are expected to meet?” one source wanted to know.”
Some truth to that but one aspect of leadership is to set an example.
I think it also depends on the level of obesity. Just being overweight is one thing but severe obesity is another.
By chance, a coincidence of a randomly chosen character string and a barely related statistical thing.Abstract
When learning a dependence from data, to avoid overfitting, it is important to divide the data into the training set and the testing set. We first train our model on the training set, and then we use the data from the testing set to gauge the accuracy of the resulting model.
Empirical studies show that the best results are obtained if we use 20-30% of the data for testing, and the remaining 70-80% of the data for training. In this paper, we provide a possible explanation for this empirical result.
Best, most competent, 1st Sgt I ever had was overweight, and I doubt he could pass a PT test. However, he was outstanding at getting the troops up, getting them fed, and on the road. That was more important to me than how many pullups he could do.
Do you want warfighters or fluff bunny targets? r
Retention is higher with the warfighter as a goal.
Correct, prior to World War II he was hired to lead the Philippine military in the hope that he would have influence in Washington. There was strong sentiment to relinquish the Philippines and give them complete independence. The government in the Philippines correctly regarded Japan as a threat and wanted to retain trust status in the hope that the Japan would not attack them if they were affliiated with the U.S.
The U.S. granted Philippine independence on July 4th, 1946.
Bravo!
wy69
Any general needs to be on the front line occasionally. See StorminNorman. Chubby, but fit.
If all you do is warm a chair, you are an analyst, not a general.
Name, rank, and pronouns. That’s all you’re getting out of me.
The idiocy of these anonymous ex-Pentagon employees is on full display. First, the article doesn’t say whether these ex employees are civilian or military. If civilian, they don’t know sh-t. If military they are also ignorant about the military and its mission. But the big thing they don’t seem to understand is leadership. A good leader doesn’t ask his men/women to do something he wouldn’t do. He/she leads by example. But that point is lots on these ex employees, democrats and Congress critters.
More support work at about 95 pounds per shell.
“”””We would emplace for about 10 hours and move. We had to erect tents, antennas, and camouflage netting. It was difficult manual work.””””
People forget how physical everything is, I have used the example of wartime field kitchens following the troops and all the labor and muscle involved.
People talk about snipers as though they just drive to somewhere and lay on the ground and aim their rifle rather than realize that first—you load up with all this heavy gear and carry it to the place you have to be to make the shot, and then you have to get back.
God, I loved our cooks. Mostly black, and the hardest workers in the whole damned battalion. We mostly ate hot meals except in really hectic moves, when he had k-rations or balogna sandwichs.
Setting up field kitchens and barrels in forests, in winter, in deserts, you have to get the trucks there, and how much does a giant soup cauldron weigh.
I remember when Dominoes went from 40 pound boxes of cheese to 20 pounds, I thought it was a huge step backwards in increased time and work, but was told that females were starting to work there more and more, so corporate had to reduce the weight and double the number of boxes we had to handle.
In the military a million little backsteps like that can mean the loss of lives, and the loss of the war.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost;
for want of a shoe the horse was lost;
and for want of a horse the rider was lost,
being overtaken and slain by the enemy,
all for want of care about a horse-shoe nail.
OK; thanks; found website with many images and details re ammo boxes / containers:
https://www.questmasters.us/Crates_Page_2.html
Those boxes don’t look like something women should be moving all day, every day, but the effort would win them an early discharge and a lifetime disability pension.
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