[Basil Duke]

Interesting. Easter Sunday I ran into a former 101 Airborne sergeant who told me that the marked decline in the physical fitness of incoming recruits first made itself known to him in the early '90s. Ordinarily, new recruits are called "cherries" by veteran troops. But the breed of recent high school grads that began to show up en masse in boot camps was so physically inept that many were simply referred to as "stems," because cherry would have implied too much substance. Majority could neither run nor do push-ups - and these were 18 year old males who should have been in the best physical shapes of their lives. I'm 36 years old. Does anyone in my age group recall physical education courses in high school? My instructor for all four years, Mr. Austin, a Korean War combat vet, ran us a couple miles and had us do 50 push ups every day. Most of us were like wiry rocks when we grabbed our diplomas and headed for the hills of university life.

[Quila]

My instructor for all four years, Mr. Austin, a Korean War combat vet, ran us a couple miles and had us do 50 push ups every day.

You haven't been near a high school lately, have you? It's all teaching you how to do basic sports, showing you what the weightlifting equipment looks like. Unless you're lucky, there's not much emphasis on actually getting physically fit.