Military making changes to 'outdated' fitness assessment for troops

Sooooo.....

The article is sad and depressisng, confidence-shaking and all that, but this photo:



What, uh, what the fuck is this? This is the Army in 2023? Really??

Where are the lean, mean sumbitches who are gonna rip out the still-beating hearts of our enemies and show it to them before they die?

Seriously, WTF? What a joke. Why are women mixed in with men and why do they all look like students from a college art class?

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Where are the lean, mean sumbitches who are gonna rip out the still-beating hearts of our enemies and show it to them before they die?

Either part of contracted advisory or security firms or at home loading magazines for tomorrow’s range trip. The Warrior Spirit may not be as notable as it was 20 years ago, but it is not gone…

I could be badly hung over and have a sprained ankle and still manage to snap about three necks in the group in that pic before I got dogpiled.

Forgive me, but what I see in that pic, is a joke, a very bad joke.

Saw that earlier and thought to myself, "This is a fucking joke, right?" God Help us.

Good to know that at age 64 I can still pass the military PFT. They probably give waivers for being fat, so I am golden! No more measure the neck and measure the waist, subtract the two and you get your body fat number.

Good grief. That is wrong on so many levels.

I’m not going to give them crap - at least they volunteered. That puts them ahead of 97% of the population in my book. It’s up to the Army to turn them into “lean, mean, fighting machines”.

pic is of a pre basic prep course designed to get physical and mentally out of shape kids/potential recruits in better condition for boot camp. Graduates still have to go through regular basic.
Probably a good idea in order to weed out the truly bad and get marginals in better shape prior to boot camp.

^^^That’s what the picture is and it has nothing to do with what the Army Combat Fitness Test which the article is about. Typical reporting these days, nobody has a clue.

Here’s a Link about what that picture represents and a quote from the link:

“The prep course is a pre-basic training improvement camp for those who aren’t yet qualified to join the Army due to excess body fat or low test scores, senior officials say. Participants enlist on 09M delayed training contracts, which they renegotiate into permanent ones upon passing the prep course.”

Before I entered basic training I was given a PT test. I don't remember the specific numbers but I do remember how tough they were on the grading. The people that failed were put in a class to help with strength or weight loss before they attended basic training.

Now that I saw the pic Para posted I am even more convinced that the most pressing problem facing the US Military is removing bases named after racists. What could possibly be more important?

Well, I see Pyle has left the Marines and joined the Army.

I don't think any of them have the strength to hold him down to administer the soap beating though.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
That’s what the picture is and it has nothing to do with what the Army Combat Fitness Test which the article is about. Typical reporting these days, nobody has a clue.

I did not suggest, nor do I think, that that photograph has anything to do with the subject of the article, taken for the article, etc. I am judging the contents of the photo on its own merits, and that is less judgemental than you saying "nobody has a clue." That photograph is a "clue" and I know what I see. You might want to open your eyes.

It’s been like that for a long time. My son joined up seven years ago and he said so many people had to work hard to pass the PT. Right before graduation, a lot of people went out to party. He stayed away and just worked out. Four kids ended up getting arrested and did not graduate. Then again, my son joined when he was 24 so he was a little more mature.

I initially signed up for the Army, I was so skinny (6’1”@129lbs) that my recruiting sergeant used to tell me places to eat ice cream!! After the third time at MEPS and getting bounced for being too light I applied to the CG. They didn’t care and shipped me off the next week to bootcamp.

Why is the article sad and depressing? BMI and measurements haven’t been used in athletics, for years.

(According to the BMI charts, I think every athlete at A&M, except the distance runners and swimmers, was obese)

There was nothing in it about lowering standards, just that they planned to calculate body fat % more accurately.

My comment was solely about the people involved in picking, proofreading, approving, etc. that picture for the article.

The picture itself doesn't concern me. It's kids going to fat camp. Either they'll make changes or they won't be in the Army. If they make changes, good on them. This isn't new. My brother was in the Marines in the late 80s and early 90s. He went in at 225. Thirteen weeks later, he was 175. As I recall, he was put on a special diet during boot camp.

If you're talking about the men vs women ratio in the picture, then some one has to push paper, run logistics, staff the hospitals, etc. Not everyone gets to be an Army Ranger.

My son and I are going to a pool a little further away than the one we went to last summer because this pool has a 2 1/2 hour lap swim instead session 4 days a week of just an hour and a half. He swam over 5,000 yards and one of the other swimmers asked if he was training for the military. I said sort of, because he's only 16, but he's training for the Candidate Fitness Assesement because he's going to apply to West Point. Regular military recruiters would fall all over themselves to get either of my son's signed up.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
The article is sad and depressisng, confidence-shaking and all that, but this photo

No doubt, I would rather go to battle with these guys: