Such a true statement........

Yeah, I believe they did away with it as well. Crying shame too.

Even more to the point, it comes from a real class act. Joe was one of the best.

Joe Alderman was the epitome of an SF soldier...and was lucky to make E-8. He was one of my heroes and 'damn good in the woods.' Unlike some, Joe would never lie to or for you...no matter what the answer was.

Richard's $.02 :munchin

I can't remember a time that I was in a combat environment with my rifle slung over my back. My rifle was in my hands, with the sling being merely an 'Oh Crap' contingent in case I stumbled, fell, etc. I only used it for chow time.




It's great that the Army wants to go in the right direction, but we'll see if POA = POI.

Physical fitness crap.
 

Guys, I see much interest in conditioning the troops. I have been in SF for 19years and 4.5 years in Combat engineers. All was as you all know very physical and filled with many different routines or systems of exercises to make us fit for battle. I know the system broohed here will not work. You all know that no system covering a 12 month time frame will work in physical fitness. Units move around and the ever changing tide of new troops turnovers means no progressing scheduled system can be maintained.
What I believe is the injury percentages will always be high when bodyweight + is used to exercise.
Basic premise is MUSCLE is fed first and most and becomes stronger much sooner than the less fed tendon and ligaments. The results of which is tendonitis , ligament straons and ruptures of either.
Ideally building strength and allowing connective tissue to grow along with the muscle will reduce injuries greatly. There is a method of doing this that allows all troops to strengthen and increase endurance and remain injury free doing so. It is presently being used at Ft. Sill too bring the troops that fail basic PT up and enables them to pass their PT test. Regular units are not being exposed to it yet as it is a hard sell to the CSCS guys involved in development of Fitness programs. For anyone interested in the system it is in this web site under "Blitz workout " and can be downloaded. I don't knoe how but you can ask DON. Blitz

New Army PT Program Coming
 

I hope to have a copy of the new PT program this week.

BMT

Dan has posted a link to a pdf file for the new PT program.

IET Standardized PT Guide

BMT

PT Test: Rucksack march (12 miles, 75 lb. rucksack, in under 3 hours). Followed by push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. And, a 100M swim in boots and fatigues.

Sprints need to be emphasised in PT, but time does not seem a good test factor. And, long distant running seems more conducive to running away from a fight than to one.

Arwr

New Army PT Program Coming
 

I think IET say's it all!

Bubba and Mary Jane couldn't pass your test.

HELLS BELLS this problem has been around since the '60s.

Way back then it was called March Fracture's.

Mom give's Bubba X amount of dollar's to go get milk and bread, "hey Mom where are your car key's". Bubba wouldn't walk a block if you beat him!!

I saw the same crap in the '60's as a Drill Sgt.

:munchin

BMT

Just out of interest
 

I find it interesting that the current APFT focuses heavily on Endurance Strength, but has no KPIs for Limit Strength, which I assume must have some importance operationally.

However I have seen a pre 2003 reference to a Bench-Press being part of an extended APFT for officers in MOS phase.

Why are there no Limit Strength events in the APFT or an extended APFT?


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Based on existing APFT threads:
- Greater chance of injury?
- Higher requirement for "expert" supervision?

Put the two (or more) together and you got greater expenditure>

Just my 0.00002 DM

What special equipment is required to conduct the current APFT? By my reckonning, the minimum is a stopwatch, and some clipboards and pencils if you want to get fancy.

The Army aphysical Fitness School explained during an IOBC briefing in the early 90s that the equipment factor was a major decision point for changing from the old 5-event test to the 3-event test.

Limit strength tests would require special equipment, would potentially be a big chokepoint if testing a large group (limited equipment vs. 30 - 200 bodies), and some chucklehead would inevitably challenge the "calibration" of the plates/device/equipment if they failed, thus requiring regular testing of equipment, or buying special "testing only" equipment.

That's my take, anyhow.

Thanks
 

So, is there a tendancy for some soldiers to focus a little too much on "Max'ing" the Endurance APFT at the cost of Limit Strength?

Surely there's a good operational balance of the two?

(The only operational use for Limit Strength I can think of off the top of my head is the occasional Hand-to-Hand requirment, short distance wounded buddy carries, and moving equipment - two of which have more to do with technique then pure strength (I'm sure there's others))


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