[incommin]

When I got to Vietnam I spent several days of physical activity....part of which was a timed ruck march uphill and downhill .......the nice little walk took place on an island in the middle of Camron Bay...... If you made it within a specific time you didn't have to repeat it..... I think it was a mile up and a mile back.

When I hit CCS a week or two later it took about three operations and I no longer felt the weight of the load I carried after the initial ten to twenty minutes of putting it all on...There were days when it was never taken off....even for sleep and rest.

Over the space of a military career..... we don't spend a lot of time in combat..... It is true that we need to train the way we fight..... but the body adapts very quickly....... the idea of organized physical training and a PT test is to try to maintain a minimum level of physical fitness..... Individuals in combat arms should maintain a higher level,,,,,,on their own, so that their bodies will adapt more quickly to the strains of combat requirements.....

I don't think there is a need to maintain the same fitness level that is required and necessary in combat during the 18 month to several years of peacetime training experienced in-between combat assignments. Over training can cause damage. Backs, knees, ankles, and feet will not last a lifetime if they are abused unnecessarily.

Jim