Posted on Apr 12, 2018
Fitter, deadlier soldiers: This is how the Army plans to prepare you for tomorrow’s wars
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Good article/read!
Fitter, deadlier soldiers: This is how the Army plans to prepare you for tomorrow’s wars
Posted from armytimes.com
Training
Physical Training
Basic Combat Training (BCT)
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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I'd be surprised if the Army could actually figure out how to make fitter soldiers. We have had sit-ups as a "test of fitness" for decades. That generally creates more back and neck issues than anything else.
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SFC Ralph E Kelley
I found when I was in the Army (1970s/1990s) that to have my soldiers pass the Army's Physical Fitness Test was to do 'Field PT', that besides our normal day-to-day hump with all our gear, included minimum pushups and sit-ups. It was hard to do since 90% of the time we were living on our armored vehicle.
It did reap benefits, mainly because (like 'magic') our units would schedule our semi-annual the week after we returned from 6 to 8 month deployments.
Getting the soldiers out of their armored shells also DID improve morale as we made them ‘bragging rights’ competitions. Weekly changes of the type and focus by the week let the all the soldiers have an opportunity to shine by targeting their strengths and pitting them against the weaknesses of those that ‘won’ the week before.
I credit my Senior NCOs and my Officers for this lesson-learned.
It did reap benefits, mainly because (like 'magic') our units would schedule our semi-annual the week after we returned from 6 to 8 month deployments.
Getting the soldiers out of their armored shells also DID improve morale as we made them ‘bragging rights’ competitions. Weekly changes of the type and focus by the week let the all the soldiers have an opportunity to shine by targeting their strengths and pitting them against the weaknesses of those that ‘won’ the week before.
I credit my Senior NCOs and my Officers for this lesson-learned.
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An overheard conversation between a 2LT and a Division CSM, circa 1986 on the West German-Czech Border Zone, Federal Republic of Germany.
"Sergeant Major, I want to be able fire over our dismounted soldiers when they do a frontal assault against a bunker complex. We might have to do it in a war."
"Yes sir - but I wouldn't PLAN on it."
My opinion - It's about the unit's leadership.
Basic training is basic. Individual and Advanced Training is advanced INDIVIDUAL training or simply put - skills training at a non-unit facility.
Unit training molds the team so that soldiers learn their integrated parts.
Junior NCOs and Officers learn their people AND How-To gives orders, thus learning to lead their troops.
Section/Platoon NCOs and Command Officers practice their crafts in a forgiving environment and (hopefully) identify strengths and weaknesses for more practice.
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Tougher basic - Do we send the fat boys back to Basic too, so they can re-toughen themselves up?
Or do we conduct vigorous exercises (in the field, not the gym, nor in combat) at the unit has to use every physical fiber and mental power to achieve a difficult BUT achievable objective.
"Sergeant Major, I want to be able fire over our dismounted soldiers when they do a frontal assault against a bunker complex. We might have to do it in a war."
"Yes sir - but I wouldn't PLAN on it."
My opinion - It's about the unit's leadership.
Basic training is basic. Individual and Advanced Training is advanced INDIVIDUAL training or simply put - skills training at a non-unit facility.
Unit training molds the team so that soldiers learn their integrated parts.
Junior NCOs and Officers learn their people AND How-To gives orders, thus learning to lead their troops.
Section/Platoon NCOs and Command Officers practice their crafts in a forgiving environment and (hopefully) identify strengths and weaknesses for more practice.
.
Tougher basic - Do we send the fat boys back to Basic too, so they can re-toughen themselves up?
Or do we conduct vigorous exercises (in the field, not the gym, nor in combat) at the unit has to use every physical fiber and mental power to achieve a difficult BUT achievable objective.
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The article mentions tests of strength - so single repetition against maximum resistance - but not so much muscle endurance (many repetitions against moderate resistance). Seems that most work is more endurance than strength. I'm the last person on earth you'd go to for exercise advice right now, but I wonder what replacing the sit-up even with a pull-up event might achieve in terms of a broader assessment of upper body muscle-endurance?
Then there's the run. I dunno about anybody else, but for me, the APFT was a 2 mile run that just happened to have push-ups and sit-ups ahead of it - but the real work was the run. I was almost always the slowest runner in my squad and platoon, and in Hawaii in my entire company. But the run is important because cardio-respiratory performance. It occurs to me, as a someone with no real training in sports medicine, that as the act of shooting relies on fine motor control and vision, and that these are likely to suffer quickly as one's cardio-respiratory performance declines, and that it is therefore critically important that Soldiers have the best cardio-respiratory performance we can get out of them. So, as someone who has NEVER liked running - it is nevertheless, I think, super-important.
Then there's the run. I dunno about anybody else, but for me, the APFT was a 2 mile run that just happened to have push-ups and sit-ups ahead of it - but the real work was the run. I was almost always the slowest runner in my squad and platoon, and in Hawaii in my entire company. But the run is important because cardio-respiratory performance. It occurs to me, as a someone with no real training in sports medicine, that as the act of shooting relies on fine motor control and vision, and that these are likely to suffer quickly as one's cardio-respiratory performance declines, and that it is therefore critically important that Soldiers have the best cardio-respiratory performance we can get out of them. So, as someone who has NEVER liked running - it is nevertheless, I think, super-important.
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CPT Zachary Brooks
I feel the ideal test would be:
Flex arm hang where the arms are attached to the bar underhand (chin ups) and flexed to the point of a right angle on the elbow joint. Hold for time.
Flex arm push up hold. Same deal, where you hold at the point of the back at a straight line.
1.5 mile run, or an equivalent exercise (like the Navy does) in bike, walk, swim, etc.
Flex arm hang where the arms are attached to the bar underhand (chin ups) and flexed to the point of a right angle on the elbow joint. Hold for time.
Flex arm push up hold. Same deal, where you hold at the point of the back at a straight line.
1.5 mile run, or an equivalent exercise (like the Navy does) in bike, walk, swim, etc.
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