Military Fitness Continued

As Sean pointed out in a comment on my first post about this, fitness whether it’s in the military or not is an individual responsibility. When you’re in the military it’s actually part of your duty. It’s part of being in the military and being a requirement to pass a fitness test. In the Army if you failed a PT test you were required to attend remedial training to improve your score. If you failed the test again after a certain period of time you could be considered for release from your contract, however a lot of soldiers see this as a way out of the military and it’s often pushed around. I never knew anyone that was “Chaptered” as they call it for not passing a physical fitness test. Being overweight on the other hand was different.

(Image: sxc.hu)

Before a person could be considered for a chapter out for being overweight they would have to see a dietitian or nutritionist. They would also be required to attend the remedial physical training. After an amount of time they would eventually be released if they didn’t make progress.

As a leader in the military, you are often the blame for a subordinates physical fitness if they are overweight or fail a physical fitness test. If they can not maintain their fitness and/or weight then you have a responsibility to counsel them and attempt to push and motivate them to meet the requirements. This is often outside of your regular work hours and is a time consuming process and a burden on your leaders.

Leaders that can not meet the weight and fitness requirements do not set a good example. If you can not pass your fitness test and meet weight requirements then how can you tell your subordinates to do the same. It’s a hypocritical thing. Those who suffer and injury are given time to heal along with often substandard physical therapy and attend a different class of physical training. They may have a “profile”, which is a statement that defines exactly what exercises they can do and can not do.

While there are legitimate service members that suffer injury and want to get better, there are also people that malinger. Malingering is the act of faking an injury or illness. This is a great waste of a lot of people’s time and government money. Sadly it happens too often and when you do have a legitimate injury, you often are viewed as suspect and sometimes not taken seriously when you report to sick call. It makes it harder for people that have legitimate physical problems to get the treatment they need.

While I was in the military in both the Marine Corps and the Army I only did enough to get by as far as fitness goes. I maintained my weight just borderline of my maximum and I rarely did physical training. It wasn’t because I didn’t like it, but because I didn’t like the way they did it. It was boring.

After I got out of the military I started, for whatever crazy reason, I became more health and fitness conscious. I had about 11 years of time that I had a gym available to me for free and I could probably count on my hands and toes how many times I took advantage of it. It really wasn’t until I started using free-weights that I really enjoyed working out. I wish I had taken advantage and been more in to fitness when I was in. Instead, I drank a lot of beer and really did a lot of nothing with the time. If ever you have the opportunity, I highly suggest you take advantage of it as I wish that I had.

The military is good for teaching discipline in people that accept it and understand that good discipline and drive melds a nice path in life. Unfortunately certain principles of discipline often deminish over time and it’s up to you to ensure that you either stay or get back on track. Sadly, it took me getting out of the military to get back on the right track of my personal fitness and discipline, and even those slip every now and then.