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Soldiers discharged from the Army for being obese

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10868040/Soldiers-discharged-from-the-Army-for-being-obese.html

Personally from what I know and have experienced, this is due to the fact that too many servicemen are taking protein shakes AND not doing the right types of workouts. They do weightlifting and bodybuilding in the gyms, rather than cardio/ circuits, and this leads to men (and women) being able to lift heavy weights, but not being able to run very far. This combined with the strong alcohol culture in the Armed Forces, leaves men and women being whilst quite strong, overweight with a beer gut and not physically fit to do the jobs required of them. It is what has and is happening in the USA military.

Anyway, other thoughts on the causes of this are welcome.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 1
Not just that, simple laziness as well. People get in, do a couple of tours, figure they've "done their bit" and relax, forgetting that they made a commitment to serve.
Additionally, you have too many people for whom their version of serving is sitting at a desk doing office work 9-5,they feel like they don't need to be fit. Their malaise rubs off on others.

If they're not meeting the standards I'm all for them being booted out.


However I wish the same was true in other organisations. The various police forces in the UK recently publicised reports saying that a huge proportion (40+% iirc) of their officers failed to meet the required standards of fitness. They failed to get to 5.5 on the bleep test. At worse, though, they were placed on disciplined. Not one has to face leaving.
Reply 2
Surely, prior to getting into the military you have to pass a fitness test? Now if they were discharged they must have passed the fitness test at some point, and then gained weight over time? But I thought soldiers had to have daily training?
Reply 3
Original post by Drewski
Not just that, simple laziness as well. People get in, do a couple of tours, figure they've "done their bit" and relax, forgetting that they made a commitment to serve.
Additionally, you have too many people for whom their version of serving is sitting at a desk doing office work 9-5,they feel like they don't need to be fit. Their malaise rubs off on others.

If they're not meeting the standards I'm all for them being booted out.


However I wish the same was true in other organisations. The various police forces in the UK recently publicised reports saying that a huge proportion (40+% iirc) of their officers failed to meet the required standards of fitness. They failed to get to 5.5 on the bleep test. At worse, though, they were placed on disciplined. Not one has to face leaving.


I agree. Tests are there for a reason. Experience counts for nothing on the battlefield if you aren't actually there due to lack of fitness. The police have a problem that is far more apparent in the UK. I have seen far too many PC plods. But I think the reason for the police is that they are more reliant on cars to catch criminals, rather than running as they did 50 years or so ago. The last time I did the bleep test/ shuttle run I got 14.9, which is very worrying if police officers aren't even hitting the 10 mark.

Original post by Martyn*
Surely, prior to getting into the military you have to pass a fitness test? Now if they were discharged they must have passed the fitness test at some point, and then gained weight over time? But I thought soldiers had to have daily training?


Yes you do, and you are supposed to pass fitness tests annually too. Soldiers do get trained daily, but the types of training and quality vary from commander to commander, regiment to regiment. If you have a **** platoon commander and sergeant, you will have a **** trained platoon soldiers. Some officers also leave the fitness training to the soldiers themselves, and will only go out on something like a platoon run once in every blue moon.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by Martyn*
Surely, prior to getting into the military you have to pass a fitness test? Now if they were discharged they must have passed the fitness test at some point, and then gained weight over time? But I thought soldiers had to have daily training?


In most units the responsibility for maintaining fitness is all their own. You tell them when the tests are, you tell them what the standards are and you let them get on with things. If you treat people like cossetted children then that's all you'll get. If you treat people like adults with some say over what happens to themselves, then they - should - react to that. Most do. Some don't.

The issue is the 'some that don't' have been getting away with it for a long time, failing/missing tests but being allowed to carry on because the system didn't exist to sack them, so they've felt no impetus to actually change. Now, however, those systems exist.

Original post by the mezzil
Yes you do, and you are supposed to pass fitness tests annually too. Soldiers do get trained daily, but the types of training and quality vary from commander to commander, regiment to regiment. If you have a **** platoon commander and sergeant, you will have s **** trained platoon soldiers. Some officers also leave the fitness training to the soldiers themselves, and will only go out on something like a platoon run once in every blue moon.


It's bi-annually now. At least, is in the RAF.
Original post by Drewski
In most units the responsibility for maintaining fitness is all their own. You tell them when the tests are, you tell them what the standards are and you let them get on with things. If you treat people like cossetted children then that's all you'll get. If you treat people like adults with some say over what happens to themselves, then they - should - react to that. Most do. Some don't.


It varies depending on how units are ran and how much troops are trusted to get on and do things. From my experience in the infantry fitness was a compulsory activity, if you didn't turn up you'd get done for failing to attend a parade. If you found you were struggling to pass the required tests then it was your own responsibility to do extra, if you couldn't do that you were made to attend remedial PT until your fitness was sorted.

I think discharging troops who are obese and unable to do their jobs is perfectly reasonable. Better to deal with the problem when not away on ops than end up struggling to carry out a task because someone's incapable of doing their job.

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