PJM: An article last week in Popular Mechanics lamented the fact that today’s soldiers are being asked to carry ever-heavier loads of squad and personal equipment, even as advances in battlefield technology continue apace with modern warfare. Our friend Glenn Reynolds thought I might have something to say about this, and amazingly enough I do.
It seems odd to me that an entire article could be written about how heavier-than-ever kit must be carried by combat infantry without once using the word “stronger.” The actual weight of the components of battlefield munitions is examined in excruciating detail, from batteries to bullets, from body armor to water, from communications to medical gear, as are the efforts to minimize its weight through technology. Strategies to help soldiers carry increasing loads were listed — track vehicle “mules,” motorized exoskeletons, and various robotic options are discussed, but by the end of the piece no plans for dealing with the problem had been announced. It was observed that “[a] soldier carries 100 pounds of the lightest kit imaginable.”
The fundamental problem here is quite simple, as is its solution: Soldiers are not strong enough to carry heavier kit, and as long as military Physical Training remains rooted in pushups, situps, and running, PT will be inadequate to the task of producing a stronger soldier. The solution is to address basic training from a strength approach and to leave subsequent conditioning to the discretion of the company command team based on the needs of their unit’s assignment. Essentially all of it now is conditioning, with no barbell strength requirement in place at the basic training level.
To be sure, the Army seems to understand that it should address this problem. But their response has been typical of a military bureaucracy: leave 90% in place and take the lowest bid on the 10% that gets the chop. My suggestion is quite radical, highly effective, quite inexpensive, immediately productive, easily implemented, safer than endurance-based training, and as a result will never even be considered. I’ll share it with you. more here
Carpet bombing in advance would seem a reasonable consideration.
Atomic bombing in advance would eliminate the need for foot soldiers completely.
No No No and No. Weight training does not make for the long haul. It’s not like these young testosterone fueled youngsters are squatting their 100 pound kit 10 times and taking a nap. You can’t train with weights and think there’s a benefit there for a 20 mile haul wearing a 100 pound pack. It doesn’t work that way. Muscle fiber doesn’t work that way. Who ever wrote this shit has their head so far up their ass they need to unzip their zipper to see where they’re going and has never been in a gym in their life.
In Guam our soldiers are only allowed to carry 50 lb kits.
Obviously to avoid tipping over…
Hey Loco, that same asshole, who now looks like he was nuked, called DJT Hitler today.
I know Brad.
I wonder what rock that ignorant bastard crawled out from under?
From what I see on a daily basis, the average American, ESPECIALLY those from an “oppressed” class, are easily carrying around an extra 100 pounds.
Have you seen a current picture of that mutant? WTF is that all about. He looks like a snake shedding it’s skin.
Basic rethinking of minimums and maximums
Force wide minimums cover Weight and Appearance.
They must be the very minimum by definition.
No fat slobs or slobettes and no face tattoos.
An admin troop does not need to run 20 miles.
1 mile sure. 20 miles, no.
If it’s War, that Admin troop running 20 miles would indicate much bigger pressing issues.
A front line Infantry troop does need to run 20 miles.
A PT test for them should be much more rigorous.
Currently, the Admin troop and the Infantry troop are required to take the same test.
Too many fail, so they lower the standards for all.
Rinse and Repeat
Lots of manpower and money are wasted in this process.
P.S.
Space Force Pilots only need to run 1 mile.
Thats far enough for a round trip to the chow hall and back.
And Lunch is an Hour.
In Space no one can weigh you.
Audie Murphy didn’t need a 1/3 of the crap they have nowadays.
Nor did Sgt. Alvin York in World War 1. All he needed was a good rifle and a trusty aim to pick off Krauts like they were a bunch of turkeys. And both Audie Murphy and Sgt. York were farm boys who grew up with guns and knew how to use them before being sent to war.
What will increase spinal cord and disc strength?
I was in the military for 10 years, and although muscle helps alleviate stress on the bones, it STILL creates pressure on them and especially discs.
No amount of weight training is going to help the 100 pound of compression on those discs, hips, knees, joints.
So, basically, lighten the load! You see all those fat people with knee problems? Yeah, too much weight on the joints. Weight training doesn’t help knees, reducing the weight and constant banging on them does. Why do you suppose the fatties are doing water exercises instead of squats and treadmill?
Wasn’t there a piece recently discussing the fact that the average yout today cannot safely throw a hand-grenade? Something about too much x-box and not enough baseball? We have become a nation of helpless weaklings…… God save us.
“Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.” Geo. Orwell
CTRL-F: “woman”……………………………………………..no results found.
Looks like everyone above said all that I had in mind. My primary thought – this guy appears to have consulted zero soldiers. Maybe he should talk to a SEAL or Ranger first.
I think first aid training should include basic trigger point and myofacial release. Iliopsoas spasms likely account for more lower back pain than any other culprit and with a little training you can fix it yourself with a broomstick.
Likewise SOT pelvic blocking can be self administered for painful SI subluxations.
Increased PT time requirements with strength training is all well and good for the combat soldier.
Not all of us are combat soldiers.
If I have to start dedicating several more hours per day to physical training, I’ll have to cut time I spend doing other things. Treating patients. Reading and study to keep up to date on my medical knowledge. The administrative tasks that used to be done by staff officers but that the Army’s new concept of the “soldier-physician rather than physician-soldier” requires I must now handle.
I can’t express how much I enjoy, after 12 years of rigorous academic schooling, getting to deal with insubordinate civilian employees with (at most) an Associate’s degree, who know that they can never be fired because they’re unionized.
I guess I’ll just quit sleeping or seeing my family, so I can meet physical training standards to carry equipment I will never be issued, on deployments I will never be sent on, to do a job I’ll never do.
Or did the Army spend a million or so dollars (or maybe more, who knows?) to train me as a doctor so I can go out with an infantry squad and kick in doors while wearing a 100 pound rucksack?