NY Times: One by one, Greek soldiers, bellies full from a breakfast of red wine and dry bread, armed and clad themselves in a bulky, buglike suit of armor as they prepared for battle.
They aimed their spears at wooden targets, and their chariot was connected to a treadmill motor, but for 11 hours, these elite soldiers from the Hellenic Armed Forces pretended to fight as if it was the 15th century B.C.
They had been recruited for a study to determine if the Dendra panoply, a suit of armor from 3,500 years ago considered to be one of the oldest known from the Bronze Age in Europe, could be worn in battle. Or if it was only ceremonial, as some scholars have previously argued.
The soldiers wore a replica of the suit, and scientists tracked their blood-glucose levels, heart rates and other physiological measures, finding that the men’s bodies could handle the strain of the armor, according to a paper published in the journal PLOS One on May 22. more
My idea of primitive battle would be to hit man-sized targets at 350 meters using a bolt action
.30-06 with iron sights.
And a .303 British, from whatsoever it comes from.
My high school wrestling head coach was a percipient in Free Style in 1964. An Olympic coach in 68. Our assistant coach was an NCAA champ out of Oregon. They held “Optional” training days on the week end where they’d strap a sand filled dummy to you, put yo ass in the referees position and your job was to escape. All day. At the end of the day you were blowing chunks of your lungs out of your mouth.
First match of the season, for those who showed up, add a shot of adrenaline and look fucking out. You were up, gone and free. Good times.
Brad thinks he’s Rudy Boesch when he’s really Richard Hatch.
You can’t drink all day long if you don’t start first thing in the morning.
Drink up Shriners!
Anyone need an eye-opener?
51 pounds?
Meh. The average firefighter wears 25 pounds of turnouts, 4 pounds of helmet, 10 pounds of boots, and 25 to 50 pounds of SCBA according to this modern Web site, and thats BEFORE you get to all the OTHER crap he has to carry into a FIRE, which is generally considered to be a “hot” environment.
https://firefighterinsider.com/firefighter-gear-weight/
…so at the LOW end, hands empty, a guy has to do a considerable amount of physical labor wearing 64 pounds of gear in a pretty toasty climate, and thats WITHOUT physically training for it every day as a professional warrior would do, and thousands of ordinary citizens do it every day. No, the fire is not trying to kill you SPECIFICALLY, but it certainly CAN, and what with the heat, the noise, the physical activity, the regulated breathing, and hoping that the roof dont fall in or the floor fall out while youre searching for or carrying small children to large adults, youre heart rate DOES get pretty high.
…against that, sorry, but 51 pounds in an open environment where you can breathe normally and arent usually carrying anyone but yourself…just doesnt seem all that impressive.
…side not; the site quoted has MODERN weights. The crap I had 30 years ago was WORSE.
And ordinary bartenders, shop clerks, mechanics and carpenters would routinely wear it for HOURS in their spare time for no pay for fun.
I dont know about ancient Greeks, but I DO know at least ONE 100 lb 5′ nothing gal who could wear more than that on a regular basis.
…Makes it seem a liitle less impressive than the article seems to want it to be…
Here in the Midwest we battle flying and biting insects. The battle is against horseweed and dandelions. So I am up at 6:00AM before the bugs bite and fry turkey bacon on my camp stove. I have a very large and nice glass of wine while cooking. By the way, I’ll be 93 this year