U.S. Army recruiting says by 2020 they will be unable to meet goals due to obesity

[hatidua]

What's interesting to me about LE is that all of my buddies who have gone that route after the military all say the academy is pretty rigorous with PT. Talking 3 days a week of 3+ mile runs, calisthenics, etc. That's some USMC type stuff.

If 3+ miles, 3 days a week is considered "rigorous", obesity will reign.

[Eurodriver]

If 3+ miles, 3 days a week is considered "rigorous", obesity will reign.

What the **** does this have to do with anything? I didn't even list everything done and merely gave a brief example.

What would you consider rigorous, Zeus?

[TAZ]

Don't worry. They'll make up for it by dropping standards or offering up more incentives for foreigners to serve.

[Sensei]

If Coyotes Were as Big as Minivans
By

Leap, Edwin MD

...My friend Frank, emergency department nurse, former clown, former prison nurse, sage of sages, said quite matter of factly, “If coyotes were as big as minivans, we wouldn't have problems like that.”Let it sink in for a minute. This is wisdom of the highest order. While at first it might seem like something Jim Morrison said while sitting around the campfire hitting the Peyote, this actually makes sense. For the concrete or politically correct, let me explain. Otherwise healthy young men wouldn't sit around acting mortally wounded and praying for disability if coyotes were as big as minivans. They would have to stay alert, keep moving, stay in shape. The implications are staggering...

http://journals.lww.com/em-news/Full...inivans.8.aspx

[CGSteve]

What's interesting to me about LE is that all of my buddies who have gone that route after the military all say the academy is pretty rigorous with PT. Talking 3 days a week of 3+ mile runs, calisthenics, etc. That's some USMC type stuff.

However, easily 2/3 of LE in that same department are clinically obese? Alaskapopo even defended them years ago saying he'd rather have some big fat guy in a fight with some guy than a stick figure marathon runner as the vast majority of LE encounters are beat downs and you've always got your car if you need to run somewhere far anyway. While that makes sense, why the need for such haze-fest PT sessions in the academy then?

On to the point - where's the disconnect? Is the PT test a "Pass it once and you're good for life" thing?

I can provide some input on a couple of examples on the federal side. We had PT every day in our academy. It was a mix of runs of all kinds, calisthenics, weight room, and obstacle course. However, once you make it and become an agent, there is no longer a PT or fitness requirement. The nature of my particular job tends to keep agents in decent shape if you factor your own discipline on diet (hard to eat healthy on the job) and strength training. However we have many obese agents for reasons I will not get into.

From working with the USMS, I have been told their academy is pretty hard with PT, and they do have a quarterly fit test, but passing it is not a requirement to maintain duty status. You only need to perform and they just expect you to show improvement over your previous results (if they were shitty). Their fit test does factor in to things such as points towards their personal record, general reputation, etc.

In addition, from applying for the job, I know the F B I fitness requirements are also pretty tough, not necessarily in actions you must do, but the strict nature of it. I'm sure having a close relationship with the USMC and their academy being held at Quantico has something to do with that.

[Averageman]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...erve-2020.html

I was a recruiter in LA right after Desert Storm. If the 2 out of 10 number is the prediction purely for obesity,then someone needs to take a closer look at what the public schools are kicking out and calling it an education. The inner city kids for the most part had a difficult time with the ASVAB.
Fat, dumb and happy is gonna kill us.

[Turnkey11]

Good, maybe by then they will bring back prior service that are already trained and proficient in their jobs and remained fit instead of shunning us out for the younger fat bastards that can't meet the standards.

[T2C]

Still words of wisdom after all these years:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkoPq5AOCOA

[26 Inf]

What's interesting to me about LE is that all of my buddies who have gone that route after the military all say the academy is pretty rigorous with PT. Talking 3 days a week of 3+ mile runs, calisthenics, etc. That's some USMC type stuff.

However, easily 2/3 of LE in that same department are clinically obese? Alaskapopo even defended them years ago saying he'd rather have some big fat guy in a fight with some guy than a stick figure marathon runner as the vast majority of LE encounters are beat downs and you've always got your car if you need to run somewhere far anyway. While that makes sense, why the need for such haze-fest PT sessions in the academy then?

On to the point - where's the disconnect? Is the PT test a "Pass it once and you're good for life" thing?

On the PT and law enforcement thing, Academies vary, when I started at our Academy I was the token former Marine Tactical Officer - we had PT 5 days a week for an hour each day, initially all I knew was the Marine Corps way and that is what we did. Thank goodness I attended the Cooper Aerobic institute and began to morph the program into something which tried to instill lifetime fitness habits - you accomplish more with the mainstream person if you develop a moderate program, which doesn't kick their ass, but lets them see progress and develop a habit.

When agencies wanted to add additional subjects to the curriculum and we weren't able to get additional hours (we are a state Academy - we can only require the mandated hours) the first thing that went was PT.

I was running the program during this stage and I willingly traded the PT hours during the training day for more hours on the range, on EVOC and Vehicle Stops. It was simply a matter of priorities and making do the best you can. I am no longer involved with our program, falling off a roof will do that for you, LOL, but the guys who are try to make do the best they can.

To address your final statement, to be safe from litigation, a required physical standard has to be shown to be job related. So if you have a 1.5 mile run, you have to show it's relationship to the law enforcement job. Likewise number of pushups, sit ups, bench press, etc. can be attacked on job relatedness. This is why many folks have gone to obstacle courses, shuttle runs, dummy drags, and for some Troopers, getting a tire out of the trunk.

Then you get the risk management folks involved - I know a couple of officers and deputies who are drawing disabilities for injuries sustained while running mandated obstacle courses, which are no longer mandated.

And then you get the union/FOP involvement - if the union/FBI president is a rotund, cigar smoking alky, probably the union/FOP isn't going to be bargaining hard for time off call during the duty for PT, and fitness incentives.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Well somebody had too . . .