Blasphemy: Article advocates afternoon PT
Good article in this month's Military Review:
Quote:
Afternoon PT: Key for an Army Flextime Battle Rhythm
Captain Mark Van Horn, U.S. Army
With great stress, commanders are seeking better ways to help. They
encourage Soldiers to spend time with their loved ones, but they must bal-
ance the requirements of reintegration with compressed pre-deployment
training. This is a notoriously tight rope to walk. Morning physical training
(PT) determines when Soldiers report for work. Close of business comes
when—as a member of a team, squad, or platoon—all the work is finished.
There is a more productive way to approach this routine and preserve the
cohesion of the unit: make PT an afternoon ritual. If commanders simply
shift the physical training time from morning to afternoon and empower
company-grade leaders to send Soldiers home when the work is done, the
Army will have a flextime schedule that works with regimentation. Soldiers
will get the opportunity to spend more time with their families, pursue
personal interests, and generally improve their quality of life, with reduced
stress, less commute times, and better health.
.....
Convincing case.
I don't see the current crop of CSM's ever allowing it - it just isn't done that way!
I'm not sure it's all the CSMs...
Not to defend them, many are guilty of a terrifying lack of imagination among other things but they are not alone in that. I recall reading in the International Edition of Newsweek in the mid-70s when the "Pro-Life" 2d Inf Div would have been unable to fight its way out of a paper bag but was an unusual sociological experiment the comment that if "...the North Koreans are smart, they'll attack the South at 0600 when the entire US 2d Division is out in shorts and T-Shirts running four miles on the road every morning."
Not to mention that said running did NOT equip the troops to climb those Korean hills with 90 pounds on their backs...
That said, there was a time before the Army developed its misplaced and not terribly productive PT and running fetish when units did PT before lunch, in the afternoons and even in the cool of the evening. It was a unit choice and there were frequent variations, even some days when there was no PT! -- that was back in the day when a Company could write its own training schedule and not be dictated to by an overranked Bn S3. The S3s are overranked to support OPM, not for any valid military reason and PT is vastly overrated as a conditioner and for development of the strengths, muscles and endurance required for combat. ;)
I've heard all the objections Schmedlap raised and more -- all are specious. Particularly the closing of roads, totally unnecessary unless you put everyone on the roads at the same time on some (not all) posts. Why not run cross country in boots and toughen the ankles. Or a fifteen mile cross country ruck and vest march. Better yet, why not an Obstacle or Confidence Course.. :D
If the Army really wants to develop flexibility, they'll return to that model. They might also consider going to a nine day on four / five day off (varying between the two in no set pattern) work period and occasionally combining two nine day 'on' periods for a more lengthy and realistic field exercise. That breaks up troops flooding town on weekends off, gets rid of the five day week syndrome and has several other benefits, not least scheduling ranges and training areas. It also mentally conditions the troops -- and their leaders -- for a war where there are no slack days or cycling to a FOB or the rear. Yeah, I know. But it also spreads out use of the Post Golf course...:D
Soldiering is an outdoor sport and it is not an eight to five plus structured early morning PT five day week sort of job. Too easy to forget that if one is not careful. Habits and mental conditioning can be dangerous... :o
Good for all of 'em. On the mod PT, that is...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MikeF
Over the last two years, some SF'ers and Seals introduced me to yoga, Cross-Fit, and kettle bells as additional workouts to help repair the lower back after long tours of wearing the body armor.
Yes. I'm waiting for my son to drop one his several Kettlebells on his head... :D
Quote:
The days of 8-10 mile runs are over even if we haven't realized it yet.
Long overdue, that.
Quote:
Plus, all that training was a good way to avoid the "thought police" (the Div CSM's minions that run around Ardennes looking for uniform violations!!!!).
Minions? Tommy doesn't need minions. Though I can understand why some of his predecessors did... ;)
Combatives were introduced to counter the fact that
kids today can reach age 18 without ever having been struck or striking anyone else. Combatives are mostly a way to let people hit others and get hit and learn that the world doesn't come to an end.
Various forms of combatives are used by various units and forces but few are really combat skills. The reason for that is the true infantry hand to hand combat skills are -- or certainly should be -- deadly. Literally. Few forces today are willing to impart such knowledge to average troops due to fear of misuse.
Schmedlap is totally correct:
Quote:
"...When you practice the wrong technique - which is more likely to occur when you first practice it while exhausted - then you develop motor memory of the wrong technique. Learn the technique, get it right (in other words, train). Then, when you're proficient, you can do it while exhausted for your day of conditioning.
That's important...
However, I think on this:
Quote:
We don't do stress shoots before basic rifle marksmanship."
We need to do the same thing -- get the basics thoroughly embedded using enhancements to this methodology (LINK) then go to stress shoots. Combat is a stress shoot..;)
