Posted on Jul 30, 2020
Would you rather have a bodybuilder or marathon runner with you in a combat zone patrol?
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Responses: 16
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Neither...if they've never had any sort of training for combat.
Physical strength and endurance are both equally crucial to warfighting; have been since the dawn of time. However, a seventy-year-old who spent at least twenty years of the first half of their life as a combat infantryman is going to "know" things. He's going to know what it's like to be wet, cold, and tired... but have to keep on going. He's going to know the difference between fifty and two hundred and fifty yards... and how that impacts an engagement. He's going to know how to set up fields of fire, how to outflank, and how to move to contact. Because people like this usually end up doing things in the latter half of their life at least somewhat connected to the first... he's probably going to know how to weld, build, fix a truck, and skin a deer. He's going to be sneaky, practical, and depending on many variables... might not give a d@&n about much.
However... he's going to need some young, dumb, and headstrong people to back him up. Hopefully.. they have the sense to listen to him.
Physical strength and endurance are both equally crucial to warfighting; have been since the dawn of time. However, a seventy-year-old who spent at least twenty years of the first half of their life as a combat infantryman is going to "know" things. He's going to know what it's like to be wet, cold, and tired... but have to keep on going. He's going to know the difference between fifty and two hundred and fifty yards... and how that impacts an engagement. He's going to know how to set up fields of fire, how to outflank, and how to move to contact. Because people like this usually end up doing things in the latter half of their life at least somewhat connected to the first... he's probably going to know how to weld, build, fix a truck, and skin a deer. He's going to be sneaky, practical, and depending on many variables... might not give a d@&n about much.
However... he's going to need some young, dumb, and headstrong people to back him up. Hopefully.. they have the sense to listen to him.
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SGT Philip Roncari
I like the hell out of that comment Sir,although I am over seventy and only spent three years as a combat Infantryman and do know what it’s like to be wet,hot,bug bitten and tired,can still remember most of that grunt stuff people taught me and more importantly what the bad guys taught us all, way back when,oh and I do know how to weld,burned rod for 23 years,as for the sneaky and not giving a rat’s ass about much that’s yours truly,be well Brother,as a side note I weighed about 140 lbs and wore glasses in Vietnam,
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LCDR Joshua Gillespie
SGT Philip Roncari - Thanks; I'm one of the "young, dumb, headstrong" types... well... "younger" we'll say. I still know enough to listen to the men who've been further down the road, and know what lies ahead. Keep strong, Brother!
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Only because you are asking who I trust more to carry me out of enemy fire - Bodybuilder! I am heavy into weight training and I stand 6'0" @ 230lbs... I need a person that is going to be able to pick me up just as easily as I can pick them up. I tell my guys all the time, if you go down, I can carry you, but if I go down, just hand me ammo and take cover cause you ain't carrying my big ass! That why I love the fact that our PLT medic is the same size as me!
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This is where the old school metric of evaluation is so flawed. I’ve had guys run 18 minute 3 miles when I was in the Corps that couldn’t hump their way out of a paper bag. Same held true later I. The Army where I had Soldiers running sub-13 minute 2 miles but the moment weight got put on their backs they were useful as a wet noodle. Then there were the meat head gym rats that could lift a truck once but had zero endurance.
Gotta find a happy medium there. Personally I want someone I know can hump 12 miles with at least 70 pounds on their back and still be a functioning human.
Gotta find a happy medium there. Personally I want someone I know can hump 12 miles with at least 70 pounds on their back and still be a functioning human.
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SGM (Join to see)
This.
The average size joe who can pass an apft and carry a ruck 12 miles in 3 hours and still function will do just fine dragging or carrying someone out of a firefight.
The average size joe who can pass an apft and carry a ruck 12 miles in 3 hours and still function will do just fine dragging or carrying someone out of a firefight.
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SFC James Cameron
SGM (Join to see) Right on, Sergeant Major. I’d always warn guys bulking up on deployments about cardio. I absolutely valued raw strength for physical dominance going into rooms, but packing extra weight without increasing cardio was a deadly combination.
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