People who idolize the military creep me the fuck out.
Tom just seems like he'll be one of those guys who fits the stereotype of extremely Republican, super nationalistic, and extremely stubborn soldiers. You know, the guys y'all occasionally see me pull my hair out over and feel ashamed of.
And god forbid, he wants to be an officer, he just seems like a Captain America waiting to happen.
edited 2nd Feb '11 9:29:33 PM by Barkey
Meh, we're a varied society. Some are PT freaks, some aren't. Most regular troops on active duty do their mandatory PT and that's enough to stay in good shape, others go above and beyond because they have their own goals of fitness.
I just try to stay in decent shape and run a 10k now and again.
SS, you should watch Generation Kill in its entirety, it explains the whole thing pretty well. The military isn't just one group of personalities, not my smartassed self, not Major Toms obnoxious enthusiasm, not Tuefels nice guy personality, or Scryes aggressiveness. The military is all of us. Just like in GK, for every Captain America there's a Brad, a Ray, a Trombley, a Fick, a Gunny Wynn, and the occasional Fruity Rudy Reyes.
I'm Ray, with a little bit of Brads intellectualism. I pretty much completely act like Ray when I'm on the job, I'm the joke guy, not the smart guy.
^
Butterfly kicks?
edited 2nd Feb '11 9:39:23 PM by Barkey
No, it's like a thing where you hold your arms out horizontally with weights and bring them in front of your chest without bending your arms. Like a butterly flapping its wings. Apparently supposed to work the shoulders and "tit muscles" pretty hard. <<
edited 2nd Feb '11 9:44:12 PM by Diamonnes
My name is Cu Chulainn. Beside the raging sea I am left to moan. Sorrow I am, for I brought down my only son.Barkey@ I'm well aware that the military isnt just a homogenous blob of war crimes and bloodlust, my main problem with the military is that... well, to an outsider like me, it doesnt look like any abuses comitted by soldiers or officers ever seem to get any real consequences. At most one guy might get court martialed when it was a whole squad that decided to use a playground for target practice, and even then, the worst they ever seem to get is a few years in prison. Not to mention that civilian deaths and such seems to do fuck all in the long run, and at most get a "whoops, our bad" reaction. Again, this is as an outsider who has to rely on sensationalist media, so I really dont get the whole story. But yeah, its one of the main reasons of why I dislike the army so much. Hell, I dislike the police for the same reasons. Any groups with any osrt of authority in society seems hell bent on brutalizing everyone else.
No civilian here is going to believe me, but the lions share of civilian casualties really are accidents. It's hard fighting an enemy with a civilian populace all around you which are dressed the same, may or may not have bombs strapped to them, or concealed pistols. Most civilians can't seem to get into the mindset where they are in a narrow street in Kandahar and totally wired with jumpy paranoia because it feels like everybody is trying to kill them, and the ones that aren't are just mulling over a good way to do it later. Most of the time it is not some malicious disregard for human life, more like "OH SHIT MORE PEOPLE WITH AK's!" "OH SHIT THAT CAR ISN'T STOPPING AND IT'S HEADED RIGHT FOR OUR BLOCKADE!"
Snap decisions where if your paranoia is right, which it frequently is, you die or your friends die. It's hard being in an environment where your paranoia usually isn't wasted thought.
[[youtube:5SzmA2uAPfw ]]
^ True, but even with those being accidents, those civilians are still DEAD. They werent soldiers or a threat, they just happened to be in the wrong place. So, should we just shrug and say "tough shit"? What about their families? Dont they deserve some kind of justice? I get that war is hell on everyone, but that doesnt mean that you should just ignore the stuff that happens during it. Soldiers know what they sign up for, civilians have no choice in the matter.
edited 2nd Feb '11 10:17:19 PM by SilentStranger
There are units in the air force that look a bit fucked up, but in general we have healthy people at a minimum, we're the branch with tons of people who eat really healthy and do PX 90 and shit. :P
Security Forces is always full of PT nazi's due to our semi-army like nature. Commanders are the worst, there must be some unwritten rule that until you've ran 5 marathons, you can't be an SFS commander.
OP Abs: my suggestion would be Tae Kwon Do or possibly Capoeira. Without money or free classes, the afore-mentioned bicycle crunches and similar exercises *. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, the thin layer of fat Barkey mentioned has been the plague of at least one White Crane practitioner I know.
As for the chest, the issues with your nerves etc may indeed complicate things.. butterflies might work, but obviously you'd have to take it easy on your wrists. Good luck.
...is out to lunch.@OP: I'm pretty much echoing what Barkey, Aprilla, and others have said but WTH.
Simple fact, some people just don't get a 6pack; blame genetics. That doesn't mean you don't have muscle under there, look at strongmen; you might not be able to trace every individual muscle on their body, but they can throw a keg at your car.
Try jujitsu or muay-thai; Google training centers in your area. Stay fit, and stay healthy dude.
BTW, we have a fitness thread
; knew I should of put it in OTC.
I will never have a six pack short of surgery, it's just not in the genes. My dads side of the family are full of people who are badass fit, but they always have a little bit of a pudge in the ol stomach.
My family has kept its lineage recorded for centuries, so my uncle always reconciled this with the fact that suits of armor always had that little pudge around the midsection, and our family dates back into the Teutonic Order, so he always said it was "A Knight Thing".
@OP: If you have the time, just swimming will help a lot. It's not as stressful, and you'll be able to force yourself to do a lot more.
It depends on what your priorities are. If you want to get fit as fast as possible, some of the drills already mentioned here are the best way to do it. If you want to take your time, though, swimming is something you can keep on doing without quitting after a few months.
Except for 4/1/2011. That day lingers in my memory like...metaphor here...I should go.That's pretty wicked, dude.
I've tried looking up my family history, but the problem with that is that criminals usually try to hide their most epic deeds instead of publishing them to the world. The only heirloom I have is a morning star that's been in the family for about eighty years. . . because my great-great-grandmother stole it from another family who'd had it for generations. <<
Also, people of Anglo-saxon and Celtic descent tend to have broad bodies with pudgy stomachs. It's how the hell we roll.
edited 3rd Feb '11 12:13:55 PM by Diamonnes
My name is Cu Chulainn. Beside the raging sea I am left to moan. Sorrow I am, for I brought down my only son.

I guess it's kinda about Fitness. :P
Fine, Major Tom has been working out to prepare himself for boot, so it's easier on himself. He's in the Delayed Entry Program, which means that he shows up about once a month and learns about the military and does PT, learning skills that will help him in his military career and make Boot a breeze when he gets there. The thing is, nobody is just going to monster through boot camp without breaking a sweat, Drill Sergeants/MTI's/Whatever the Navy has will all do something to break you at some point. Oh, you made your bed and the hospital corners on it perfect? They are the most beautiful thing that Sergeant has ever seen? Well guess what, you're so good that you should teach the whole fucking Platoon to do it as good as you do, and if anyone fucks them up, you're going to do 20 pushups for each one.
Oh, nobody fucked them up and they all look perfect? Well I'm just going to lie and say these 5 beds look like shit, then I'm going to flip the cots over and throw them across the room and tell them to remake them and be finished before you finish with your 100 pushups THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE STARTED ON 30 FUCKING SECONDS AGO IF YOU HAD A FUCKING BRAIN!
So yeah, regardless of your preparedness or level of fitness, you'll still get taken to the point of muscle failure at least once. It's for your own good.