BF2S Forums A third of U.S. youth too fat, sickly to serve in military

JohnG@lt wrote:

SEREMAKER wrote:

come on ... you know thats just the bonus ....... I miss the smell of napalm in the morning

If you miss the camaraderie that's one thing. But to put a price tag on your life I always thought was a bit lame. I knew quite a few guys that re-upped just because they had too many bills. They went out and bought new cars etc and then felt like they were stuck. Imo it's stupid to trade four+ years of freedom for 10-20k, but that's me.

I didn't go in the Marines for the money


I miss the military life and if I'm considering going back in might as well get everything I can

SEREMAKER wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

SEREMAKER wrote:

I've really been considering it ..... Marines would just let me back in with rank that I left at but Army would do $7500 up front and $7500 over the next 6 years

You'd be willing to toss your life away for $15k? Yikes. You could work a job making $7.50 an hour and make that in a year with a lot less stress.

come on ... you know thats just the bonus ....... I miss the smell of napalm in the morning

C4 - Playdough for Pyros

Though I'm leaning towards 68W or 21B.  Already did 21T, 13C, & .. [one other MOS].

I have a co-worker who, by all external appearances, should be deemed "fit", and he just announced to us at work last month that he ships off to basic on Nov. the 13th.  This guy is not overweight in the least, but he has literally been sick (sniffles, cough, etc.) off and on for 3 out of the past 5 months of work, and all I really know about his personal life is that he plays the shit out of WoW.  He even had the nerve to talk himself up about how he's been "working out", and now he runs 2 miles a day (a day!!!) regularly. 

If creampuffs like this get into the military with no problem, then I have no problem with women serving in combat roles, because they can't be any more of a liability then Pvt. Sniffles here.

Obv solution:

the military just has to lower their standards.

ATG wrote:

Too many hours in front of a computer screen is a major problem tbh.

Won't stop me

nlsme1 wrote:

You did it for the GI bill, no?

Yeah, when you're 18-19 and don't really know any better you can be excused Re-enlisting, you know what you're doing.

Bevo wrote:

It's all that darn soda-pop those kids are drinking these days! Someone needs to teach those whippersnappers.

It's easy to point the fingers at soda, or fast food, or video games... please don't until you come back with a SRS of n >= 5000, thanks.

ed: even if you do, it doesn't imply causation, just correlation

pls explain what it is then?

S.Lythberg wrote:

Hurricane2k9 wrote:

AussieReaper wrote:

Obv solution:

the military just has to lower their standards.

But at what cost? I don't find the standards that outrageous. I think for males aged 17-21 you just have to do the following:

2 mile run under 16 minutes
50 pushups in 2 minutes
50 situps in 2 minutes

Obviously you have to train a bit to get that fit, but it's not unheard of whatsoever.

pft, that's it?  That's depressing that most kids can't do that

I went into basic weighing 243 lbs and came out weighing 205 lbs. Went from an 8 minute mile to a 5:30 minute mile. I played three varsity sports in high school (football, wrestling and lacrosse) but I had let myself get out of shape in the one year I went to college after high school. You have to be really unfit if you can't pass the little examination they give you at MEPS. Can you duck-walk? Yes? You pass, grats.

Red Forman wrote:

i can only speak for the marines but they wont send you to meps until you pass some basic requirements for running and such.

I went through the process almost ten years ago but back then you just had to pass a physical before they would ship you off to reception at your basic training facility. To advance to basic you have to take a PT test there that is actually below the standard (you only need a 50 [oops, forgot people wouldn't know what this means: 50% of max, normal score to pass is a 60% of max, 60% would be the 50 pushups etc.] in each category). If you don't pass that PT test they send you to fat camp until you do. If while in basic, you fail three PT tests, they will also send you to fat camp and recycle you. I never went to fat camp myself but there was an abnormally high suicide attempt rate there

Last edited by JohnG@lt (2009-11-06 13:15:49)

Red Forman wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

Red Forman wrote:

i can only speak for the marines but they wont send you to meps until you pass some basic requirements for running and such.

I went through the process almost ten years ago but back then you just had to pass a physical before they would ship you off to reception at your basic training facility. To advance to basic you have to take a PT test there that is actually below the standard (you only need a 50 in each category). If you don't pass that PT test they send you to fat camp until you do. If while in basic, you fail three PT tests, they will also send you to fat camp and recycle you. I never went to fat camp myself but there was an abnormally high suicide attempt rate there

what branch?  i went to boot camp in '95.

I was Army from '00-'05.

JohnG@lt wrote:

Red Forman wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

I went through the process almost ten years ago but back then you just had to pass a physical before they would ship you off to reception at your basic training facility. To advance to basic you have to take a PT test there that is actually below the standard (you only need a 50 in each category). If you don't pass that PT test they send you to fat camp until you do. If while in basic, you fail three PT tests, they will also send you to fat camp and recycle you. I never went to fat camp myself but there was an abnormally high suicide attempt rate there

what branch?  i went to boot camp in '95.

I was Army from '00-'05.

ok...dont take this the wrong way now.  take a deep breath.




when kids got turned down for the marines, i saw them walk down the hall to the army office and be off to boot camp in a week.  saw that all the time.  just saying.

Red Forman wrote:

ok...dont take this the wrong way now.  take a deep breath.




when kids got turned down for the marines, i saw them walk down the hall to the army office and be off to boot camp in a week.  saw that all the time.  just saying.

Shrug, the Marine Corps is smaller and can be more selective. They still get garbage equipment and use garbage tactics so I think it evens out

lel