This was in the way-back before times. I was a PT slug. My physical fitness was less than the standard. And the military was drawing down after the cold war so a retread from Pensacola Florida didn't automatically go to Newport Rhode Island. They just got gone.
This guy.
That guy didn't meet and exceed the physical standards enough. The guy could do 60 pushups on demand and over 100 situps in less than 2 minutes. Not nearly good enough. Oh it was passing, it just wasn't passing. And I was not a fast runner. Slug.
There were a LOTTA Ensigns, even before the drawdown. Enough that standards could be high. A little slack was cut for the enlisted ranks, especially for 4.0 sailors that were good at their job. But officers had to be better than the men the men they lead to set the example. If they wanted to or not. There was another Ensign coming up that could do it if you could not.
Marines had to run three miles in 18 minutes or damn close to 18 minutes, do 80 situps in 2 minutes, and 18 pullups. That wasn't passing. That was setting the standard for the men.
The Air Force had even faster standards on the run. I swear all the Air Force guys I knew back then looked like skinny marathon runners.
Didn't have that problem on the nuc side, there was no shortage of guys willing to punch out early if the opportunity was there.
ReplyDeleteAnother related thing I remember back in the days of the Clinton RIF days was "eating your way to freedom". Fail enough PRTs in a row for overweight and out you go without discipline.
Heh. If I had hung in there, I probably would have been offered an early retirement.
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