Soldiers don fake belly, breasts to better understand pregnant troops' exercise

[roo_ster]

Soldiers don fake belly, breasts to better understand pregnant troops' exercise concerns
http://www.stripes.com/news/army/soldiers-don-fake-belly-breasts-to-better-understand-pregnant-troops-exercise-concerns-1.168786

There are not enough facepalm images on the entirety of the net to to this justice.  This properly belongs on The Onion.

The Army is ordering its hardened combat veterans to wear fake breasts and empathy bellies so they can better understand how pregnant soldiers feel during physical training.

This week, 14 noncommissioned officers at Camp Zama took turns wearing the “pregnancy simulators” as they stretched, twisted and exercised during a three-day class that teaches them to serve as fitness instructors for pregnant soldiers and new mothers.

Army enlisted leaders all over the world are being ordered to take the Pregnancy Postpartum Physical Training Exercise Leaders Course, or PPPT, according to U.S. Army Medical Activity Japan health promotion educator Jana York.

Here's a thought:
If you are pregnant, you don't belong in the armed forces.  You place yourself and your kiddo at risk, place your buddies at risk, and are a burden to your buddies.  Time to move on out to other employment.

One day, we might get back to the real purpose of our military: as a means to pursue policy by other menas by killing the enemy and breaking his stuff.  Until then, it will remain a tool of left-wing masturbatory fulfillment and social engineering.

[BlueStarLizzard]

So, I take it you want all women just booted out of the miltary?

Women can (and do) have valid careers in the miltary. Career is 20 years. So, yes, some of them get pregenent and have babies during that time.

Big deal, get over your outrage.

[TommyGunn]

So, I take it you want all women just booted out of the miltary?

Women can (and do) have valid careers in the miltary. Career is 20 years. So, yes, some of them get pregenent and have babies during that time.

Big deal, get over your outrage.

Works for me.

I think these bionicboobiecontraptions were being used by soldiers who were being trained as fitness instructors, not by the general infantry soldier. 
Women in the military do cause problems.  That's just an established fact; they get pregnant and have to be be rotated home.  I know we like to pretend we're all politically correct and women play nasty alongside men.
They can but not when they get pregnant and sent home.
And if it makes anyone happy, some men cause problems too; just look at the Commander-In-Chief.

Now I have to go look for my caveman-club .... I seem to have misplaced it.   Atleast I didn't misplace my leopard loincloth!!

[Pharmacology]

Yikes, sounds like a waste of money, time, and man-power.

It might make them able to understand what a female soldier goes through,  but what is the goal here?

_________________________
I saw something that could be manipulated into seeming mildly misogynistic so I was going to post ">inb4 BSL",  but she beat me here

Cool strawman argument, Lizzy.

Women and men are different.  There are a lot of serious differences, that cannot be overcome without great effort.  Some of these differences result in *GASP*  inequality in terms of performance and ability to serve.   Yes, women can have excellent careers.  One of my classmates is going into the navy after pharmacy school, and she's going to be better than 90% of the male pharmacists in the Navy.
Getting butthurt on the internet isn't going to suddenly level out the hormone, tissue and structural differences inherent in the genders.  

[Fitz]

So, I take it you want all women just booted out of the miltary?

Women can (and do) have valid careers in the miltary. Career is 20 years. So, yes, some of them get pregenent and have babies during that time.

Big deal, get over your outrage.

Way to take what he said out of context.


This thread is doomed. I'm calling it now.

[Fitz]

Yikes, sounds like a waste of money, time, and man-power.

It might make them able to understand what a female soldier goes through,  but what is the goal here?

I can see the value in this sort of training for the Army's master fitness instructors (who are responsible for ensuring the quality of unit PT programs, among other things.)

If it gets past that level, then I think it's a serious waste of time and effort, IMHO

The military as a whole needs to make some decisions about its PT programs in general.


If it's a measure of fitness, fine. But they bill it as a measure of COMBAT READINESS, which doesn't hold up to scrutiny when you see the drastic differences in fitness standards for men and women.

[RevDisk]

The military as a whole needs to make some decisions about its PT programs in general.

If it's a measure of fitness, fine. But they bill it as a measure of COMBAT READINESS, which doesn't hold up to scrutiny when you see the drastic differences in fitness standards for men and women.

I'd be deeply impressed if the majority of soldiers that stay in 20+ didn't have sports related injuries.  Know of very very few ex soldiers without knee and ankle injuries. 

As for combat readiness, I'd argue that if the Army spent even 10% of the current total PT time on BRM time instead, we'd have a much more combat ready military. Only military that should gauge combat readiness entirely on PT scores should be the French. A major point of combat readiness is putting high velocity metal in and through the enemy. Training should be geared around that.  You need to get to the place to perform HVMI (high velocity metal insertion), perform HVMI and if necessary, get away from said location in a proper hurry.

The US Army is just starting to doctrinally learn that Napoleonic musket tactics could be outdated. I suspect it's decades before service wide small arms training approaches the quality of a decent but not insanely awesome private shooting class or course.

[Fitz]

I'd be deeply impressed if the majority of soldiers that stay in 20+ didn't have sports related injuries.  Know of very very few ex soldiers without knee and ankle injuries. 

As for combat readiness, I'd argue that if the Army spent even 10% of the current total PT time on BRM time instead, we'd have a much more combat ready military. Only military that should gauge combat readiness entirely on PT scores should be the French. A major point of combat readiness is putting high velocity metal in and through the enemy. Training should be geared around that.  You need to get to the place to perform HVMI (high velocity metal insertion), perform HVMI and if necessary, get away from said location in a proper hurry.

The US Army is just starting to doctrinally learn that Napoleonic musket tactics could be outdated. I suspect it's decades before service wide small arms training approaches the quality of a decent but not insanely awesome private shooting class or course.

The Army has been doing much better in teaching its young soldiers to shoot. The Combat Application Training Course, which a ton of Drill sergeants are going to now, is making its way to big army.

I agree with your statements entirely. I don't think that PT should be the entire assessment of combat readiness, but one cannot deny that it is an important part.

And the current PT standards to not reflect that, at all.

[41magsnub]

Is the PT test the same as it was when I was in from 94-97?  2 mile run, 2 minutes each of sit ups and push ups?

I recall PT itself was boring and downright damaging.  Usually it was long formation runs on concrete and everyone's knees hurt badly at the end, preceded by a few sets each of push ups, sit ups, and flutter kicks.

It was great when we were lead by folks who put some thought into it and changed up the routine.  One squad leader would do a full blown abs of steel routine  after a short warm up run and some light upper body work.  He caught flak for that.

The dumbest thing anyone did was for the folks who were flagged for weight or PT scores, frequently they would end up doing front back goes until they puked.  No counciling on dieting, or aerobic fat burning exercise, just punishment.  Happily I was never flagged, I was over weight but  was close enough on the tape test and had good enough PT scores the 1SGT passed me anyway each time.  That system grounds for another rant.

[Fitz]

Is the PT test the same as it was when I was in from 94-97?  2 mile run, 2 minutes each of sit ups and push ups?

I recall PT itself was boring and downright damaging.  Usually it was long runs on concrete and everyone's knees hurt badly at the end, preceded by a few sets each of push ups, sit ups, and flutter kicks.

It was great when we were lead by folks who put some thought into it and changed up the routine.  One squad leader would do a full blown abs of steel routine  after a short warm up run and some light upper body work.  He caught flak for that.

The dumbest thing anyone did was for the folks who were flagged for weight or PT scores, frequently they would end up doing front back goes until they puked.  No counciling on dieting, or aerobic fat burning exercise, just punishment.

This silly bull*expletive deleted* is slowly but surely making its way out of the Army. The new PT program reflects a lot of research into things that actually work, and things like diet, proper interval training, etc are core parts of it.

Front back go's will now get a Drill Sergeant in tons of trouble. Proper rest/recuperation between different muscle groups are stressed. Nowadays, at some basic training posts (fort Leonard wood, for example, where I did my last AT as a drill sergeant), an athletic trainer (civilian) is present for PT, and gives crucial guidance to drill sergeants on their implementation of the new "Standardized PT"

Long formation runs, with the exception of unit cohesion type events, are a thing of the past for the most part. They're really only done when commanders want to get a whole unit out on the road, and then it's more about calling cadence and showing esprit de corps than anything else.

Weight training has replaced godawful torturous log PT, etc. Squads who go to the gym instead of just doing pushups in a grassy field are encouraged instead of vilified.

There's a LOT of latitude in the current program for "breaking up the monotony." Combatives can be done on certain days, team sports are encouraged (although not as a REPLACEMENT, but an enhancement.)

The test itself is unchanged. 2 mile run, two minutes of situps and pushups, but a new test is coming that is by all accounts a much better measure of fitness.

[Fitz]

woops double post

[Fitz]

Here is a great resource that details some of the "new" pt stuff.

The test still isn't perfect. The new one is BETTER, but not optimal.

http://www.armyprt.com/


The "hip stability drill" and focus on the core, are particularly effective at reducing the typical "Army" injuries.

[Balog]

Speaking specifically of .mil PT tests and gender equality, does anyone know if they ever changed the standards so women are required to do the same exercises as men? Or the point system changed to the same score for the same times/numbers?

[Fitz]

in the army, women have to do the same pushup, but have to do far fewer repetitions to pass . the situp  standards are the same , but the run standards are drastically lower for women as well.  a maximum score on the run 4 women, , is a very bad, possibly failing score for a man

[BlueStarLizzard]

R

Yikes, sounds like a waste of money, time, and man-power.

It might make them able to understand what a female soldier goes through,  but what is the goal here?

_________________________
I saw something that could be manipulated into seeming mildly misogynistic so I was going to post ">inb4 BSL",  but she beat me here

Cool strawman argument, Lizzy.

Women and men are different.  There are a lot of serious differences, that cannot be overcome without great effort.  Some of these differences result in *GASP*  inequality in terms of performance and ability to serve.   Yes, women can have excellent careers.  One of my classmates is going into the navy after pharmacy school, and she's going to be better than 90% of the male pharmacists in the Navy.
Getting butthurt on the internet isn't going to suddenly level out the hormone, tissue and structural differences inherent in the genders.  

How many positions in the miltary require combat readiness?

Plenty of them don't. We require people in these postion to maintain some leavel of fitness, but not combat ready levals.

Helping female soilders stay in shape during pregency and getting them back in shape after has diffrent requirements, but is overall helpful to their wellbeing and their capibilty to do their jobs. Some of those jobs can be done WHILE they are pregenent.
Did you know they have maternity uniforms?
They do.

You make out like this is all PT instructers to be applied to all PT courses.

It's not. It's just a few, just for one little thing.

Question: does the miltary provide optional or required paternity classes or support for expecting fathers? I would think they do.

[Fitz]

R
How many positions in the miltary require combat readiness?

Plenty of them don't. We require people in these postion to maintain some leavel of fitness, but not combat ready levals.

Helping female soilders stay in shape during pregency and getting them back in shape after has diffrent requirements, but is overall helpful to their wellbeing and their capibilty to do their jobs. Some of those jobs can be done WHILE they are pregenent.
Did you know they have maternity uniforms?
They do.

You make out like this is all PT instructers to be applied to all PT courses.

It's not. It's just a few, just for one little thing.

Question: does the miltary provide optional or required paternity classes or support for expecting fathers? I would think they do.

All positions in the military these days require combat readiness. Every MOS in the army these days has seen some up close and personal action. Every MOS in the army is subject to deployment, where they will , at some point, go out on a convoy to get from one place to the other. This isn't your grandfather's war.

As for paternity classes, they have some depending on the post. Amanda and I attended birthing classes, and i could ahve (but didnt have time) attended some father specific classes as well.

I was a drill sergeant at the time. Didn't have time... regret that I didn't, it would have been useful. Instead I read some very good books in my off time. The titles escape me, but they were real "no nonsense" type fatherhood books.

[BlueStarLizzard]

And I guess, from your post, that men with tempary medical conditions are automatically booted from service because they cannot maintain PT?

Oh wait! They don't. They put them on light duty or give medical leave, which means they don't get sent to a combat zone.

Having a baby takes approxamatly one year. 9 months for the pregenacy, another 3 or so for recovery and to get back in shape.
For a large portion of this time, the women can still do plenty of tasks outside of a combat zone.

and if her PT trainers are capable of tailoring her PT for her recovery, they might be cutting the recovery period.

I will be honest. I think the outrage on this thread is one of the most outright sexist commentary I've ever seen around here.

[Fitz]

And I guess, from your post, that men with tempary medical conditions are automatically booted from service because they cannot maintain PT?

Oh wait! They don't. They put them on light duty or give medical leave, which means they don't get sent to a combat zone.

Having a baby takes approxamatly one year. 9 months for the pregenacy, another 3 or so for recovery and to get back in shape.
For a large portion of this time, the women can still do plenty of tasks outside of a combat zone.

and if her PT trainers are capable of tailoring her PT for her recovery, they might be cutting the recovery period.

I will be honest. I think the outrage on this thread is one of the most outright sexist commentary I've ever seen around here.

From MY post?

Stop letting your rampaging feminism cloud your ability to read. Did you miss the part where I said that it was a good idea for master fitness trainers to receive this training?

Who exactly are you referring to?

Did i say anything about booting pregnant women?

What Outrage exactly are you speaking of?

Show me a single, solitary sexist remark i've made, and i'll eat my boots.

[Jamisjockey]

Stick a fork in it.  Some of y'all need to check your outrage at the door. Some of you need to go easy on intentionally starting *expletive deleted*it.