tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post1643507850754318088..comments2024-03-29T12:15:13.832+01:00Comments on Defence and Freedom: Physical fitness requirementsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-80330240378605389842010-10-17T00:00:11.165+02:002010-10-17T00:00:11.165+02:00Just my two cents worth. Armies must have a system...Just my two cents worth. Armies must have a system to rapidly prepare conscripts physically once mobilised for war. This approach is and should be different from maintaining whatever exists as a standing army. The standing army should maintain the level of combat fitness required for war. Peacetime standing armies have the time to allocate to such physical training. The plan for conscripts is to work off a probable low fitness base and bring them up together to as close to the required combat fitness level within the time available.JMAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-58636138593021643562010-10-08T14:23:41.588+02:002010-10-08T14:23:41.588+02:00Come on, that's nonsense. There were 2-16 year...Come on, that's nonsense. There were 2-16 years advance warning for WWI, 1.5-8 years advance warning for WW2 (both depending on sensitivity).<br />The Georgians had more than a decade advance warning for their war, and in fact they began it themselves.<br />There's also no force which could overrun us tomorrow even if we had halved our military budgets years ago. It takes time to build up aggressor forces as well.<br /><br />You obviously chose the hawkish interpretation, well we can agree to disagree on that.<br /><br />About second tank; quite the opposite. There were even two crews per tank in May 1940 in order to be able to push the offensive at maximum.<br />Tens of thousands of tanks were produced, but there's always a chance that a badly mauled formation will be in crisis and take whatever personnel it has to master the crisis.S Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03359796414832859686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-55611534640259887692010-10-08T12:24:58.795+02:002010-10-08T12:24:58.795+02:00"Guderian is on record complaining about the ..."Guderian is on record complaining about the high losses of expert tank crews in infantry combat, for they were all too often used in the role of improvised infantry after their tank was lost. He regretted that these troops didn't receive a better infantry training."<br /><br />Surely the problem is failing to provide a second tank, not failing to cross train your tank men?<br /><br />My point about "peactime preparedness" remains the same.<br />You will not get a mythical two year warning of a war.<br />We didnt get a 20 second warning of the Russian Intervention in Georgia, we wont get anything better if they choose to intervene in Finland.<br />Extended Mobilisation times encourage a first strike and escalationDomohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00240964731398145995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-32030729938316765522010-10-08T10:41:48.030+02:002010-10-08T10:41:48.030+02:00You don't seem to have understood the article ...You don't seem to have understood the article (assumption, conclusion) properly. Reading it a 2nd time would certainly explain more than any reply here.S Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03359796414832859686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-26115474125544309952010-10-08T01:38:56.131+02:002010-10-08T01:38:56.131+02:00I simply can't agree with what you are proposi...I simply can't agree with what you are proposing. Physical Training (PT) serves many purposes, and a fit soldier can't simply be switched 'on' in six months by training. Resilience against injury (core strength, flexibility) and endurance (muscular and cardio-vascular) needs to maintained at all times by a professional fighting force. Simply 'surging' PT training by bringing in 'commercial quality' gyms is falling into marketing trash. A proper PT programme for soldiers doesn't need ANY gym equipment - austere training environments are no excuse. Resistance exercises involving your own body weight and other team members, equipment carries based off your operational equipment and natural terrain can create as elite a fitness level as you need.<br /><br />Fitness and it's benefits are also a pre-requisite for training. You can't properly train if you aren't fit enough, simple as that. Injuries are an unavoidable necessity that can be mitigated against but never removed.<br /><br />PT also creates mental strength and camaraderie. All these qualities are very, very valuable to a military and to risk eroding them represents a very, very real risk to operational effectiveness. <br /><br />And how can you define PT for 'defensive infantry operations' as opposed to offensive operations? The tactical level demands the same techniques and tactics of assault and offensive ops regardless of the overall campaign. If you have a force that can't carry packs, can't advance against an enemy position, seize it and then dig in (a very demanding physical undertaking when you combine it with sleep deprivation, extreme climactic variations, high stress and limited food intake) then that force is extremely limited as any force, defensive or otherwise. <br /><br />Trying to engineer a defensive-force as an economy of effort undertaking is, in my mind, dubious at best and exceedingly dangerous at worst.Chris jMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386077914312449748.post-35783214048333182272010-10-07T00:06:41.942+02:002010-10-07T00:06:41.942+02:00FALKLANDS
Not all British soldiers were physicall...FALKLANDS<br /><br />Not all British soldiers were physically capable of enduring the long marches with heavy loads which were constant features of the Falklands War. An interesting and quite surprising occurrence was the number of physical training cadre that fell out of the marches. In garrison these cadre ran company physical training. It was determined that some of these cadre were unable to complete the force marches with such heavy loads because they were not able to maintain a high-protein diet. The British realized that the intent of physical training is not to develop professional athletes or weight lifters. The purpose of physical conditioning is to develop combat stamina. <br />http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/call/call_1-88_chpt4.htmŠťouralnoreply@blogger.com