Obese UK troops hampering war in Afghanistan
www.hindustantimes.com
 Obesity among its soldiers have undermined “operational effectiveness” of British forces, leading to shortage of fit soldiers who could be
deployed to fight the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, according to a leaked Army memo.
“War effort is being hampered by troops too unfit to deploy. Leaked army memo reveals many British soldiers are so obese they cannot be sent to
Helmand Britain's war effort is being hampered by the number of front-line troops who are too fat or unfit to be deployed to southern Afghanistan,"
the Observer said in its report. (visit the link for the full news article)
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Sooner or later I knew this situation would arise. With a population getting bigger, who in the west is going to go to combat in places like Iraq and
Afghanistan? That is probably why western militaries are more and more looking into replacing humans with robots and drones.
It really reminds of Rome and the decadence preceding the fall of the empire.
www.hindustantimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)
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well i can assure you i have 1 friend in the Regular troops and hes built like a brick # house, and my two other mate are in the Royal Marines and
they take it to a whole next level
What's with all this American Bashing of UK troops lately? Christ you needed us there as you didn't have the know how to contain a civil population
in there own city's
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reply to post by TreX-UK
It's not an American source. The OP isn't bashing our friends in the UK. The OP was simply posting an article printed somewhere else.
It makes me think of a good way to get out of going to Afghanistan though.
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I've known and met literally hundreds of squaddies and can honestly say not one of them has been obese.
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Originally posted by TreX-UK
well i can assure you i have 1 friend in the Regular troops and hes built like a brick # house, and my two other mate are in the Royal Marines and
they take it to a whole next level
What's with all this American Bashing of UK troops lately? Christ you needed us there as you didn't have the know how to contain a civil population
in there own city's
Nah, it was just an article and not an American one at that. I've always thought of the UK as a friend and ally of the American people although I see
that the UK probably does not feel the same.
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I say let the bloaters deploy. I lost 3 stone in five months last time I deployed due to the heat, constant patrolling carrying 60+lb of kit in 45
degrees C and not least of all a rather severe dose of the squirts caused by some dodgy grub and living in rather unhygienic conditions.
There you go. Two birds with one stone: The salad-dodgers lose a few pounds, thereby increasing their operational effectiveness, and we address the
troops shortage issue.
Sorted.
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This one always baffled me when i was serving, how soldiers can get so unfit in an organisation that prides itself on it. I loved my fitness and
worked hard to excel in it, i would have been embarrassed to represent the forces with an "obese" label attatched to me.
The BFT, the 6 monthly run was just 1.5 miles in a certain time, yet some would still fail that.
Some of it is the individual soldiers fault for not being disciplined enough to take themselves out for a run, and some of it i blame the unit
management for, for not enforcing it enough.
How hard is it to take 30 minutes out of your day to do a bit of exercise?
If soldiers in the combat zone can do it, i'm damn sure the ones sitting back in UK can make the effort.
Unless theres a medical reason, IMO theres no excuse for a soldier being unfit. It's part of the job.
However, a "fat" soldier is not neccessarily a bad one. I've known a couple of friends who failed selection after passing out up at Brecon, they
were immensly fit and but had hardly any fat on them at all, their bodies just couldn't work properly.
I think generally it was the guys sat behind a desk and the ones in charge who drifted away from the fit image of the army.
CX.
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