XPost: or.politics, sci.military.naval

On 2/18/23 07:55, BT wrote:

As usual, the problems being addressed were brought on
by the left/Democrats.

In the News:

Navy drops physical fitness requirement, offers travel for abortions

For quite some time now, one of the standard requirements to stay in the United States Navy has been the annual ritual of having to pass a basic physical fitness test. These exercises typically include the activities you would likely expect, including

running, hiking, calisthenics, and keeping your weight under control. Failing such a test can be a factor in your removal from the service. But the navy has been having trouble meeting its recruiting goals (like the other branches of the service), so
physical fitness assessment failures will now be scrubbed from sailors’ records according to a new policy announced this week. Is this really a good idea? (Navy Times)

Sailors with a physical fitness assessment failure on their record will receive a clean slate that will allow them to remain in the service, under a new Navy policy unveiled Thursday.

The shift is part of a Navy-wide campaign aimed at improving accessions, retention and attrition so the service can hit its end-strength goals for 2023, according to Rear Adm. James Waters III, director of military personnel, plans and policy.

“This is connected because it clearly affects attrition, right? It will reduce attrition if we do not separate sailors based on past PFA failures,” Waters told reporters Wednesday.

The navy’s current recruiting slogan is “Forged by the Sea.” (Back when I enlisted, it was, “It’s not just a job. It’s an adventure.”) Most military service generally tends to keep the troops in fairly good shape by default. There aren’

t all that many exclusive “in-office” jobs that would allow you to really fall out of shape because you tend to be moving around quite a bit.

This is being described as a “one-time reset” of the sailors’ service records. Presumably, they will need to pass additional assessments in the future. The announcement also seemed to be using the pandemic as an excuse for some members who failed

their physical fitness assessments. (We don’t want to fault our sailors because the gym was closed during COVID.)

With that in mind, perhaps this isn’t such a big deal. But at the same time, the optics aren’t very good. After all, our military is America’s fighting force. And you’re not going to be all that ready for battle if you’re puffing along with a

pot gut and sagging muscles. I also find myself wondering if this decision was based strictly on maximizing retention in the face of declining enlistment rates or if there is some element of wokeness involved, such as a fear of “fat shaming” our
sailors.

This certainly seems to merit concern.

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