The Future of the Army Reserve - Discuss

[Pook]

[QUOTE=a regular army that thinks it can relegate the reservists' fitness state to 'thats your problem..', is going find itself with a very severe problem when it wants to mobilise the reserve to take the Army to its war strength, and finds that only 20% of the reserve is capable of undertaking the pre-deployment training neccesary to enable them to be used.[/QUOTE]

I dont think that the MA envisage a situation where they will have to go to war strength, therfore they dont see value in having a reserve.

When the reserve is gone, as I believe it will when people get p1$$ed off being messed about, there will just be a full time force.

When Joe Public starts to ask the question "are we ever going to war?" we may find that there is no appetite for a full time army either.

[Pook]

Spot On.

[DeV]

Lets say we have a recruit platoon of 30, they passed it induction fitness test but all fail the ITs (say by 10 secs / 3 push ups etc).

They are personally responsible yes....... But the platoon commander is responsible for everything a platoon does and fails to do. Eg in this case failing to assess their fitness on an ongoing basis.

[The real Jack]

Lets say we have a recruit platoon of 30, they passed it induction fitness test but all fail the ITs (say by 10 secs / 3 push ups etc).

They are personally responsible yes....... But the platoon commander is responsible for everything a platoon does and fails to do. Eg in this case failing to assess their fitness on an ongoing basis.

Last year the bods who did the BTC ran recruit camp who failed their ITs still passed out.

[apod]

Ive just completed my IT's today -in 31 degrees - it was not impossible.
I ran (well jogged) the 10km in 1hr 4 mins and managed a grade 1 (im almost sure) in the rest.
I dont train with backpacks, but i do go to the gym 2 or 3 days a week and do shoulders, chest, back, biceps, triceps.
I run 2 - 3 times a week, each run is never more than 9km and often less than 7.
If I can do that then any reservist can do that. I dont need to wear issue tac boots (i dont get them issued as im in the RDF) I dont wear combats, I wear shorts and tshirt.
training to get fit on week nights - utter bollocks, we dont have time on the syllabus to do that, get off your fat arses and get out in the air yourself. If you want to train with a backpack, get a cheap backpack for running with in tesco or somewhere, start small, 5km with 5kg and build up to over 10km and put 15kg of gravel in a sandbag into it. it will take a couple of months but its common sense.

Jesus, part 3 is a poxy stroll, 10km with 12.5kg to be completed in under 1hr 30mins. any 25 year old (im a LOT older) or under who cannot put in the personal preparation to do that , should be out. get out, hike, gym, cycle, run, in all weather and vary the distances, include hills and you're there.

sorry, but its just annoying looking at crap comments that we should be fitness training on training nights or on camp. I agree on camp, but only that we should get the platoon up early and hit the PT for an hour before breakfast but not to get them fit, they should be fit anyway, its just to keep people motivated and get them warmed up for what should be a day of section - field type training (for infantry anyway). camp is for annual training that cannot be completed on week nights. week nights are for lessons, admin in the field, theory of navigation, SIA PIA etc. weekends are for using the work done on wk nights. Ex's are for using the full spectrum.

I mean absolutely no offence, but if you are waiting on the DF to change the RDF's fitness regime then we have already lost. use your brains, adapt overcome and stop waiting to be led by the nose. if anything you are doing it to get YOURSELF fit and do your body a favour, if it means that when with the army you dont think about the weight on your back or the pain in your hips / knees on a tab but instead think about the mission and your tasks etc then bully for you. if it means you dont have a heart attack at 45 then EVEN better. get out get fit and stop crying because we cant use DF gyms or we dont get issued kit, boots backpacks to train ourselves. that wont change, its an admiral cause for the rep association, but in the meantime, get yourself out there and get stuck in.

my 2c

i shall now return to my trench.

Best post on this subject in a long time.+1 on everything said except the sandbag thing.Dont do that.make up the weight using kit.Sand is dead weight which will f**k you up over time.Also there are rumours of changes to the part 3 in the new year.Watch this spaceother than that well done.Great post.

Last year the bods who did the BTC ran recruit camp who failed their ITs still passed out.

Not because they deserved to.pressure was put on the BTC to pass them by higher ups.Good ole Army politricks.

[kaiser]

apod is spot on about the sandbag

[Fridge Magnet]

If someone can't pass the IT's in their current format, they should quite literally have to hand their legs in and let them be given to someone who'll actually use them.

The IT's are a piece of piss.

[The real Jack]

DeV have you had a stroke or something that makes you dislike posts all over the gaff for no reason?

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[hptmurphy]

DeV have you had a stroke or something that makes you dislike posts all over the gaff for no reason?

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Sometimes I get the feeling Dev uses his like/dislike button to comment on the quoted comment as opposed to the posters comment.

Depends on how you 'read the buttons'

[DeV]

So if I dislike the fact that a BTC saw fit to let people fail a star test is a problem ?

Is this also the same BTC that allowed a cancelled recruit syllabus to be ran?

Some of those dislikes are errors due to the fact that I'm usually on IMO on a smart phone

[The real Jack]

So if I dislike the fact that a BTC saw fit to let people fail a star test is a problem ?

Is this also the same BTC that allowed a cancelled recruit syllabus to be ran?

Some of those dislikes are errors due to the fact that I'm usually on IMO on a smart phone

So I am now the BTC? By just posting what happened? They also had recruits empty their water bottles and got recruits who'd drank some of the water had to do pushups, most likely someone saw it in a movie...go on dislike this too.

[DeV]

So I am now the BTC? By just posting what happened? They also had recruits empty their water bottles and got recruits who'd drank some of the water had to do pushups, most likely someone saw it in a movie...go on dislike this too.

What?

I dislike that this happened!

[Bravo20]

So I am now the BTC? By just posting what happened? They also had recruits empty their water bottles and got recruits who'd drank some of the water had to do pushups, most likely someone saw it in a movie...go on dislike this too.

I think anyone worth their salt would dislike that one.

[BANDIT]

Excellent post by Morpheus,
Some personal responsibility, initiative and pride needs to be present and not just waiting for the system to provide all solutions. This is also relevent to the PDF. I know from the past before the HSE days that even for units involved in a lot of ATCP , fitness levels often dependent on the willingness of junior leaders and even a few more senior to organise runs, home made gyms, even assault / obstacle courses,( some almost suicidal and often with some unfortunate results) and general training and sport beyond what was officially required.
I guess the same the same applies to alll aspects of life , whether its education, a job, house etc , This is probably more true nowadays when the nanny culture is well established in spociety in general and there are rule , regs , benefits and entitlements for everything and a continous reduction in the sense of personal responsibility.

[DeV]

My argument isn't that the DF should get the RDF fit, it is the DF should help (not put barriers up by effectively banning PT during RDF programme time!

Why it would be of benefit (all I would look for is occasional PT even once a month):
Make sure press ups and sit ups being done correctly
Commanders can gauge fitness on an ongoing basis
Battle PT etc could be included to cover physical robustness
The group can encourage each other and build espirit de corps
The group can gauge themselves against each other (and that will encourage training).

What should be done:
Don't effective ban PT (allow PT on OPT, ORT (OPT) and battle PT (inside programme time if relevant)
Allow RDF access to gym facilities when open (and advertise), I'm sure there are PDF who would like to see the gyms open OPT
Put out clear guidance to Unit COs regarding annual medicals for RDF and ITs, especially for the under 40s.


Here's a question, at the very time fitness is being made mandatory why is the DF doing this?

What is the point now in having RDF PRLs and potentially PTIs?