Big guys in the infantry

[FredDaHead]

Hey guys,

Despite my eyes being a bit screwed up, I still hope to be in the infantry after LASIK surgery or such. Anyway, I‘m not a small guy (not very fat, I‘m just well-built) and I want to get bigger for football, so I was wondering if that could be a bad thing if/when I join up? What‘s the average size of an infantryman? And am I going to be confined to carrying a machine gun because of my size/strength? Thanks for your answers.

-Fred

 

[geofftheref]

Ruined eyesight will not help you play football or be a good infantry soldier. Before you rush to take Lasik surgery check out this site:

http://www.surgicaleyes.org

 

[Andrew]

I don‘t think you would really have to worry about that(if your not THAT big). In basic most of the guys who were in excellent shape gained weight and the bigger guys lost. Basic doesn‘t have that much physical asspect to it at all. But if you eat rihgt there you can lose like 40 lbs. But when you hit your SQ course they actually have decently hard PT and 13 weeks of it. I can pretty much garrantee you won‘t be as big as you were before.
Also after thats your infantry training so even better shape there


So what I‘m saying is that from what i‘ve seen from Pte to MCpl and alotta Sgts. and some Warrents there all in very good shape. But it does seem as you go higher in the ranks the bigger they get (i know i‘m probably dead for that comment)

Andrew :bullet: :bullet:

 

[Wilson601]

Don‘t worry about it, cheif. I did 12 weeks of reservist training just this past summer.. SQ and BIQ and i maybe lost like 10 lbs..and i‘m a fat cow (5‘9 and 235lbs) and i topped both of them. You get used to it after awhile and its no problem but just about everyone starts out in the same boat. Don‘t worry, let the doctors and your section cmndrs tell you your fat but theres ALWAYS someone fatter than you in basic..

 

[Carpenter]

A friend of mine who was in the RCR told me he got put on fat parade one year because his BMI was too high for the doctors' liking.  He gained even more weight because he is just one of those mesomorphic people.  So, I guess it depends on how you respond to exercise. 

I'm 215 lbs, and even running a fair bit I still don't lose weight.

 

[Da_man]

someone has to carry that C6 and Carl G...  if your the biggest, odds are its going to be you 

 

[spacelord]

I consider being assigned to carry the bigger weapons a compliment.

 

[Pte.Nomercy]

Size doesn't really matter as long as you can do and excel at what is asked of you, although it does give people a falsified impression.

I'm one of those guys who has a fast metabolism, despite eating 7 meals a day and taking protein mixes and working out I don't gain weight almost at all. It's just my system. :-[

I'm a skinny bastard, always have been and will be for some time. When I went on my QL2 ( Now called BMQ, but it was not a weekend course, it was the full thing at Meaford) I was really fit but did not have the muscle mass to "prove" it if you will.

I remember on my course, my Sergeant thought I was weak and was made the example of my entire section, if not platoon. Little did he know that I was less then 7% body fat and the rest was good hard muscle from allot of time at the gym. I proved him wrong by even out running him on PT once, not to mention how I didn't have any trouble doing PT at all.

There are allot of "Big" guys who also do very well and look like they can't do anything because they're tubby or what have you, but they end up being the most fit guys on course.

The saying looks can be deceiving applies here, and hopefully on course, you won't be judged at how you look, but at what you can do!

Good Luck!!!

 

[Infanteer]

Being "big" has its advantages and its drawbacks.   As I am 6'2'' and 230 pounds, I can carry more (a good thing) but I often have to carry more (a bad thing).   Smaller guys can have a tougher time when fighting load increases purely due to the physics of the matter, but they can also run on less fuel.  

Soldiering is 90% mental and 10% physical.   That being said, it has been my experience that people who are "big" because they are obese or because they have a tremendous amount of muscle mass due to weightlifting and supplements generally breakdown in the field faster.   Look at a British Para or a US Army Ranger, and you'll see a parade of lean and mean soldiers; something akin to a triathlete build, which happens to be a sport that is 90% mental.   If you're not in shape to get to the fight, the mental factor can't be brought into play.

 

[ZipperHead]

As I am 6'2'' and 130 pounds,

Please tell me that that is a typo, as I fear that you could be used as a spear in an emergency!!! I assume that you are 6'2" and 230 lbs......

Al

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Well I sent him a PM to clear that up quietly but now that you bring it up I'm thinking 2-person javelin event.
Bruce

 

[Infanteer]

Ha, thanks.  I was thinking 100kgs when I wrote that!

No, you couldn't use me as a spear in an emergency, but you could load me in a cannon and use me to knock down a wall!  ;D

 

[AZA-02]

im 6`foot tall and weight 161 lbs and for some reason i can barely do 19 push ups. i bench press around 150 lbs but i have trouble doing push ups. im scared i might fail my physical exam and wont be able to join. :crybaby:

 

[Infanteer]

Don't tell us about it; get out and fix the problem....

 

[drebk]

http://army.ca/forums/threads/16926.0

there's a good thread on how to increase yer pushup count... and a meriad of other fitness tips... but u mite wanna skip over the 'suicide by crazy nutjob work out regime' posts... i assure u that u won't need the Navy SEALs' fitness regime to pass you fitness test... that being said, if u think you can do it and want to challenge yerself go to, but don't be discouraged and stop completely if u can't become a seal overnight =P

 

[bossi]

Getting back to the gist of this thread ...
Yup - during my BOTC I ended up carrying the radio and the Carl G ... and when we had the old GPMG I'd end up carrying it with the tripod attached because the tripod was too heavy for somebody else to carry ... poor baby.
(akin to "nice guys finish last" ... "Big guys finish the job")

However, I've also met some dwarfs who could effortlessly bench press small armoured vehicles.
Size matters, mental toughness matters more.

 

[ZipperHead]

I'm not infantry (but Armour Corps, so close enough   :tank, but I can relate somewhat. Most of the big guys in the Armour end up doing all the "heavy" work (maintenance, ammo humping, pillaging, er, strike that last one.....). It's usually a case of "Hey, you're a big guy, you carry that heavy stuff". I'm a big proponent of making little guys bigger, by making them do some of the heavy lifting. And don't even get me started on females not carrying their share, or not being "allowed" to carry their share (overprotective daddy figures.....) because they aren't as big (in most cases) as men. I could relate a few examples, but I'd only get myself worked up, and life is too short for that. But as a counter-point, I can think of 3 females (2 armour, 1 infantry) that I know that had little or no problem of shouldering the burden (and then some) compared to their male counterparts.

Any para types can correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the lighter guys in the jump companies have to carry more weight than the heavy-weights due to weight restrictions on the chutes? If so, I guess it pays sometimes to go for seconds in the mess hall...

Al

 

[Phillman]

Being a big guy is to your advantage in my opinion. Being a big guy myself, about 6'3" and 230lbs, I seem to find alot of the tasks easier than most. There are times where being small helps, such as foot recce patrols in the bush, but for the most part, it pays to be big. I personally find I usually have trouble running for PT when the little guys seem to never slow down. But strap the ruck and MG on, and I find myself usually encouraging the small guys to stay with the platoon. One of the most important times I find for keeping up with the rest is in a section attack, where the adrenalin seems to give me that extra energy.

 

[excoelis]

Endomorphs who are pear shaped may have fat covering powerful lower body musculature that can make activities like bicycling easier. Their fat makes them more buoyant and gives them an advantage during swimming. Endomorphs find running and jumping frustrating. They would benefit from long distance, low impact activities to help them slim down and upper body strength training to balance out being "bottom heavy".

Mesomorphs are usually good at sports. They adapt quickly to strength training and would benefit from regular stretching, and balancing high energy activities with more mellow endeavors like yoga.

Ectomorphs are built for endurance activities such as running and fitness walking. They often find ball sports or anything that requires bursts of speed and strength difficult. Since ectomorphs lack curves, they would benefit from full body activities like swimming and rowing and regular strength training. Weight bearing activities are a must for ectomorphs who risk developing osteoporosis because of their small frames.

Another way of classifying body types is by recognizing the individual differences that exist among muscle fiber types. The two primary types of muscle fibers are called slow and fast-twitch and each has unique characteristics. Slow-twitch fibers (the dark meat on the turkey) are fatigue resistant fibers that are smaller in cross section than the fast-twitch fibers. They are well suited for low intensity activities such as distance running, cycling and walking.

Fast-twitch fibers (the white meat on the turkey) are recruited for short bursts of high-intensity activities such as jumping, sprinting and weight lifting. These fibers fatigue more quickly but allow for powerful muscular contraction.

With a laboratory technique called a muscle biopsy, it would be possible to accurately determine the distribution of your muscle fiber types. A simple way to estimate the fibers that predominate in your body is to think back to what physical activities you enjoyed doing as a child.

If you were a fast runner, or if you had a high vertical jump, your fast-twitch muscle fibers predominate. If you shunned all speed related activities and preferred long slow distance, you have a preponderance of slow-twitch fibers. If you were somewhere in between, excelling at speed or distance, you have a fairly even mixture of the two.

Even though your muscle fiber type distribution is genetically determined, and you cannot change one fiber type to another with training, you can begin to understand why there are great individual differences in training from one person to another. Fitness training can improve whatever muscle fiber type you have.


Mary Concannon, M.A.
Certified Personal Trainer & Exercise Physiologist

 

[excoelis]

Any para types can correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the lighter guys in the jump companies have to carry more weight than the heavy-weights due to weight restrictions on the chutes? If so, I guess it pays sometimes to go for seconds in the mess hall...

Hey Al, I dunno if THIS is true or not, maybe you can clarify.  I heard a while back that tankers started the whole human rights thing.  (Changes voice to Dennis Hopper in True Romance) Yeah, yeah.  I'll take that chesterfield now.  Based on speculation that, like their Russian counterparts, they where recruited on physical characteristics suited to the small confines of armoured vehicles.  Well, much to the armoured corps dismay, they quickly realised that an unfortunate by-product of sedentary duty, poor eating habits, and lack of PT was huge-hips-itis.  The sad reality was that as they gained experience to guide the young and newly indoctrinated they also increased in girth.  Yeah, yeah.  Your part egg-plant.  They did so much eating that they where at risk of outgrowing their terms of reference.  So, they broke out the grease and embraced the civilian movement towards human rights in order to save their race.  Now tell me.......am I lying?  ;D

All in jest of course.  I guess you have to have seen the movie to fully appreciate the humour. 


Fact:  More weight equals faster rate of decent.  Average rate of decent of the CT-1 parachute = 14 to 18 feet per second.  "KEEP YOUR FEET AND KNEES TOGETHER"!

Personal observation:  Big guys fall faster and tend to get injured more often.  Having said that, the same holds true for - the inflexible, unfit, poor drills, etc.......

Conclusion:  Mesomorphs can still hump the weight once they hit the ground but tend to load the chute less and hit the ground at a slower rate of decent.

Reality:  When the Pl Comd and Pl WO are creating their orbats and writing their Det Wng Orders for ops they already have enough to worry about.  If a big guy ends up on a MG course, and as a result ends up in the wpns det as the C6 Gnr, then he will end up jumping more weight (and falling faster).  The mission essential kit and troops are tactically cross-loaded based on the mission profile, not the personal weight of the jumpers.  'Extra' kit is distributed for tactical reasons and weight distribution as much as possible.  That applies to a plane being shot down, going down (air or ground), missing the insertion, the ground tactical plan, the ability of the jumpers to move and fight (mobility), and a myriad of other factors.  However, in a perfect world...........we would factor in the weight of the jumpers to approximate an equal rate of decent for everyone................someone pass the big jumper a kleenex.........please!!!  ;D

Another personal observation:  I've jumped 140lb rucks.  I think that would qualify me for the 'maxing-out the chute capabilities' club.  You can't honestly negate that by arguing that the chute will miraculously decelerate in the 14 1/2 ft that seperates jumper from kit on their respective landings.  In 14 straight years as a paratrooper I have always made it to the DZ RV.  Luck?  Divine intervention?  Or is there some merit to being a short, stocky, flexible, physically active, stubborn Irishman?    ???

If memory serves, I believe the chute was designed for a max of 375lbs.  I will clarify with the riggers on Monday.  Having said that, as a PI we run into more problems with troops on training jumps trying to slip by with rucks under the 35lb min.  This creates it's own set of problems, as it poses a hazard to the jumper.........but that is a whole new topic of discussion.