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Fit to Fight

bossi

Army.ca Veteran
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Physical fitness in the Army is enjoying a rennaissance (ironically, the CF eliminated Physical Education instructors as a military occupation - and there are only so many retired "PERIs" to go around, and they‘ll only last so long before they‘ll retire, too ...)

August 30, 2002
At war with fat
By PETER WORTHINGTON -- Toronto Sun
A Department of National Defence survey recently reported in The National Post shows 40% of Canadian military personnel consider themselves overweight.

That in itself doesn‘t mean much. It‘s a fair bet most people think they‘re a mite overweight, even though it‘s not noticeable to others.

Still, obesity is a concern of military nutritionists as well as civilian medical people who note that we, as a society, are becoming fatter. Certainly obesity among kids is a real concern that will eventually result in heart and other problems.

Fast food bears a lot of the blame, but the abundance of food at affordable prices in North America is also a cause. It‘s easier to say "yes" than "no" to a goodie.

If nothing else, fat soldiers, like fat police officers, are unesthetic. We like to think of our troops as "fighting fit," which is difficult to imagine if tummies bulge over belts.

Ottawa, especially, is a refuge for fat soldiers - not Afghanistan. A fact of life is that a peacetime military is more inclined to fat than a wartime military.

In a syndicated column, Scott Taylor, publisher of the military magazine Esprit de Corps, adds to the argument by quoting a Decima Research poll that found only 22% of troops consider themselves in "excellent health," compared to 29% of civilians who think they‘re fit.

That finding is also meaningless. Fitness and soldiering go hand in hand.

Or should.

That said, the difference in obesity among our military is dramatic. Combat troops are always fitter than rear echelon or desk soldiers. The Princess Pats, returning from Afghanistan, looked in great shape - lean and hard, presumably from hiking all those mountains and tough field conditions.

But as Taylor points out, the 8,000 military personnel who work in Ottawa (more than all our combat troops combined) are mostly in horrible physical condition. Senior officers especially often tend to the rotund.

Gone are the days when the likes of Gen. Bernard Montgomery demanded all ranks do route marches and physical training to maintain top fitness and set an example for the troops.

Fat soldiers have always been a concern in the army where food is good, and plentiful, and often individually cooked instead of mass produced.

Our army‘s field rations today, while nutritionally balanced, verge on the lavish. Combat rations for our troops on UN peacekeeping duty in the Balkans were NATO-approved German rations. These were excellent, but aimed at the European and not the North American palate - roughly 2 kg of nutrition per meal.

Each packaged German meal (Einmannpakung) was said to cost the UN around $24.

Excellent as they are, German hard rations pale before today‘s Canadian field rations. Ours are so tasty it‘s claimed one Canadian food package can be traded for 10 American.

Each Canadian Individual Meal Package (IMP) contains a questionnaire to be returned to DND Food Services, rating each item. Old sweats from previous wars would be astounded to learn there are 17 different main dishes, ranging from ham steak, barbecued frankfurters and beans, and salmon filet to sweet and sour pork, tortellini alfredo, chicken cacciatore, beef stroganoff and ravioli.

There are 11 different deserts, including fruit cocktail, caramel apple slices, cherry cake, raspberry pudding. Instant beverages include fruit drinks, iced tea, hot chocolate and coffee. There are various sauces, cookies and candies. I don‘t know an individual meal‘s value, but I‘d wager it‘s close to $20.

Here‘s the contents of one meal package I looked at: beef bourguignon in a plastic package for heating in boiling water; instant buttered rice (add boiling water); mini-Ritz cheese sandwiches; strawberry pudding (add water); fruit beverage; small Lifesaver package; Hershey chocolate kisses; apple sauce; instant iced tea; two honey packages; two sugar packages; coffee whitener; steak sauce; salt and pepper; finger towel; matches; plastic spoon; serviette.

Gone forever are the days of two mess tins, and the soldier‘s dilemma of how to mix stew, mashed potatoes, canned peaches and coffee! The rations are splendid - a tribute to dieticians and nutritionists, but not designed for the lean and hungry look in soldiers. This isn‘t meant as criticism, just an observation.

Controlling weight is an individual responsibility, as is saying "no" to delicacies. I suspect fat will continue to plague our military, especially those condemned to serve in Ottawa.
 
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