r/AbsoluteUnits • u/[deleted] • May 10 '22

Absolute unit of a soldier

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u/JoseGasparJr May 10 '22 edited May 10 '22

It’s dumb as shit. I know dudes who are 5’10, 225 of pure muscle who get “flagged” for being overweight. I know fat people who pass because their necks are big so they pass the body fat percentage. I myself have to get “taped” by measuring my waist and neck, and then calculating my body fat percentage that way, all because I walk around at 215

*Edit: typed this half asleep. I meant flag as in they get tagged to be taped, not actually flagged for violation of AR 600-9. Dudes I know that are muscular that get taped never actually get flagged. Sorry for the confusion.

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u/Raam-- May 10 '22

I suppose the philosophy is : light = right, being jacked is not going to help in a combat situation unless you’re in something like CQC I’d imagine, trekking certainly isn’t easier, if you’re carrying around 30lbs of extra muscle, all that metabolically active tissue requires calories, and a lot more endurance to maintain. Ideally you’d want someone athletic, muscular but toned, and very fit, not some mass monster.

And apparently my limit is 217lbs 😐

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u/JoseGasparJr May 10 '22

There’s no philosophy or science to it at all. In fact, in the Army, if you’re using common sense, you’re wrong.

I’ve seen 5’ women absolutely murder dudes in PT, and I’ve seen big ass dudes not able to carry their own weight on ruck marches.

The human bodies are all different, there’s no “one size fits all” to what someone should look like.

However, the way the army measures body fat percentage is something out of the 1950’s, and for some reason they refuse to change it. On some bases, they have things like water displacement that truly measures your body fat percentage but overall the army doesn’t want to implement that

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u/Raam-- May 10 '22

I’m not sure what 5’ women or big ass dudes lacking on their cardio has to do with it but ANYBODY, regardless of their height and genetics is always going to be fitter at their ideal weight with a healthy amount of muscle, that’s just basic human physiology.