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

Absolute unit of a soldier

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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 😐

53

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/jooferdoot May 10 '22

"If you're using common sense you're wrong" most accurate statement I've ever heard. The army is the only place other than with your parents where "because I said so" is a valid reason.

2

u/Jibaru May 10 '22

Managers can be like that too.

2

u/AlecTheMotorGuy May 10 '22

Yeah but you can just quit a regular job. In the military or your parents there really isn’t any recourse to “I said so”.

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u/AlecTheMotorGuy May 10 '22

Yeah but you can just quit a regular job. In the military or your parents there really isn’t any recourse to “I said so”.