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2018-02-15 -Land of the Free
US Army general says new recruits are not strong enough to throw grenades
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Posted by KBK 2018-02-15 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ]  Top

#1 This is stunning. So is the idea that drill and ceremony, inspections, and history class will cure this situation.
Posted by Roger 2018-02-15 01:12||   2018-02-15 01:12|| Front Page Top

#2 Solution is fairly simple. Set up a plywood board or some such with a typical target painted on it (series of alternating red and white circles). Set it up at 60 feet. have recruits spend a set amount of time everyday throwing baseballs at it.

Eventually they will be able to hit the target. Move target further away (up to 120' or so) as training progress.

For added bonus, cut small hole in middle of target, perhaps twice the size of the baseball or slightly larger. Get ball through hole, get excepted from KP or some such.

Resume normal grenade training after that.

If they cannot complete baseball throwing and hit target in a week, wash them out.

Since baseball viewing and participation is at a serious decline, what other throwing plays can kids do?
Posted by Seeking cure for ignorance 2018-02-15 01:57||   2018-02-15 01:57|| Front Page Top

#3 The American grenade is shaped like a baseball for a reason. Time to change to stick grenades.
Posted by Harcourt Angoluting9366 2018-02-15 02:12||   2018-02-15 02:12|| Front Page Top

#4 FUCK D&C. And Fuck a parade. Go down to the TASC, get training grenades, and take them to the field.

Garrison Army never was and never is a way to win a war. Train on the tasks that save lives.

Many think that basic exercise is the answer. To a point it is. But what really matters is E&E, Tactical driving, shooting, Grenades, running horse trails and train tracks, 12 mile ruck marches, and everything else everyone is exposed to in war.

Boot shiners are for boot lickers and it never taught me discipline. It wasted my time and increased my learning curve.
The real work did not get done.
Posted by newc 2018-02-15 02:17||   2018-02-15 02:17|| Front Page Top

#5 When I was in basic training the grenade throw was a part of the PT test. I believe the distance was sixty feet.

When I go to the PX or the medical facility the men and women I see look more physically fit than did the average draftee in the Middle Paleolithic. They certainly were by the time I retired, and the ones I worked with 2004-2007 certainly were -- and they weren't combat arms.
Posted by Fred 2018-02-15 02:32||   2018-02-15 02:32|| Front Page Top

#6 Harcourt has it at #3. How about a few games of 'Aunt Sally' and we'll call it a day. No loud noises or dangerous bits of iron flying around. Sticks it is !
Posted by Besoeker 2018-02-15 04:46||   2018-02-15 04:46|| Front Page Top

#7 It's all part of a number crunchers idea of how long basic training should be. They try to shove into 90 days the development of a soldier which should take 120 days or more. Something jumps up needing attention and time gets shifted from one 'priority' to another. However, the machine says they have got to move in the production line regardless. The Puzzle Palace doesn't want to hear that Physical Ed has been dropped from a lot of school systems and even when it is still there its been made 'equal'. You know instead of two sets of standards (like your service PT tests), they just go with the lowest common denominator. That means if you want physically qualified soldiers you better well add more time to getting them fit right at basic. Mother nature doesn't care what your plans are, body development and prep are going to go at their own pace. Of course you could add a PT test for application and entry, but I'm pretty sure that would mess up your recruiting numbers (which you destroy careers over).
Posted by Procopius2k 2018-02-15 08:05||   2018-02-15 08:05|| Front Page Top

#8 Some troops can be jacks of all trades --
Berets and big blades and nice shades --
But others, just hatching,
Are better at catching
Than pitching-- er, throwing grenades.

Um... please don't kill me.
Posted by Zenobia Floger6220 2018-02-15 08:20||   2018-02-15 08:20|| Front Page Top

#9 When my kid graduated Marine Boot Camp in 2000, we took him to the San Diego zoo the next day. The kid behind us at the gate wore his USMC uniform. My son said he lost so much weight in basic that none of his civilian clothes fit him anymore.

There might be a lesson for the Army in there, somewhere.
Posted by Bobby 2018-02-15 09:00||   2018-02-15 09:00|| Front Page Top

#10 Maybe they should drop the sensitivity training and focus on push-ups.
Posted by gorb 2018-02-15 09:18||   2018-02-15 09:18|| Front Page Top

#11 Well every body has pretty well covered it. I keep thinking of the Italian gentleman who said of the Pope , "You no palya the game, you no maka the rules."
Posted by Sloluting and Tenille8977 2018-02-15 09:21||   2018-02-15 09:21|| Front Page Top

#12 The perfumed warriors are at it again.

Yep, Phys Ed is now optional in most high schools after the sophomore year. They don't teach phys ed in Junior High School (who came up with this term middle school anyway?). They discourage football and consider baseball hazardous. They charge a fee of a couple of hundred dollars to participate in team sports. They encourage "civilized games" like soccer which does not develop the upper body.

Most young people don't contribute to the family with summer jobs, usually unskilled labor.
Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2018-02-15 09:36||   2018-02-15 09:36|| Front Page Top

#13 Presenting... the Grenadal-Ladle.
Posted by George the Imposter6127 2018-02-15 10:43||   2018-02-15 10:43|| Front Page Top

#14 An atlatl for the modern battle.
Posted by George the Imposter6127 2018-02-15 10:43||   2018-02-15 10:43|| Front Page Top

#15 Dewey Oxberger hardest hit.
.
Posted by OregonGuy  2018-02-15 13:32|| http://oregonguythinks.blogspot.com  2018-02-15 13:32|| Front Page Top

#16 Provide each recruit with a wrist rocket. A man, a plan and a can...
Posted by B. Bluetooth7028 2018-02-15 14:29||   2018-02-15 14:29|| Front Page Top

#17 IF they can't throw the required distance by the end of basic they can always repeat basic.
Posted by rjschwarz 2018-02-15 17:10||   2018-02-15 17:10|| Front Page Top

#18 ....or remove the protective bunker on the grenade range and make it Go-No Go training.

Arguably the most famous and skilled slingers of the ancient world were those from the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean. They underwent similar vigorous training from a very early age. Parents gave a sling to their children as their first toy so that they would become familiar with it as quickly as possible. Once familiarity had been achieved, a piece of bread was placed on a stake in front of the children. The parents withheld food from their children until they could successfully hit the bread and knock it off the stake.

File under - Incentive
Posted by Procopius2k 2018-02-15 17:36||   2018-02-15 17:36|| Front Page Top

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