Reply With QuoteWell, that's not the best idea in the world, particularly lately.
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Lifting in the military
Hey all, I am thinking of joing the millitary (us), I just wanted to ask, if anyone on this fourum who has served can talk about their experience with being able to train. I'm looking at infantry. How much time would you have? If you cant because your in the field or something, how can this situation be worked around? Thanks!
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Well, that's not the best idea in the world, particularly lately.
Start by searching: Starting Strength
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Originally Posted by Levin
Levin,
I served in the USAF from 2002-2006 and served overseas as a security contractor for the US Government in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2006-2013.
I cant speak on any specific training program such as the Starting Strength Program as I'm new to the program myself, (1 month in). However I feel confident in my experience to answering your questions as far as training in general no matter the program while serving in the US Military.
1. No matter the program you will have almost no window of time to train esp. while in Basic Training and your early stages of your career. After Basic Training, you will be going to Advance Infantry School, Airborne etc. Keep in mind, you belong to the Government specifically the DoD (Department of Defense) which the US Military (all branches) fall under. When you sign that dotted line and go through the hiring phase and ship off to Basic Training you owe them first, then what ever time is left (albeit very little) is then your time.
2. However, there will be a time in your career phase that eventually "your time vs their time" will start to balance out (depending on career). For infantry, after you completed Basic Training, Advance Infantry School, Airborne, etc. you will finally be given a duty station. From there, once you settle in to your unit, you will find that you will have more time to start a program of your choice. However there will be group PT usually in the mornings etc. that you still need to attend. This and any other mandatory group trainings, events, meetings etc. will require you to ensure you balance your Military Expectations first. Like I stated before, you belong to the Government, so they get what they want out of you first, then what's left of the pie (down time) is yours.
3. Right now we are in what's called "Peace Time" (which I admit, that term is debatable) but I nor anyone else can promise how long that maybe until another major conflict breaks out where you (esp. being infantry) will be deployed, and deployed a lot. This also means more training to prepare you for deployments. When this happens, your program might and very much will be interrupted, and or stopped all together.
In summary, if you do decided to take that step forward and serve your Country (which is something to be proud of) just know that any program training might be better trained and followed AFTER you get done with your basic trainings and assigned to your Unit/Duty Station. If you try and get this done before then, you will find a lot of times its not possible and or not allowed. So wait till then.
Good Luck!
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That will depend on what career field you choose to enter or the service puts you in. For me and 20 years EOD, I was subject to being on call for emergency and after hours response up to one week out of the month and spent a fair amount of my career traveling on temporary duty away from home for 1-2 weeks a month, clearing bombing ranges and other stuff. By the end of the day you are often quite fatigued and being able to maintain a regular diet to accomodate training is very difficult. So it's quite possible you could realize up to 60-75% "their" time vs 25% "your" time. Also, regarding traveling, no hotels had any gym equipment outside of aerobic equipment and sometimes a pool for decent cardio, and the remote living accommodations often didn't have anything. Best I had at our regular TDY station on the bombing range only had a 1970's era Universal machine setup even into the 1990's.
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Steve,
Thank you for your service! EOD is one of those careers that I could never do, so sincerely thank you!
Also great points all around. I didn't think of mentioning the copious amounts of TDY assignments and the Hotels or crappy off site lodging they put you in. In summary, I agree, pending on what career path one is in, and how busy their Unit Tempo is, will determine what kind of program one can follow.
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Thanks Dash, that was a lifetime ago though, I was much younger and dumber, and thought I was bulletproof then... When I hit 40 and retired I discovered I wasn't, and now at 63 I'm wishing I'd chosen another path.
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