Adam Lauritzen: Strength in Combat, A History Lesson

[Mark Rippetoe]

Starting Strength

[Aryah]

Nice article, thanks for posting.

I have a friend who was in the British army who took RPG shrapnel to the stomach and subsequently proceeded to storm the enemy line and kill three of them before allowing himself to be evacuated. He's strong guy. Hernias stop him from duty now though.

Whenever he tells the story he tells how when his commanding officer checked the injuries -- in proximity with his groin -- he said, "I have bad news! Your dick is still small!" Lol.

[Charlocity2]

Thank you for such a well-written article, Adam. It was a history lesson, indeed.

Combat engineer, eh? So was my son. 1371 was his MOS when he got to the fleet. (He's on to his B billet now).

Did you see the Corps body composition standards ever get in the way of Marines that were legit strong? From the outside looking in, I wonder if the bodyweight limits by height (and subsequent taping of the neck and abdomen if they're over them, for the body fat estimate) are like BMI in that they can pigeon hole strong people as "fat" or "obese". There might also be people within the bodyweight limits that are "skinny-fat" that skate by.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Thanks to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit for the post: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/220989/

[CJ Gotcher]

That's motivational as hell, Adam. Great write-up.

[Adam Lauritzen]

I consider myself fortunate to have dodged that bullet. I understand "Needs of the Marine Corps" but I loved my job in the fleet. With regard to the body composition program, I always had to be taped but met the standard with a first class PFT. I think the weight limits are pretty silly (my max was 176 lbs, which I routinely exceeded). Strong guys usually were fine if they crushed the PFT. The chart they used took height and weight, then a waist girth minus the neck girth and abracadabra! your body fat percentage without question. So being a fat ass with a fat neck was the way chunky butts got by, but they could be assigned to physical conditioning platoon anyway at the commander's discretion. Sadly if you were skinny fat and weak there was no program to make you not weak like there was for fat kids to get skinny. They really only cared if you looked bad in uniform or failed a PFT, making the leadership look bad.

[djsilvera]

Thanks, Adam. Great quote: "While our technology gives us an advantage, wars are won by people on the ground. Those people on the ground need to be strong enough to beat an enemy combatant to death with his own weapon if necessary."

[Hatch]

Sadly if you were skinny fat and weak there was no program to make you not weak like there was for fat kids to get skinny. They really only cared if you looked bad in uniform or failed a PFT, making the leadership look bad.

And I thought we in the AF were the only ones who put skinny in top priority. I can see why the AF doesn't think they need me strong as a pilot but I always assumed Marines just lifted all day and then went to the range to shoot.

[Charlocity2]

And I thought we in the AF were the only ones who put skinny in top priority. I can see why the AF doesn't think they need me strong as a pilot but I always assumed Marines just lifted all day and then went to the range to shoot.

I'm told "Terminal Lance" is an accurate portrayal of a Marine's day to day, if you haven't had the pleasure yet.

[Adam Lauritzen]

Hatch, you have just described the Marine wet dream. I would agree that Terminal Lance has the most accurate description of junior Marine life in the ground combat element.