Fitness, Exhaustion, Injury

 For the first ten years in the Air Force....my fitness level....on a scale of one-to-ten....probably was a '4'.  I jogged a 1-to-1.5 miles twice a week, lifted weights for 20 minutes once a week, and did 30 sit-ups a week.  

About a year after arriving in Tucson...I moved my fitness-level  to a  '7'.  I was jogging 3 miles five times  a week, lifting weights twice a week (20-minutes) and doing 30 sit-ups/30 push-ups five times a week.

About six months into this....I started to have 'problems'.  Eventually, I went to the base clinic, and they immediately referred me to the base 'sports' doctor.  They'd actually gone out and hired someone with the credentials.  

She wanted me to bring in my jogging shoes.  We got into this chat.

Looking at the monthly mileage....my $65 tennis shoes couldn't last more than two months.  She said I'd have to go toward higher quality shoes ($120 a whack).  Even then....she was suggesting a new pair every six to nine months.

She dragged me to other weight machines....to lessen anything on back muscle use.

Then we got onto this odd topic.  The Air Force....up to the mid-1980s....had a yearly average for knee problems, hip replacement, etc.  All this hyped-up athletic BS?  By the late 1980s....they were now seeing an average of twenty people a year (from the base) who needed orthoepic surgery.   

Her job?  Basically to reroute people to lesser intensity and cut the surgical situations.

These people averaging 90 miles or more....jogging....monthly?  They were in her 'at-risk' category.

I noticed this AM....new SECDEF put the order out....the Marine PT test standards are now being issued across to the Army, Air Force and Navy.  1.5-mile run?  Out....Marines run a 3-mile test.

I would imagine at least 20,000 Air Force folks (officers and enlisted) are looking at this and shaking their head.  They are going to work on this 'feat' but casually add pages to their medical records....sports-related injuries.  Within a year or two....disability recommendations will be drafted and most of these people will pursue an exit, with disability pensions.

It'll take two years but eventually the Pentagon will admit the physical test change....might have not been that smart.