July 1,
2008: The U.S. Army is changing its
physical training (PT) to more closely reflect the needs of combat. Instead of
long distance running, sit-ups and push-ups, the new training emphasizes
sprinting, agility and the kind of strength needed to carry weapons and equipment
in combat. The new training also uses a twelve month physical training cycle
that peaks when troops are deploying to a combat zone, or, in peacetime, doing
a year or more of "ready for deployment" status.
The more
advanced stages of the new physical training has troops doing the drills in
full combat equipment. That won't be a problem, because the exercises they will
be doing are the same kinds of moves they will make in combat.
All this
is not a new idea. It first showed up over sixty years ago, during World War
II, when army surveys of troops showed that combat veterans wish their training
had emphasized more physical training, and more realistic physical training.
The brass didn't get it back then, and after several more attempts, the combat
troops have finally gotten physical training that prepares them for combat.
The new
physical training manual is being boiled down from 645 pages to a hundred
pages, and will be distributed by mid-2009.
