>>PT in the army in IET (Basic and advanced training) is pretty wimpy. It is mainly geared to the nintendo generation. If you are in any kind of shape it's easy now. Once you get to a unit, it is a whole different story. If it's a REMF unit, the PT is as hard as you want it to be (5x/week, but easy). Line units, however, do REAL pt, and then you have the usual one upsmanship in the gym in the afternoons.<< I hate to be y, but IET pt would be a piece of cake. Line PT will be hard for me because I am into Powerlifting and avoid high rep pushups and high rep situps (high rep exercises in general). How do you do high rep pushups, situps, chinups, + running and still make gains in the gym?

miss the snow? he he you must be kidding. it's 86 degrees here each and every day. i sort of liked the powdery snow ("la poudrerie" in quebecois) but once it gets wet and the wind comes off the St. Laurent ayayay! bad memories!

hi ver. just a couple of comments. 1)not knowing french history(little intrest)is irrevelant to the fact that france did not and could not defeat germany. Historical fact. 2)Even with british help and some belgium help, france still could not defeat germany-though a good percentage of the germany army was fighting the russains till mid 1917. 3)France did not win ww1. The ALLIES won. Historical fact. "French soldiers were top notch on the battlefied." -Yeah they demonstrated that during their failed offensives. They demonstrated that in a much higher casualty figure. They especially demonstrated that in their 1917 revolt that almost brought the total collapse of france-which would have happened if not proped up by Britian- -though most of the french ineptness was found at the command level(and their disreguard for their soldiers lives in many instances(thus the failed offensives in which 100s of thousands were needlessly killed), it trickled down hill and pooled up and the basic soldier level It is true the marines/usarmy did not enter until 1918(well, 1917 arrived or so), but as both sides were exhausted, it was their entry/freshness that pushed germany(and her population tiring of war/navy revolt)to final surrender. so in a sense, they us military(and thus marines) did in a few months what france and britian and partially italy could not do in 4 yrs..... Have all the pride you want....just temper it with a little reality..........

"They especially demonstrated that in their 1917 revolt that almost brought the total collapse of france" This mutiny wasn't so big. It was very limited to a few companies. "It is true the marines/usarmy did not enter until 1918(well, 1917 arrived or so), but as both sides were exhausted, it was their entry/freshness that pushed germany(and her population tiring of war/navy revolt)to final surrender. so in a sense, they us military(and thus marines) did in a few months what france and britian and partially italy could not do in 4 yrs....." As JIMF said, the impact of US troops was maily psychological. It made French and British more confident, and opposingly made the Germans conscious of their bad situation. Criticizing the WWI French soldier is equal to piss on the French flag. So f*ck yourself schweinhund.

24000 french troops were tried and found guilty of desertion. There must be one hell of a lot of grognards in each of your companies! 30K walked off the lines, most of the army refused to follow orders. That's not a few companies.

you should probably go back and do some reading about ww1 man. your version of things is out of touch with reality.

They did not refuse to obey orders. They refused to launch attacks on the Germans. They mostly stayed at their posts and continued to operate defensively. IIRC, Verdun was the centre of the unrest. Go away and read up on what the Poilus had to suffer, not only in casualties, which were huge, but also in the lack of relief from the front line.

>>you should probably go back and do some reading about ww1 man. your version of things is out of touch with reality.<< Who cares? France sucks :) Seriously, I was wrong...I apologize.

Chateau Thierry and Belleau Wood, where the U.S. Army and Marines fought their initial engagements, are just down the road from Paris in the Marne Valley. GOP can apologize if he wants, though I don't know why he should. He's right. Go check your history, and perhaps a map. French/British troops were superb. They had to be in order to overcome the abysmal generalship underwhich both suffered. Thank God that Blackjack Pershing had the good sense to resist all those attempts to highjack our troops and place them under your flags. Without American troops, serving under our flag, France/England lose and their isn't any W.W.II. Like it or not, that's the reality.

>>GOP can apologize if he wants, though I don't know why he should<< I've been tricked by the Canadian! I hereby retract my apology from the record. I am >always< correct :) Seriously, I have no idea about WW1 (other than popular and possible myth you hear about in the US)...so, I could have been wrong.