Military Contractors

[Hamma]

That seems like a pretty cool job you have FF. I will have to track down that Frontline episode :d

[Firefly]

Let me see if I can find it on eMule.

EDIT:
Got it.

[Giovanni]

What I'm wondering is...

The danger, is it much more present? You barely hear about Merc casualties (aside from time to time like the blackwater ops)... what is it...? Bad press coverage? Better equipement?

Hell, if the casualties are so low that we barely hear about them... why the fuck should I stay for more then 5-6 years in the army?

[Firefly]

Originally Posted by Giovanni

What I'm wondering is...

The danger, is it much more present? You barely hear about Merc casualties (aside from time to time like the blackwater ops)... what is it...? Bad press coverage? Better equipement?

Hell, if the casualties are so low that we barely hear about them... why the fuck should I stay for more then 5-6 years in the army?

The danger is much greater for contractors. Military contractors are not protected by the Geneva Convention because they are not classified as combatants. Contractors do the jobs that soldiers can't, won't, or aren't allowed to do. It's a Catch-22. You get paid filthy lucre, but if you're caught, you can kiss it goodbye. Most of the people that have been captured by "insurgents" in Iraq are contractors.

The casualty rates are not publically made clear, because they aren't soldiers and so nobody gives a shit unless it's like a butcher job. However, you hear about them all the time. When they say a bomb went off and killed 30 people and 3 US soldiers, a percentage of those 30 people most likely are contractors.

Guys in this line of work usually work a contract or two every year, and spend the rest of the time either investing some of the money to make more money, or they live comfortably within their means and spend their free time fishing, chasing tail, etc. Me personally, I like to write. Working on a novel, and working part-time as a health & wellness consultant for a marketing company.

[Firefly]

Hamma - I am almost done with obtaining the PBS documentary. It's a 700Mb file. How would you like to get it?

[Giovanni]

If you have any ressources aside from the documentary (I'll get it myself) I'd like to read up on that.

Also since I'm starting training up I could use some pointers... I need to be in shape for my phys test to be accepted in the infantry... I'm more or less out of shape...

I can do about 16-17 push-ups, 20 sit-ups and I run a mile in about 10:45-10:50. Sucks I know... used to be better a couple of months ago but I got lazy thanks to my bitc.... erm girlfriend.

If you don't mind that is! If you don't go ahead and post it or send me a PM I'd appreciate it.

[Firefly]

I don't know about the Canadian military, but for the US Army, we had to do a minimum amount of pushups and situps to get in the door. At our inprocessing station for Basic Training, they'd have us come up on a stage and do our sets in small groups. They then get you in shape. If you're already there, then you're good to go.

As I said, I'm not familiar with the Canadian physical fitness requirements. So the best thing to do is ask your recruitment personnel and get that information. You want to be able to at least meet their minimum passing standards for a physical fitness test, presuming they have one. That way, you're at least able to do the minimum and then you can only improve from there, and it makes you look better.

[Hamma]

Originally Posted by Firefly

Hamma - I am almost done with obtaining the PBS documentary. It's a 700Mb file. How would you like to get it?

hmm I have no idea

[Firefly]

Do you have an FTP section? Alternately, I might be able to fit it on the BWC website until you've finished.

[Giovanni]

The minimal requirements are 19 push-ups (with your arms parrallel to your body), 19 sit-ups, 11:13 minimal 2.4km run and 75 pounds of hand grips... wether it be 40 from one hand and 35 from the other... I'm not too sure about the two last one and the push-ups.... sit ups aren't that hard but geez am I out of shape.

[Rbstr]

Originally Posted by Giovanni

The minimal requirements are 19 push-ups (with your arms parrallel to your body)

How the hell does that kind of push up work?! Are you standing on you head?

Do you mean perpendicular?

[Setari]

He means that you go down far enough to make the upper arms parallel to your body.

[Firefly]

Most likely, he means "parallel to the ground".

Those are some pretty low requirements. Is that just for initial entry testing, or is that standard for the minimum Physical Fitness test? For the US Army, your average 18 year old had to do 42 push-ups, 50-some situps (I forget the number), and run 2 miles (3.2-ish km) in 15min 56sec. Your 2.4km is just a few dozen meters shy of 1.5 miles, FYI.

Those were the minimum passing standards, 60% of the max graded. Some units would increase their standards, requiring 65 - 70%. If you didn't make their higher standards, you'd do special sessions of PT (read as: extra sessions) until you hit their standard. In the Ranger battalions, you were considered "PT Failure" if you were less than 80% and you were subject to dismissal - you could be sent to a "leg" unit.

[Giovanni]

It's just initial entry testing I believe. And as for the push ups... your arms have to be stuck to your side. Upper arms against your body (not pushed outwards like regular push-ups).

[Firefly]

That's a little different. There are generally three accepted types of push-ups - the close-hand (which is nearly what you're describing), the regular push-up, which is slightly wider than you're describing with the difference being, your arms bend slightly outwards rather than folding along your body, and wide-arm, where your arms form a right angle so that, when you're lowered to the ground, the upper arms jut away parallel to the ground then form a right angle and go straight to the ground.

Close-arms suck because you generally don't develop those muscles during push-ups unless you specifically target them. So they're a bit harder to do, but worth the effort. You're using the full strength of your arms versus your body weight. If you want to develop your arms, this is what you need to focus on.

Wide-arms offer an easy alternative if you've hit your peak and find yourself winding down. After a brief stall by adjusting your hands to redistribute the weight, you can crank out a few more and increase your score. Alternately, you can also catch your second wind and then go back to regular style, if you can psyche yourself into thinking you're back on track.

When you do them, remember to breathe. Keep your head up, don't stare at the ground. Find a fixed point and stare at it, and zone out. If your grader gives you shit, don't argue - just make the adjustments, otherwise you waste time and energy on a fuckface that doesn't deserve it. Don't slow down, either. Crank 'em out. The key to pushups is, don't fuck around and dilly-dally. There's no such thing as pacing yourself on pushups and situps. You knock them out, because once your momentum is gone, there is no "stride". Do them as quickly as possible, but do them correctly. Depending on your physical fitness grader, you might be able to get away with breaking the form a bit. Normally, though, a proper grader is going to watch your form - back straight, feet no more than shoulder-width apart, hands don't leave the ground, belly cannot touch the ground (I cheat and bounce myself off the ground because I'm a big boy like that). I've heard stories about hard-ass graders that put their hand under you, on the ground, and if you touch then you don't get that one counted. Never seen it, though. That's an asshole thing to do, even I'm not that big of a dick.