Regular Army
 

I had the distinct privlige of being invited to run in the Ft Carson Post run today. Similar to many such events I've participated in in both the 82nd adn 101st.....but with one clear difference....

I couldnt believe thenumber of soldiers stopping, sitting on the side of the road......people who appeared to be generally in good health, but lacked the fortitude to complete a 3.5 mile run....

It does give one perspective on how good we accually have it in SF....

mp

Quitters.

Their minds told them to give up before their bodies were spent.

I remember the way the 82nd used to police up stragglers, and it was not pleasant to drop out.

TR

dam, i have never once quit on a run and at least once missed out on "fun" activities because i felt like seeing how far i could go in another 15 minutes. Watching a friend pass me is not an option.

I hate to say this, but the majority of the "fallouts" were ladies......which did provide both entertainment (heckling) and some eye candy from time to time.....

We had the oportunity of running trail, behind every other unit on post, so as the lesser kind gave up they had a long line of alpha males to pass........needless to say, neither male, nor female were cut any slack in this mornings activites......

mp

The other morning we were doing a nice brisk "nature walk" for PT and came across a couple of what appeared to be company size runs. The sad thing was we noticed we were passing the straggling "runners" that had fallen out of to the rear of their formation. A sad sad sight.

Funny thing about running here at altitude for me was I had my best 2-mile time in my career 30 days after showing up.

mffjm, now you know why you guys had to run trail; if you'd been up front setting pace, the majority of the post would've been sitting on the side of the road.

good point Razor.

Razor,

Youre right, I doubt the CG would have like to hear us right behind him. What was funny was that as the units dropped off at their individual start points, the BC kept increasing his pace and the heckling got louder....

partly because of the guidon bearer (MSG Jim Thompson) whom I'm sure you remember........

MOst of the boys were pissed that they had to participate, but like I said earlier, it sure does make you appreciate being in SF

mp

Did they have waterpoints?
 

When I was attending the 18D course at Ft. Sam, they would have these post runs. At every half-mile or so, there would be a water point where you could stop and get a drink of water.

Either I'm getting old or maybe just stupid.

It has never crossed my mind to stop and have a drink of water while running in a PT formation.

LOL - Guy, you crack me up.

In the 82nd, we used to run with telephone pole sized logs.

"Squad Leader - go get me a pole!"

"Airborne First Sergeant!"

Good fun runs at Ft. Sam. 10k with an obstacle course at the end. The run downtown (Alamo?) I LOVE running through leg formations!

Ah the good ole days......in the 82nd

before you had to wear a kevlar east of Grueber rd.......

I remember when doing at least one battalion and another brigade run in division when strippers were laid on to dance at the turnaround point.........

When the BC would pull a beer truck into the BN area on a friday afternoon to reward the troops for a job well done.....

Ending runs at the bear pit down by divarty for a well deserved dip.....one company vs. another.........

not the same army I saw on the street today thats for sure!

mp

I remember a 5 miler we did in OBC that was sponsored by Miller. Eat light the night before, skip breakfast, run your ass off in the GA heat, cross the finish line at Doughboy and then start pounding. :D 'Course, that was when they still had strippers at the Bunker (downstairs at the O-Club). Damn it, I'm too young to remember the 'good old days'!

I can sort of remember those also, but my OBC was in the winter of 65 so the heat never really had any effect then. However pay back became a 12 letter word in the summer during airborne school in GA. I know, you all are going to tell me that those little airborne shuffles were a piece of cake and I am going to agree with you but I was a smart ass 2lt that had the audacity to go to ranger school first and show up at jump school wearing a ranger tab. Now I know Razor doesn't really care for short people but I really consider myself to not be short but just sort of wound up tight. Being wound up tight I caught all sorts of crap and was referred to as "little ranger". There were about 20 of us that had come over directly from ranger school and we decided one day to pay back the black hats and organized a "coup". We grabbed them and threw them in the showers that they so fondly had us wander thru before we did PLFs in the sawdust pits. Now I will agree doing a few laps around the track was nothing but my little group of upstarts were sent to do one lap on all fours around the track to allow us to reflect on the animals we had become. Don't know how far we had gone before Colonel Welch interceded, sort of chewed us out for our "uprising" and then congratulated us for our team work. We were ordered to appear at the O'club after training for a beer on him. The black hats sort of let up on us after that and at graduation the black hat I had ushered into the shower sought me out and pinned my wings on. He stood in front of me and said, damn sir looks like you have grown from "a little ranger" into an "airborne ranger". Didn't take me long, however, to find out that a 2lt, no matter how tall he was, still had a lot of growing to do.

Jack Moroney:D

Alas, by the time I got to Abn School the PT standards had been thoroughly feminized. However, I have no doubt that it wasn't that way when you guys went through.

Hey, how did I get tagged as a midget-hater? I love the little people! :D

Now, PT at Airborne School was not hard by any standard when I attended (1986), but I do remember a seperate formation for women. Med did thier PT and the women did it in a seperate formation, and on one of the longer runs, we lapped them.....

mp