AT what era would one consider the average army infantryman/marine at it's height in terms of motivation, training and physical fitness?
AT what era would one consider the average army infantryman/marine at it's height in terms of motivation, training and physical fitness?
For the US, probably somewhere between Nam and your picrel. Modern are fatass DEI hires with reduced and ignored standards, from WW2 through were a bunch of scrawny malnourished 17 year olds, and macho man body building culture with enough time and inclination to do it probably didn't happen until the 70s to 80s on. There weren't any major wars between Nam and GWOT so the force wasn't as open to anyone looking to join, standards hadn't lapsed yet, and people were fed well enough from childhood to be fit. I'm guessing mid cold war era.
>body building
The macho man looks great on TV, but the scrawny lanklets of WW2 were more manly. Grandpa killed 300 japs then came home, raised a family and ran a successful small business.
Cletus the Cold Warrior came home from Persian Gulf 1 with fetal alcohol syndrome and PTSD from seeing a dead body.
More manly for sure, but I don't think naturally more fit, just due to the malnourishment depression era kids faced
>Muh DEI
We get it, you're a MEPS reject.
To answer your question, OP, I'd say current day infantrymen, especially Marines are pretty fit dudes. You can't do the job without it, but as far as motivation goes, I'd say those first days after the invasion of Afghanistan and later Iraq. That was the peak, and most of the men I was lucky enough to call my leadership came from that era.
Its okay Sharkeisha, doing half the sit-ups and getting an extra 20 minutes in the 2 mile means you're "just as good" as the boys
you don't know anything
you have never served
>Brain broken moron resorts to arguing with people in his head when calles out.
Kek
Just a reminder, the maximum number of pushups the US Army Infantry scored in WWII is close to the minimum now.
>For the US, probably somewhere between Nam and your picrel
The 70’s and 80’s were notorious for low morale and low standards within the entire US military you tremendous homosexual
Either the era pictured, or during post 9/11 bloodlust depending on how weighted the results are towards motivation
I remember seeing this picture and thinking those guys look muscular wtf
they have "enough" muscles, any more than that is excessive
look at their legs
No one has noticed the guy has his mag upside down.
It's another mag taped to the one he's using.
>physical fitness
The time before vehicles since they had to walk everywhere.
id consider whereever the least amount of soldiers died, so current times as much as it sucks to hear.
like 10000 soldiers lost over nearly 30 years is like insanely low mortality.
Probably the 1890s during the Spanish-American war
>minimal mechanization meaning everyone had to walk everywhere
>larger supply of fresh rations versus pre-made stuff that would become more commonplace later
>remember the Spain
>peak American exceptionalism, nobody knew or cared much about other countries
>Spain helped the U.S fight the brits and become independent.
>The U.S pays back with a war of annexation
Why were the US such a bunch of sneaky little perfidious pirates?
In terms of physical fitness, Pre-1914 to 1915 infantry.
>born to a life of physical outdoor labour
>jine the bloody inf’try
>pass uncompromising screening that weeded out bad teeth, bad eyes, bad feet, weak lungs, and pretty much every condition you can think of as 19th century armies were terrified of illnesses crippling their troops (legacy of Crimea, Napoleonic Wars, colonial adventures)
>training is nothing but physical activity. Even daily chores are physical as there is no machine or device to do the work for you
>war begins: fight a 40 day retreat/offensive marching upwards of 40km a day, fighting pitched battles the whole time while carrying 60lbs of gear, ending each day by digging a trench for tomorrow.
>rinse and repeat for the race to the sea.
Pic related is the kind of man who was being drafted/volunteering. Great-Grandpa was not doing gay crossfit routines, zyn and roids to get that physique.
>are you gaining, son?
>you want me to live in a muddy hole for 3 years sucking in chlorine gas between bayonet charges? Sounds good.
People seem like they were happier back then, at lest in North America.
Kek, the amount of anons itt who have never even been near a modern day infantry plt. Fitness standards in a modern day US Inf plt probably exceeds every previous standard.
>Fitness standards in a modern day US Inf plt probably exceeds every previous standard.
Absolutely. All these frickers are neverserves. There were no fitness standards until like the 1930's. Whoever could put on a pack and walk was good enough. And today with modern medicine, nutrition, and physical training our troops are in the best shape ever.
They might not be as motivated as WWII troops, but they are certainly trained and fit.
>Fitness standards in a modern day US Inf plt probably exceeds every previous standard.
This. I don’t think they even had a standardized physical fitness test until like the 90’s. I’d be shocked if the average infantryman of the Vietnam era could do even 50 pushups.
>I don’t think they even had a standardized physical fitness test until like the 90’s.
There was a PT test as early as WW2
Those are Rangers, not "average army infantrymen"