SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!!
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: Dayuhan who wrote (33247)3/24/1999 4:09:00 AM
From: nihil  Read Replies (1) of 108807
 
As to American physical conditioning there is no question in my mind that we are far fitter and in better health than ever before. Physical turn downs in the first world war I read were very high, as in world war II (after the poverty of the Great Depression). A look at pictures of shirtless soldiers and marines in World War II suggest that no one had even seen a set of weights.
I remember my first sight of hundreds of naked young men in college swimming class. Not a very pretty sight, and these were among the richest and best-off youth in America. Pity the nude photographs were destroyed, because I am convinced young men are much healthier and stronger now. The next mass nudity was in pre-induction in 1952. The man in front of me couldn't straiten his right arm, the man two places in front of him had one lung destroyed by tuberculosis, and the man behind me had been kicked out of the service for unfitness in 45 and was an alcoholic. The last three of us were drafted. My platoon in Marine boot camp at Parris Island, mostly draftees, were walking wounded when we started. Little obesity (which one would find lots of today). Many of them got their first glasses and had their teeth fixed for the first time. When the Marines started requiring a 50 mile march, many could not complete it, especially the old fat master sergeants who had spent 4 years in Japanese prison camps, and some in my battalion, the most elite in the Corps (we thought), couldn't complete a 10 mile march. Today's Marines would have laughed us to scorn.
There is no question that there are 1000 times as many people who could complete a 3 hour marathon as 50 years ago. I remember in the 1930's we considered a two-miler a "distance man."
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News