Obviously the couch-potato lobby is holding sway - led by those who drive from the 400 yds from the patch/mess on a daily basis.........time to end rant
Not at all. If you had read my earlier post, I said I was all for people getting away for AT/sport and that it was a good way of stopping half the sqn killing each other before 10am on a Monday morning. What I just don't see why when we are massively overstretched and on permanent ops, and are likely to be so for the next few years, we are letting people slope off to go and spend 3 years training to be Britain's next macramy champion.
I can just see it now: Gulf War 3, the road to Tehran and I'm stuck on ops with someone that hasn't got a clue which is the right end of a rifle - but he takes a mean corner kick and can complete the Cresta Run in record breaking time. Fat lot of good that will do us.
There is a distinction between getting away for AT/sport/general phys and kicking the arse out of it for a tour when we are as busy as we are. Shame some people can't see that - I'd love to be a fly on the wall when they are working on ops with said Cresta Run expert when it all goes horribly wrong!