It's a real shame that these fat useless biffs cannot be simply thrown out of the service on the say-so of a gym-poser who has cast his well-trained eye over them in his lunch break and decided that they cannot do a job that is so physically undemanding it could be done by his mum.
They are clearly setting a terrible example by whiling away the years in the easy-life world of an SH crewman. If life still isn't easy enough they could then get one of the dodgy sick chits that are regularly issued to 40+ yr old crewmen - allowing the feigning of a crocked back, neck or knees; injuries that must be consistently faked as they would never occur to any gym-poser in the same undemanding job. The final tactic to crown their career of nest-feathering is to obtain one of those Christmas-cracker CFS(H) qualifications, allowing them to pass on years of experience in malingering to the next generation trainee slackers. Ideally they would set such a bad example that any BBC documentary featuring their former students engaged in operational flying would reveal the lazy ethos that they have passed on and result in a badly-received expose of poor practices in the SH world.
We are all aware of the health issues of being over-weight and the service is quite right to promote a healthy lifestyle. I have no objection to those that enjoy "phys" encouraging those that don't to be a little more active - perhaps by setting their own good example. However, in our business of delivering airpower I have seen plenty of "tubbys" be far more effective at flying or servicing aircraft than their gym-loving colleagues. I am not saying that fat = competent, but I have enough experience to disbelieve any claim that fat = less effective than thin.
GW - Your attitude is holier-than-thou and you are making a snap judgement on people who have probably seen and done more than you. In passing on their skills and experience they are invaluable and they are having a direct effect on frontline ops in Telic and Herrick. You should try showing a little respect instead of scorn.
The "warfighter first, specialist second" policy is wrong. We are specialists - that's why the independant air force was created. A Harrier Chief Tech delivers airpower by ensuring that the ac are serviceable to fight the war. A Chinook crewman delivers airpower by supervising the ac load, monitoring the flightpath, operating the weapons etc. Yes - there are some basic military skills that we all need and these become more important in jobs that work in harness with the Army, but the cart is starting to come before the horse. Do we think that 617 Sqn in 1943 tried to be as fit as the Ox and Bucks Lt Inf - or did they simply drink beer, smoke tabs and kill Germans?