Chance of extra PTIs to run this is obviously nil. So, cancel 2 of the 3 lunchtime circuits sessions to offset the extra workload required to provide the compulsary sessions. Net result - a reduction in the total amount of phys undertaken by unit personnel.

Would be funny if it weren't true.

N Joe

Apparently the army is looking at longer and tougher assault courses to improve fitness levels.

There was a delegation from the airforce at the British Synchronised Swimming championships recently so possibly they are looking at a different method of achieving the end result!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joe, re read the posts above. It will be run by PTLs who are trained by PTIs.

Who are these PTLs going to be? Young fit SAC Jockstrap or crusty old C/T Beergut? Or may be Flt Lt PA Spine?

PTL will be a good secondary duty sign me up, personally don't think fitness standards are anywhere near high enough and people would do well to embrace the new initiative.
People are worried about lost man hours from going to the gym instead of working! from the many sections i have seen and worked in over the years there is plenty of time to get to the gym! why are all the t bars full of pool wizards and table footie geniuses?
And you don't have to worry about there not being enough space or equipment in the gym, those great big grass things outside your crew rooms called airfields have miles and miles of lovely roads surrounding them that you can use free of charge all year round!

Bring It On
 

I have to say I was a bit concerned when I heard that the test was changing as I certainly don't get time during my 'normal' working day to get to the gym.

BUT..if the firm are actually going to give me 3 sessions a week to get some phyz in then bring it on! The SLJs can shove where the sun don't shine.....until someone decides they need that all important job done by eh... um... yesterday.

I can't even get time to have lunch away from my desk most days for having to deal with niff naff and triv! So this will be a great distraction.

I hadn't been so fit for about 18 years until I went through the college of knowledge in '05 and all that hard work from a great bunch of PTIs got me in really good shape.....since returning to the line it's all gone a bit Pete Tong! so I welcome the idea......I just hope it works for all of us!

SA :ok:

At Odious someone in handbrake house has quoted 'QR1051' as the authority for squadron commaders to instigate compulsory PT sessions. It doesn't appear that 'those in charge' have even checked the Queens Regulations for the RAF though as 'QR1051' I believe refers to a charge procedure (not that I've ever needed to refer to QR's whilst awaiting a charge of course ;) ).

Oh how Holy some of you are! If you enjoy fizz then it isn't an onerous task, if fizz isn't your bag then it is a real drag. Even when I was fit as the proverbial butcher's dog I still hated it.

The difference in levels between the sexes is laughable and has been successfully challenged in the civil police forces.

If we are supposed to be fit for the task than surely there should be a standard requirement, i.e. ALL personnel should reach the standard, regardless of sex or age! Alternatively, we should be fit for role, again regardless of sex or age. A Grunt needs to be fitter than an Air Trafficer because he plans to spend much of his time in the field running around.

Good on you Todd. Quite right fit to fight is a good mantra and was coined in the 70s.

As the PTL however reflect for a moment the additional work you will have as 'sports monitor.' Will you have an attendance register? Will you check them all out and check them all in? Will you have time to do your own jockstrapping?

It works if there are adequate sanctions to ensure the whole squad turns out on time with late comers being made to repeat the next day.

Will your squad's 3 times per week be 3 sessions or will the sessions spread to 5 days and twice per day?

It would be dead easy if the Army squad running system was used every day but RAF working tends not to work like that. Certainly the Supply or Shed tea bar is a good place to start but you won't find the same in ATC or Ops or the Sqn.

You can't get in to PSF now? Try when they are all out in their sports bras.

Daf Hucker, 'fit for the job'.

We had an AEOp, probably about 18 stone. He could do a mile and a half every 3 months in about 25-30 minutes.

He could also get himself and his nav bag into the aircraft, sit in his seat for 9 hours, monitor the ESM and MAD, and make a round of tea (long lead from his seat) all the while being 'fit for purpose'.

Had we ditched he would probably have survived at least twice as long as the racing snakes, say 15 minutes, as we didn't have immersion suits then.

If it was decreed that he had to do the b:mad: p test then we would have lost a valuable sensor operator either through heart attack or admin discharge.

The acid test is fit for purpose. If it be decreed that an aircraft engineer has to be able to drop tools, pick up a weapon, and advance to contact then he should be trained for the whole package.

If an accounts clerk is to be expected to lock the safe, pack away the pencils, and muster everyone in a shelter then that is what she should be trained for.

If both are required to fill sandbags and build the shelter then ditto.

Without a defined task exactly what level of fitness are they aiming for? Body strength, endurance or burst? You can't have them all.

I remember said AEOp well (now teaching EW in Sleaford). He exemplifies my case entirely, an excellent operator lost to the RAF due to an un- or at least an ill-defined fitness requirement. I haven't seen any explantion as to the dramatic increase in the required fitness levels, it would appear to have been made at the whim of some faceless individual.

I have flown in every major operation the RAF has been involved in over the last 30 years and have never had my fitness to operate questioned, now I find that I have to achieve levels that I haven't been asked to get anywhere near for a considerable time.... 8 years ago I was on a bike, now I am being asked to run as fast/far as a 17 year old girl, if I could do that I would have a considerably younger wife!

Daf Hucker, I doubt you knew him unless it is the one who used to commute weekends Kinloss to St Mawgan where he helped out in his wife's guest house.

As a Master I bet he never went near th ecollege of knowledge but there were many like him.

Brilliant professionals making the kit sing.

That's it!
 

DH

I'm sure that must be a misprint....older fellas run as fast? surely they mean chase after the 17 year old girls?

Now there is an incentive!

SA ;)

Pontius,

I meant Sleaford rather than Sleaford Tech, but it may well be a different individual, in which case the RAF has lost 2 very good operators, trained at great expense and providing excellent service....just a little on the big side!:}

Further, Faster, Fitter?
 

.. or otherwise a different use of 3 'F's.

3 x 50 minutes fitness sessions .. to be .. encouraged ... non-participation will be reflected in the new, all singing JPA (tri-service:eek: ) assessment / confidential reporting system as a negative. A negative will mean that you don't get a pay level increase if one is due.

when will it be taken on board that, by and large, the RAF is not an infantry supply unit. If we are required to achieve infantry standards at fighting, running, digging holes etc we need the training and the training time - something difficult to reconcile with 3 x 4 ships from 7 frames with role changes between. :ugh:

Fit to do your job, worldwide, should be the minimum standard.

My job is now centred on resettlement and eating doughnuts.:ok:

Quote: "These levels were devised and the test developed by Boffins at Loughborough Uni."


And then ignored by Buffoons at HQPTC.:ugh:

Actually Arfur you are talking bo**ocks. THE message from AMP was not what is should have been. Taking fitness in work time WAS NOT MANDATED. Sadly it was down to unit commanders, but if unit commanders mandate it, it cannot be viewed as POLICY. Therefore when you do the required manpower calculations you cannot use MANDATED fitness sessions as contributing to the over all workload. Why? Well it's blatently obvious. If you mandate fitness in Her Majesty's Flying Club you accept that you need more personnel to achieve the task. If you need more personnel then you cannot achieve the bl**dy idiotic manpower ceiling of 40873 (although I may have that wrong by a few, was it 40674?). Mandated fitness (quite correct) equals more diversion which equals more manpower which Errrrr doesn't meet the target so lets ignore the fact we want people to be fitter but don't want them to do it in work time! :ugh: :ugh:

Maybe it's a new savings measure - The Royal Air Force Red Speedos! :}

:cool:

TOG

Every time the jockstrappers start off with this bull they avoid the question why different levels for the girls and boys if it's all about operational requirements? Surely the ability to rough-it out in the field or run away bravely requires the same standards for all?

Case in point, young Maple pre Nazi fitness test, lugs LMG around like a good-un during tacevals, Maple's babeluscious friend, same age, complains the SMG is too heavy and can't keep up. Who is operationally fitter?

Fast forward 20 years, Maple can still outrun said girly, even if lumbered with GPMG but fails fitness test at level x for 38 YO bloke. Madam is only required to pass FT at level x-y so is fitter according to decidedly non-op PTIs, but now has problems shifting self, SA80 and kit more than a few yards.

Apart from the obvious charms of young lady who would you rather have in your improvised fire team?

Now to answer a few points from a wannabee PTI

Dunno what section/flight you worked in, it was always the sports freaks off sick with a strained metatarsal or some other nonce excuse

Proof? Or propaganda?

So that's why sportsmen need to high altitude train to play netball on Mt Kilimanjaro but the RAF are happy there is no requirement for same when dispatching unfortunates to Kandahar?

Er, except racing snakes are the first to fall out in extreme cold so NOT FACT


Woopie doo, spot the sweeping generalisation, are you Rosemary Conley? - Ever been on real ops where the choice is compo or compo?

But failing the RAFFT doesn’t mean you immediately reach for the B&H so an irrelevant observation.

Apart from that what Pontius Navigator said

I think it ironic that having gone up 3 age levels, I will be required to attain 1 level higher than when I was 21.

However, that isn't my point. Taken in isolation, this isn't an overwhelmingly unreasonable request from our lords and masters. What I object to is the timing.

During the busiest time the Armed Forces have had in several decades, the RAF have decided to change everything at the same time.

Fitness testing, pay and conditions, EO, kitting, working practices, lean and pulse, JPA, technician rank structure, rank badges, terms of engagement, blah blah blah.

People do not know whether they are coming or going. For Christ's sake, leave us alone for 12 months to get to grips with the stuff that's already changed.

The goalposts never stop moving, the hoops never stop rising, the beat never slows and the tempo never subsides.

Why are people leaving?.....................

Was it Bastard Bill who decreed that Strike was to stop for a year? No inpections except mandatory ones, no tacevals, minivals etc just mark time and catch up?

Sorry week after next it is no longer Strike. Still nothing on the Strike Web but then the January bulletin has only just hit the streets and the website was last updated last month.