Army
Newslinks
Army Basic Training Adopts New Ab-Blasting Routine
Rolling out this month at Army Basic Training installations around the country: A whole new workout. Out — five mile runs and bayonet drills. In — core-strengthening twists and zigzag sprints. "We don't run five miles in combat, but you run across the street every day. I'm not training long-distance runners. I'm training warriors," says Frank Palkoska, head of the Army's Fitness School at Fort Jackson.
Wake Up Call
On War and Peace
Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.
Spc. David Kocian, a human resources specialist in the Pennsylvania National Guard's 28th Combat Aviation Brigade, teaches a yoga class at Camp Adder, Iraq.
Stay Calm
Army Trying Desperately to Chill Out
In the face of rising suicide rates and rampant post-traumatic stress syndrome, the U.S. Army has decided it needs to do something. So, the Pentagon has spent $117 million on a "mental fitness" program, reports The Times, to teach soldiers how to de-stress. The program is "modeled on techniques that have been tested mainly in middle schools." Gulp. I'd be having Orwellian nightmares if the thing wasn't so naive and idealistic. Think soldiers in a fatigues in a class room doing role playing exercises. At the heart of the method is the belief that "mentally disputing unexamined thoughts and assumptions often defuses them." Inferring from the choice of quotes, I sense The Times too is a bit dubious...
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