Embarrassed for the Navy...

HaveGun · Dec 21, 2020

Was binge-watching the show Forged in Fire on Netflix last night and they had a US Armed Forced special in which each episode featured four members of the specific branch make knives and then compete. The winner of that episode, then went on to the final show in which the best from each branch competed against the others.

First up was the Army, then Air Force, Navy and then Marines.

When the Navy contenders came out and introduced themselves, they were all tubby and out of shape. No big deal, a few of the other branches had former members that had developed guts. But, the Navy guys were all active duty. WTF?!

A couple of these guys were clearly obese and were currently serving. What the hell happened?

I served from 1988 to 1992 in the US Navy, then from 1994 to 1999 in the US Army National Guard. I remember barely passing my physical because my neck was too thick and I was heavy. 220lbs and 6'2". But I had very little body fat and trained with SEALs on a Crisis Response Team. I was nowhere near out of shape or obese. I stopped at 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups during the test since it was a nice even number, lol.

This was me back then...

Did the Navy relax their standards to the point of letting obese people serve??

BTW, the Navy smith's knives were the worst of all the branches. Totally embarrassing.

chukar · Dec 21, 2020

They need to introduce Crayons to their diet. Trust me, it works!!!

mrblond · Dec 22, 2020

chukar said:
They need to introduce Crayons to their diet. Trust me, it works!!!

then they can crap rainbows

CamoDeafie · Dec 22, 2020

Only Lee looks to have some form of muscles underneath, the rest.. yeesh. And as a shareholder in "morbidly obese BMI, high school football player and track/field (focusing more on field events) category... I can truthfully say.. wow. Three of those dudes don't look like they exercise daily, they look like they're clerks/chefs/office staff..... not combat, not ship workers.. maybe dock workers but the dock workers I see usually have quite a bit of upper body muscle, not like these three where the limbs look rather skinny for the bodies. The worst looking one is Tyler... he looks like he doesn't even lift weights. Elijah might have some fitness, he reminds me of a lot of senior baseball and tennis/racquet/squash players that my dad plays with... Jared.... I'm not sure. He looks like he tries but gives up too easily.

On the other hand.... there's a growing problem with increasingly bigger recruits in the military

US Army. Over in Iraq I believe? Reservist? NG? Read a story about him, he volunteered for jobs nobody wanted to do... at least if thats the same guy in the two pics. Sure does bring up a question of how they'd find a combat shirt to fit him :s0001:

US Marine, from the desert MARPAT uniform.

Mephistopheles · Dec 22, 2020

Question for the Navy guys. When I see photos of US ships in different parts of the world, they all appear to need maintenance. Rust streaks and a general non kept up appearance. Don't recall seeing Navy ships in that condition until recently. Hate to make comparisons, but when you see photos of Chinese Navy ships they are always well kept. US Navy ships used to be impressive.

Ura-Ki · Dec 22, 2020

Mephistopheles said:
Question for the Navy guys. When I see photos of US ships in different parts of the world, they all appear to need maintenance. Rust streaks and a general non kept up appearance. Don't recall seeing Navy ships in that condition until recently. Hate to make comparisons, but when you see photos of Chinese Navy ships they are always well kept. US Navy ships used to be impressive.

During the last year, most of these ships have ether been deployed on extended cruises, or tied along side with the minimal of service to them! While underway, it's hard to keep things clean and fresh looking, and while along side with the rona, the yards are keeping to the minimum's to keeping the ships ready to go, but otherwise leaving them alone! Wanna really be shocked, have a look at the Coasties Cutters, their even worse looking!

Mephistopheles · Dec 22, 2020

Ah, thank you for clearing that up.

JRuby · Dec 23, 2020

Mephistopheles said:
Question for the Navy guys. When I see photos of US ships in different parts of the world, they all appear to need maintenance. Rust streaks and a general non kept up appearance. Don't recall seeing Navy ships in that condition until recently. Hate to make comparisons, but when you see photos of Chinese Navy ships they are always well kept. US Navy ships used to be impressive.

I havent been in the Navy in over twenty eight years. I dont remember our ships as rust buckets. We had seaman deck gangs to keep the ship maintained.