Trying to Shape Up

As a more "mature" Soldier, life has been very interesting.

I say "mature" meaning, "older".

Most of the guys that I am working with are literally about half my age. And because I was out of shape for so long my body is trying to figure out what in the world happened. It probably thinks that this is a case of the "Body Snatchers."

Potential conversation of the body to the brain--"Hey! Who are you and what did you do with the original owner!?!"

We recently started doing road marches again. I say again, because we had stopped due to block leave and other special activities. I asked one of the senior NCOs if he had any suggestions for getting back into it and he said, "well, for me it is a body memory thing. I just throw on the gear and start walking and my body memory kicks in. I just remember road marching." My response was, "yeah, but my body memory is the couch."

So needless to say, road marching and running have been interesting challenges, but I am making it through.

I should explain that this is not like walking through Disneyland in shorts and tennis shoes. You are in full uniform, with a Kevlar helmet, body armor with plates, and a ruck sack. All of it weighs probably around 40-50+ pounds. Typically, when I am done with a road march I have lost about 3-5 pounds of body weight.

I've included a picture of my assistant and I getting ready to head out on one of the current marches. I can say that I think our bodies are starting to make some new memories concerning road marches and ruck packs.