US Navy Considering Wii Fit and DDR For Boot Camp 104
almehdaaol writes "New military recruits are coming in physically heavier and out of shape, so the US Navy has decided to take an interesting course of action by creating a new training regimen inspired by the fitness-centric Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution."
This comes alongside a report confirming some of the BS we told our parents when we were growing up: "Bavelier said playing the kill-or-be-killed games can improve peripheral vision and the ability to see objects at dusk, and the games can even be used to treat amblyopia, or lazy eye, a disorder characterized by indistinct vision in one eye. She said she believes the games can improve math performance and other brain tasks."
Might work (Score:3, Interesting)
Considering that so many young Americans are obese that it's affected our military's ability to recruit, I'd say just about anything may be worth a try.
Fatness in the US has become a threat to national security.
At least with the end of Don't Ask/Don't Tell we might have a better chance of having physically fit people enlist.
Endurance is more than physical ability (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:IN THE NAVY (Score:4, Interesting)
Damn whippersnappers (Score:1, Interesting)
Having one to boot camp in 2003 I was in one of the last old barracks they had where you had to march everywhere it doesn't surprise me that they are having issues getting the new recruits in shape. The new barracks have the mess hall, class rooms and barrack all in the same place so there is almost no marching or traveling on any given day in boot camp and just one PT session a day. So obviously the solution is to play videogames in the barracks and not you know march around during boot camp. Even the end of boot camp test battle stations is all in one building now where before it used to be spread out around the whole base. Truthfully tho being a instructor for future navy nukes Im actually more concerned about the lowered asvab standards then the fatties coming in.
Re:Might work (Score:2, Interesting)
Thank you, Snowman.
It takes a real mensch to step up and provide a citation to back up somebody else's assertion.
I wasn't trying to troll or flame when I made the original comment about the military being concerned about the fitness level of recruits and potential recruits. I've got the absolute highest regard for anyone who has served, or who chooses to serve today.
My dad was in the Army in WWII and fought in the China-Burma Theater. When I hit 18 during the waning years of the Viet Nam conflict, he actually dissuaded me from joining. I had gotten a very high draft lottery number and wasn't going to get drafted, but he found out I'd talked to a recruiter and hit the ceiling. By then, he'd realized that the war in Southeast Asia was nothing like the war he fought in, and anyway, I was on my way to becoming the first child of my family of working-class Italian immigrants to go to college, which was a huge deal for him.
On this Memorial Day, like every Memorial Day, I'll go visit his grave and put a flag on it. I might be a Lefty hippie scum, but I know enough to honor people who have served. When I think about the education I got and the advanced degrees, it's hard for me to forget that there's a good chance somebody went to 'Nam in my place. It's a sobering reminder, and it's why with all the smack-talking and snark I lay out, I never, ever disparage anybody for serving.
Re:What's wrong with regular exercise? (Score:2, Interesting)