By Chief Mass Communication Specialist (SW) Maria Yager, Navy Personnel Command Public Affairs MILLINGTON, Tenn. (NNS) -- Results from the 2009 Navy Physical Readiness Quick Poll released Dec. 10, reveal positive fitness perceptions among Sailors. Navy Personal Readiness and Community Support (N135) sponsored the poll designed to assess perceptions of the command physical readiness program resources and personal physical readiness. "Overall the results were good. The Quick Poll results provided us with valuable input directly from our Sailors that we can use to make our program even better," said Bill Moore, director of the Navy's Physical Readiness Program, which falls under N135. According to the poll, more than 85 percent of respondents report they have adequate access to physical fitness facilities and equipment, primarily at their duty station. The majority of Sailors report they are satisfied with the amount of time provided at work for physical training. The poll also indicated that more than 50 percent of Sailors are satisfied with the physical education resources provided by the Navy; however, this is an area Moore seeks to improve. "Since the Quick Poll, we've restructured our physical readiness program Web site to include videos, checklists, a how-to guide for the conduct of the physical fitness test, the Fitness Enhancement Program Guide and an up-to-date nutrition guide. Physical Readiness Program E-Grams have been created to give Command Fitness Leaders current information and tools," said Moore. "I want to ensure our Web site is the definitive source for the full scope of information commands, Sailors and their families need to promote healthy lifestyles." The poll also shows Sailors are leading healthier lifestyles. Nearly 80 percent of Sailors report they always or sometimes make fitness a part of their daily routine. "It's more of a lifestyle. From everything I eat to the way I walk to and from and around the ship," said Fire Controlman 2nd Class (SW) Mark Delgadillo, assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). In addition to his workout, Delgadillo walks briskly when transiting the ship, which is currently undergoing a major overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash. "It takes little things like that throughout the day to stay fit in the environment the ship is in," he added. Command support for fitness was another topic explored in the poll. It found that leaders are setting the tone for their Sailors. More than two-thirds of Sailors report their command leadership supports physical training, leads by example when it comes to physical readiness, and reflects the image of a physically fit Sailor. "We do have a very active PT program here. We do command PT twice a week. Everyone from the CO on down attends and all really enjoy the program. On our most recent PFA we had 40 percent of the command score an excellent or better," said Command Master Chief (SW/AW) Troy Cox, CMC of Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Bahrain. The Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Detachment Atsugi Japan was recently recognized for its commitment to physical readiness. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, the entire command of 257 Sailors musters at the base gym to perform 45 minutes of physical training. "Our command fitness leaders are dedicated to ensure AIMD Sailors stay on top of their physical readiness in order to maintain our mission readiness," said Aviation Maintenance Administrationman 1st Class (SW) Ernest McKee, assigned to AIMD Atsugi. "This is a new Navy. We have 13,000 Sailors serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who are wearing 30 pounds of battle gear on a daily basis. We need Sailors who are fit to fight, whether it is on the ground or climbing through an escape scuttle from the pit of an aircraft carrier" said Moore. Commands can find more information to enhance physical readiness programs at http://www.npc.navy.mil/CommandSupport/PhysicalReadiness. The site features best practices gathered from around the fleet, links to the physical readiness instruction, guidance for documenting PFA failures, and other helpful resources. For more news from Navy Personnel Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/npc/.
Mr. Moore is a great guy, and his office is the next door down from mine. Unfortunately, his office is not in charge of the PT uniform. I have a few issues with that thing, it's "modesty liner" in particular.
Agreed........worst uniform ever! I wonder how many millions of dollars they spent "developing" the current monstrosity? Were the gray t-shirts that said NAVY and navy blue mesh shorts too easy?
If by adequate fitness facilities, were they talking about the tiny ass gym for thousands of people at NAS Jax? My college had a better gym.
Adequate access to fitness facilities...says nothing about the quality of them. I also call BS on the "80% of Sailors report that they always or sometimes make fitness part of their daily routine." Either you work out on a daily basis or you don't. There is no "sometimes."
I work out 3 days a week. I probably would have checked "sometimes". Who knows what the survey question actually was or what the intent of the question was? It's just a piece of busy work for the chief that wrote it, not a brief or thesis.
On a somewhat related topic, if someone fails a swim test in Aviation Indoc (or whatever they call it now) or a PRT while in flight school, are they given extra time to get in shape and take a make-up?
For the swim, if you fail one of the main events you get a pink sheet and you remediate until you un-ass yourself. No idea on the PRT, but who the eff fails a PRT? As you were...Who the eff has enough drive to satisfactorily get through flight school but not enough drive to pass the PRT?
What USMarineMike said + when I went through at least, WS-2 and 8 (I think), basically the stroke test and the mile swim were the only ones you could pink sheet for. Failed a different event and was just rolled back 2 weeks into remedial swim, passed and continued. From what I saw (Fester would obviously have the most current gouge on this) swimming pink sheets weren't necessarily counted against you as long as your academic, PFT etc record was good.
Finally the crappy PT shorts are being recalled. Though not for the reasons everyone hates them. Can't we just recall the entire POS uniform and go with something that actually works and is comfortable? Reason for the recall is that the "NAVY" comes off after being washed. http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-news/navy-ptu-shorts-recalled.html?ESRC=navy-a.nl
Just Get NIKE, AISC's UnderArmor or whoever to make them with a Navy LOGO slapped on and it would be a vast improvement.
So what you're saying is, your command PT's one less time per week than the Navy wide instruction mandates, and you think your program is very active? This says a lot more about the mindset of Fleet Sailors, and the true emphasis on PT than that poll could ever hope to.
That's two more times than most MARINE squadrons, so I've got to give some props, anyways. As with most things, the Nav/MC say "you need to PT," then don't allocate any time to accomplish same. Guess it comes out of YOUR time. What a surprise.
