Protecting the Free-Range Kid

[Smitty-48]

No sense training for being the well rested, well fed army, as most likely you're not going to be, train as you fight, not as you are in garrison with three hots and a cot at all times.

Well I'm not suggesting training as you are in garrison with three hots and a cot at all times. I'm just saying rest is sometimes beneficial and you seem to be reacting as if that is some kind of controversial statement for some reason.

Rest is beneficial now, I'm an old man now, but when we were young, we didn't need any rest, hell, come out of the field after a week on an hours sleep a day, and we'd take a shower and go straight to the bars, "we'll sleep when we're dead".

[StCapps]

Rest is beneficial now, I'm an old man now, but when we were young, we didn't need any rest, hell, come out of the field after a week on an hours sleep a day, and we take a shower and go straight to the bars, "we'll sleep when we're dead".

Not ever resting is one of the quickest ways to breakdown from being a young man into an older man more quickly. It shortens your physical prime and makes you more prone to injury.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Rest is beneficial now, I'm an old man now, but when we were young, we didn't need any rest, hell, come out of the field after a week on an hours sleep a day, and we take a shower and go straight to the bars, "we'll sleep when we're dead".

Not ever resting is one of the quickest ways to breakdown from being a young man into an older man more quickly. It shortens your physical prime and makes you more prone to injury.

I'm learning this the hard way. I've taken my daily cycle down from 8 hours of sleep to 6 for the past few years, trying to grab more "me" time late at night. The effects have been.. startling.

[Smitty-48]

Not ever resting is one of the quickest ways to breakdown from being a young man into an older man more quickly. It shortens your physical prime and makes you more prone to injury.

As I recall, we were supremely fit, there was nobody who could touch us in terms of fitness, not even the SWAT cops, we ran those fat bastards into the ground with ease, the Firefighters were strong, but we ran them into the ground as well, never really found anybody who could hang with us, even when we were hung over with no sleep having partied all night.

[StCapps]

As I recall, we were supremely fit, there was nobody who could touch us in terms of fitness, not even the SWAT cops, we ran those fat bastards into the ground with ease, the Firefighters were strong, but we ran them into the ground as well, never really found anybody who could hang with us, even when we were hung over with no sleep having partied all night.

Right but I bet those of you who didn't party all night and got some sleep ran those fat bastards into the ground with even greater ease.

[Smitty-48]

As I recall, we were supremely fit, there was nobody who could touch us in terms of fitness, not even the SWAT cops, we ran those fat bastards into the ground with ease, the Firefighters were strong, but we ran them into the ground as well, never really found anybody who could hang with us, even when we were hung over with no sleep having partied all night.

Right but I bet the guys who weren't hung over and got some sleep ran those fat bastards into the ground with even greater ease.

Yeah, but they didn't get laid, a young man cannot live by rest and water alone, what's the point of doing anything, if you're not getting any tail as you go? Sure, you can hang out in the barracks and sleep all night, but there are no young ladies in the barracks, or at least, there weren't back then.

Do nothing but work out and rest, surrounded by hard men, nary a cocktail nor young lady's company therein? I think they call that "jail"

[Okeefenokee]

Quick poll,

Who here walked / took the bus alone to school in primary school (starting from first grade)? Or could play outside with friends for a long time without adult supervision under 10 years?

It was the norm here when I was young. Actually, going to school alone is very typical even nowdays.

Always caught the bus at the end of the driveway. Kids from the suburbs thought it was crazy that the bus took us each to our individual houses, but we were all spread out in the country.

Our mobility came from our bikes. We biked wherever we wanted to go. Over the river and through the woods. Even in Atlanta, I'd bike across town for a bowl of spaghetti at one of Dad's friend's house.

Just like the old anecdote, Dad would kick us out of the house to go play. We'd go explore other people's property, completely disregarding property lines and barbed wire fences.

[Okeefenokee]

What we found in the military, was focus, a team, and a mission, and as such, remedial PT and the like was not really a punishment, that was more the instructors saying "follow me", they didn't give remedial PT, they led remedial PT from the front, punishment, was to be decried in front of your peers by the chain of command, for having let the team down, that was the fiercest lash of them all.

Ours was a mix. When you fucked up you'd get smoked, and for me, it was being punished in front of others that was worse than a couple pushups. My motivation for not fucking up was not wanting to be publicly reprimanded. There was no way I was ever going to be in any remedial PT program. Not ever. Being put in leadership introduced a new problem where the fuckups of my soldiers reflected on me, so I wasn't gonna let that happen either.

The specter of a bad public image was what motivated me. Fuck some pushups.

[TheReal_ND]

Quick poll,

Who here walked / took the bus alone to school in primary school (starting from first grade)? Or could play outside with friends for a long time without adult supervision under 10 years?

It was the norm here when I was young. Actually, going to school alone is very typical even nowdays.

Always caught the bus at the end of the driveway. Kids from the suburbs thought it was crazy that the bus took us each to our individual houses, but we were all spread out in the country.

Our mobility came from our bikes. We biked wherever we wanted to go. Over the river and through the woods. Even in Atlanta, I'd bike across town for a bowl of spaghetti at one of Dad's friend's house.

Just like the old anecdote, Dad would kick us out of the house to go play. We'd go explore other people's property, completely disregarding property lines and barbed wire fences.

Latchkey kid reporting in.

What's going on in this thread? I'm bored. Is the OP any good?

[Okeefenokee]

This has become a heck of a thread...

I have this crazy feeling that most folks are trying to do better by their kids than they were done by... but somehow the obstacles to parenting keep getting bigger.
Our neighborhoods are less cohesive, technology keeps outcompeting parents and the mental health and addiction problems of the peer groups our kids are in keep ratcheting up. Not to mention now kids are expected to define their gender and sexual orientation on some kind of 8 point scale.
It seems parents are on a treadmill dialed up off the charts.

No wonder many are choosing to stick with pets.

Yeah, it's a lot different than growing up in a community where your parents and their friends also grew up. All of my early girlfriends were daughters of guys my dad grew up with.