Physical fitness readiness is an important individual responsibility, no different from many other responsibilities that Soldiers and leaders of all ranks are required to maintain.
The leadership in the 193rd Infantry Brigade, starting with the brigade commander, Col. Michael Katona, his battalion commanders and the brigades command sergeants major, continue to make it a point of emphasis for their subordinate leaders. There is no better way for leaders to put emphasis on Physical Readiness Training, than doing it with their subordinates, sharing in the trials and tribulations of the challenge and verifying subordinate leaders are executing within the commander's intent.
Once a month, the 2nd Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment conducts various officer physical fitness training sessions. The most recent occurred on Jan. 6 and was conducted in the battalion classroom on Sumter Street. In addition to building cohesion and esprit-de-corps among the battalion's field grade and company grade officers, these unique Physical Fitness Training sessions provide a rigorous "gut check" for where each officer stands.
Officer physical fitness training sessions, are distinct from normal training events to ensure they are motivating and rigorous. They exercise core muscle groups that individuals may not test on a daily basis and can be punishing for the uninitiated newcomers who have been recently assigned to the unit.
On Jan. 6, the training was conducted indoors, the battalion classroom having been turned into a digital gymnasium. Several participants were disappointed the event did not include leaping over a pit of fire as was included in the brigade Rubicon exercise conducted the previous month. This session's primary instructor was a digital fitness guru on the two large screens in the front of the classroom, who led the leaders through an extreme workout from a 90-day fitness program developed by the guru and his private company.
The workout was based on the guru's intense home exercise program that combines cardio workouts, weight and resistance training, yoga, plyometrics and, and stretching routines to improve coordination, flexibility and strength. Most of the participants acknowledged the biggest challenge during the session was maintaining balance and coordination through each of the exercises.
A previous session on Nov. 4 was the morning after the battalion farewell for the outgoing battalion command sergeant major. Unknown to the participants, the session was a surprise Army Physical Fitness Test that followed a night of festivities in which participants stuffed their faces with boneless Buffalo wings, cheeseburgers the size of football helmets, and various liquid refreshments at a local establishment. The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Christopher Altavilla reasoned that on their worst day, any of his subordinate officers should be able to take and do well on an Army Physical Fitness Test. Physical Fitness Readiness is not a twice a year responsibility, it's an everyday, anytime, anywhere responsibility. And if a leader can do well on their worst day, they can do great when they know a test is coming.
At the end of the Nov. 4 officer physical fitness training session, the officers headed to the pull up bars for the next event, where their graders awaited to count their repetitions. Two of his subordinate officers were able to brag about maxing the diagnostic with perfect scores. A few others expressed zero regret for the chicken and burger grease that coated their stomachs following the previous evening's farewell. Without a doubt, two officers provided ample evidence that their food choice was incompatible with an intense two-mile run.
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