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I see where you're coming from Guzzler. My view is that the whole ethos has changed - I sometimes wish I was in the RN of old where you worked in the morning, went to the Mess at lunchtime and sank a few then spent the afternoon either doing nothing or a bit of phys. I suppose the reality is that society has changed - drinking at lunchtime is frowned upon and the health & safety culture has meant that every activity has to be risk assessed, hence the possibly slightly tamer PT sessions.

At the same time, the RN of old was not a healthy thing. There were plenty of fat knacker CPOs and Lt Cdrs kicking around who would have had bother getting through a kidney hatch if anything ever did kick off. Sure they were good at their job and could drink anyone under the table, but were they the image of a fighting force? I think today's RN is fitter and more task-focussed and probably a hell of a lot more productive. RNFT standards arn't terribly difficult, but the RNFT has helped get rid of a load of people who weren't fit for much.

This is an interesting one. I too do not recall Raleigh as being physically hard, though I was an outdoor type lad and also played rugby. I do remember when they introduced the Fitness Test first time round that there were folk dropping like flies and one poor chap actually died.

I also recall my first boat chief being told he was overweight and called back aft to get weighed - he was to diet and be weighed again in a fortnight to monitor his progress. When he returned to the Cab Space he said he'd piss it.......... as he removed copious heavy items from all his pockets! His 'weight loss' was praised and he was not bothered any more!

The main difference is lifestyle before joining. I joined in 1960, limited TV (not everyone had one and it didn't get broadcast 24/7. No computers on Playstations etc.

Most joined the RN straight from school where it was PT for everyone. Kids were out and about most of the time rather than sat in the house. Most lads had part time jobs whilst still at school and age restrictions weren't really bothered with.

I spent the majority of my 12 years service in Boats, we drank and played hard whilst ashore, but for anyone to drink to excess at sea was rare in the extreme. I'm talking about the regulation two cans of beer.

I frequently read on this forum about drunkeness at sea, I can only say that I very rarely saw it in Boats, perhaps it was a general service problem. The problem drinkers that I came across in Gens. were in the main time serving Senior Rates.

Echoing previous statements I can't remember anyone being taken to school by car which seems to be the norm these days, we all walked or cycled in. I never had too much of a problem with the phys at Ganges however on my first ship there were the hard core 3 badge AB's who were good for fuck all most afternoons and many SR's never appeared in the afternoon either. I recall one CPO who couldn't get down kidney hatches and was allowed to wear slippers or sandals as his gout meant he couldn't wear bats.

Likewise!

I wasn't particularly fit when I joined Raleigh in '71 but was a lot fitter when I left having marched/doubled/run everywhere! But having said that I didn't find the phys particularly difficult or arduous!

I also didn't find a great amount of drunkeness at sea with very little drinking done away from the wall ... but yes once alongside everyone played reasonably hard. There are obviously exceptions to the rule and there were a couple of Chiefs who still lived in the age of sail and had a tot whatever and yes there was an alchoholics or two turn up now and again but it didn't appear to be the norm.

Shoreside there were a couple of SR's who liked to go to the mess for a few sherbets lunchtime who hopefully retired to their cabin to sleep it off but occasionally came back to the dept and gave us a beasting ... you learnt to keep your head down and not attract attention!

As for being fit ... plenty of "Old Salts" down the Falklands who in todays modern Navy would probably have been discharged medically unfit, but they worked as hard and as long as the next guy and fought the ship effectively. So really I don't know if the Navy of today does need to be so fit as the rules appear to demand ... certainly systems were more muscle powered then rather than automated or mechanical so less effort required by the operator now than in my Navy ...

But I could be wrong ... thats just how it appears to me after reading the posts on BFT's etc.

I suspect that modern diet makes for chubbier recruits now.

Also I suspect that most recruits will now worked or been to college / uni or both before joining. As most courses and jobs are now sedentiary they will be out of shape by their early twenties.

I am a case in point worked on a local farm when at school, cycled everywhere and spent my spare time hillwalking, fishing and playing football. There was a lot of drinking as well but all that activity more than compensated. fast forward ten years and univeristy in the city followed by a desk job and I was one fat knacker.

When I decided that I wanted to join the RNR it was more than a year of effort on fitness and eating to get into a position where I thought that I would pass the RNFT and mdeical.

A lot of the helpful comments on here and Arrse for new recruits who are struggling with their fitness are often not particularly useful, as if you went in straight from school you will most likely never have gone through the challenge of regaining your fitness after having lost it. Going from fit to fitter is much easier than going from unfit to fit.

With hindsight the trick is never to have lost it in the first place.

Maybe it's because we don't tend to have a lot of manual work nowadays that has reduced "natural" fitness so it's had to be made compulsory. Even storing ship is done with conveyor belt machines these days although it still gets humped about once struck below (standfast boats where it's still done manually AFAIK)

Originally Posted by WreckerL

Maybe it's because we don't tend to have a lot of manual work nowadays that has reduced "natural" fitness so it's had to be made compulsory. Even storing ship is done with conveyor belt machines these days although it still gets humped about once struck below (standfast boats where it's still done manually AFAIK)

The honking diet of the average Joe in the last twenty years doesn't help either, the eighties and "convenience" have a lot to answer for.