Military Community, Marine Corps Community, military installations, discussions, blogs, photos, videos - Marine Corps Times

Letters

PFT has purpose

The commandant of the Marine Corps has indeed foreseen the future requirements of Marines in combat, and a need to expand upon the development of all Marines. The new Combat Fitness Test coupled with the current Physical Fitness Test will take the Corps forward into a new era of overall conditioning.

However, it is the responsibility of each and every Marine to ensure that they are physically and mentally prepared to face the trials and tribulations of combat.

The PFT has been in place for many years. However, to say that it is designed for lean and lanky Marines [“End outdated PFT,” Opinion, April 21] is a slap in the face to those individuals who go the extra mile to develop their entire body.

Marines with high PFT scores are usually the individuals you see in the gym in the morning, during lunch, or after work. They’re definitely not the individuals who feel weekly unit PT sessions, designed to sustain your fitness level, are enough to excel.

Pulling one’s body weight is each Marine’s responsibility. Performing 20 actual, dead-hang pull-ups or flex-arm hanging for 70 seconds is not an easy feat for any individual. Hours of individual training are required by most to achieve it. Anyone who knows anything about endurance training knows that any individual who puts the time in pounding the pavement can run an above-average 3-mile run.

Bottom line: There has to be a desire to excel and a median within one’s training plan. You cannot just lift weights or just run. It has to be a combination of both, and that’s not even considering the importance of diet.

The outcomes of Marines participating in the CFT and PFT will eventually normalize once motivated individuals are shown how to achieve full-body fitness. It’s also worth noting that the Marine Corps Semper Fitness Program has outlined ways for Marines to improve their fitness test scores for many years.

If anything, the PFT scoring system should be evaluated, since about 70 percent of all Marines have a first-class score. I feel most Marines will meet the CFT with enthusiasm and see it as a challenge, as most already attack the PFT.

The tools are already in place for any Marine to excel in both fitness tests. Regardless, we are all Marines. We adapt and overcome, no matter the obstacle.

Gunnery Sgt. Paul F. Thomas

Patuxent River, Md.

Health care problems

My father retired as a master chief after 26 years of service that included duty during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. One of his duty assignments was as an enlisted recruiter, in which he told potential recruits they would have health care for life after 20 years of service.

He has Tricare, Medicare and long-term health care that he paid for privately. Despite all this, he is now struggling to pay his health care bills.

My father, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, is now in a semi-private room in a long-term health care facility in Massachusetts. The room costs $280 per day, or $8,680 per month, not including medicine, ambulance service, a wheelchair or dental care. He is reimbursed for $4,433, creating an out-of-pocket expense of $4,247 each month.

After all the bills are paid, my father is left with $7 each month, which doesn’t even cover his haircut. Meanwhile, I now have to explain to Social Security how his $14,152 in yearly benefits were spent. What would his spouse live on if she was alive?

Is this what you get in the end, after you have served your country, paid Social Security and made enough income to pay for private insurance? How can the system be broken, and the people who served and paid be duped? How can people who have been a burden to society get free health care instead? And why are we not offered the same health care plans that members of Congress get?

Gunnery Sgt. James L. Reed (ret.)

Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.

In defense of Estrada

I’m writing in respond to the letter “Estrada off-base,” which appeared in the March 31 issue of Marine Corps Times. This is the second letter I have read regarding retired Sgt. Maj. John Estrada’s campaigning for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

The writer said he can’t understand why Marine Corps Times covered it. He also said, “I don’t understand why Estrada would campaign for someone who will not even wear an American flag lapel pin on his coat or place his hand over his heart during the national anthem.”

I retired from the Marine Corps 28 years ago, and when Sgt. Maj. Estrada enlisted in the Marine Corps, I was a recruiter stationed in Brooklyn, N.Y., and had been promoted meritoriously, to gunnery sergeant. Sgt. Maj. Estrada served the Marine Corps with distinction, rising to become sergeant major of the Marine Corps. It’s no small feat.

I don’t know whether the writer knows that there are general grade officers supporting Obama, and that they don’t view his wearing an American flag lapel pin on his coat as being un-American or unpatriotic. I suspect the letter was a personal attack on Sgt. Maj. Estrada because he is not supporting Sen. John McCain.

My suggestion to the writer and like-minded readers is that they enjoy the freedoms (what few are left) of this great country, and get over their overblown egos about patriotism.

Master Sgt. Wesley Powe (ret.)

Sacramento, Calif.