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security. Individual Marines lost weight and showed the visible signs of exhaustion as time passed. All Marines from boot camp on—officers and enlisted pride themselves on their physical fitness—we worked at it—running, calisthenics, obstacle courses and then the physical fitness tests and physical readiness tests were administered to all Marines in all Units each year. Yet, here we found ourselves going weeks—even months without the level of fitness training we needed because we simply couldn’t find the time or the circumstance. Marines were encouraged to work on their individual fitness whenever possible with routine exercises—but that was difficult to monitor —so we saw a deterioration in the fitness level of our Marines. At the same time we were working our bodies harder than we ever had in training—digging fox holes, carrying packs up steep terrain, long patrols where we would walk miles and miles each day—still it wasn’t the regulated, disciplined type of physical training that keeps your body firm and reflexes sharp.
Although there was the usual grumbling and mumbling that goes with being in the infantry our Marines would rise like a phoenix and get the job done—I was very proud of them and will be until the day I die!
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