{"id":25135,"date":"2018-06-29T21:53:16","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T21:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/06\/29\/this-july-4-remember-fitness-fuels-freedom\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:30:17","slug":"this-july-4-remember-fitness-fuels-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2018\/06\/29\/this-july-4-remember-fitness-fuels-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"This July 4, remember: Fitness fuels freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: The following is an opinion piece. The writer is not employed by Military Times and the views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Military Times or its editorial staff.<\/i> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Fourth of July approaches, we rightly celebrate our great nation\u2019s independence and remember the time that 13 upstart colonies took the fight to a larger more powerful military and won their freedom<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although many factors lead to the birth of our nation, one factor that gets overshadowed is the military fitness brought to a \u201csick, cold and hungry cabal\u201d of Americans at Valley Forge by a Prussian named Frederick von Steuben<\/a>. His arrival in February 1778, and the techniques he brought with him, marked \u201ca singularly important event relative to future physical training in the U.S. Army,\u201d wrote Dr. Whitfield \u201cChip\u201d East in A Historical Review and Analysis of Army Physical Readiness Training and Assessment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the fitness that provided the fuel for our nation\u2019s freedom. More than a century and a half later, the Victory Corps of the 1940s recognized that fitness remained essential for maintaining that freedom. The plan was \u201cVictory through Fitness\u201d at the youth level, and as one general put it, \u201cYoung people in high school must be trained specifically to become better warriors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now? We\u2019ve gotten soft. Three out four military-age young adults are physically incapable of serving in the military. And the fitness of those who can and do serve isn\u2019t much more encouraging<\/a>. Consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n