Below is the eighth article drawn from ‘Davy Jones’ Locker’. It is “A Path to Survival in Sedentary Naval Life” by the then Lieutenant Commander Alan Brecht and was published in the November 1977 edition of the Journal of the Australian Naval Institute.
Alan Brecht joined the Navy in 1957 as telegraphist sailor and reached the rank of petty officer before becoming a specialist communications officer. He would go on to be a Commodore and was an active member of the ANI, serving initially as Vice President and then President during 1985-1988. His final appointment was fittingly Director General Joint Service Communications. He passed away in 2015.
His article captures the growing awareness during the late 1970s of the need for improved physical fitness within the Navy. Indeed not long after this article was published Rear Admiral Guy Griffiths, then Chief of Naval Personnel, brought in what he considered one of his greatest contributions to the RAN, the annual fitness test. The introduction of the fitness test was viewed with horror by many and stories of overweight senior sailors having heart attacks during these exertions spread through the Navy.
A PATH TO SURVIVAL IN SEDENTARY NAVAL LIFE
“The relationship between the soundness of the body and the activities of mind is subtle and complex ….intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong.”
President John F. Kennedy
The small navies of the world mostly compensate for their size by a degree of professional competence, dedication and hard work which is often uncalled for in their larger fellows. The RAN is no exception to this general rule and strives always to make up for deficiencies in equipment or resources through insistence upon high standards in all that it docs. The professionalism thus displayed is, however, only all right as far as it goes.
Few would question the continuing need for training to be first class; axiomatically we assume in almost all levels of planning within our Navy, whether in casual conversation or on paper, that the methods employed are achieving the results required in the long term, thereby ensuring the RAN to be a small but top quality outfit. This essay contends that our training, our way of life, and our thinking has allowed us to concentrate upon the material and professional aspects of naval skills to the detriment of the physical capability of the manpower to do the job. The author will show that our most valuable resource, the man, is potentially unable to physically cope with today’s tasks, and that unless changes occur in the Navy’s administrative approach to fitness his ability to do so will continue to decrease.
The first part of the essay will outline the nature of the problem and its consequences for the RAN; the author will then discuss recent research into fitness and health, and suggest some means by which the Navy might improve the health and physical capability of its members.
The Problem
In his book Aerobics, Dr Kenneth Cooper of the US Air Force Medical Corps puts forward a proposition supported by many physicians that without proper regard to diet, alcohol, tobacco consumption, and exercise the modern sedentary human being is on a one-way roller coaster ride to hospital. “As far as exercise is concerned,” he says, “four out of five are candidates for illness and disease, if they haven’t already fallen victim.” Strong words? Maybe so, but just the facts on heart disease in Australia alone are little short of frightening. The annual statistic stood at 62,980 deaths in 1974 and has risen steadily since. As the major form of heart and blood vessel disease, coronary heart disorders account for about one third of ail deaths in Australia each year. It is estimated by the Australian Heart Foundation that some 400,000 Australians are suffering from coronary heart disease at any one time so the word ‘epidemic’ is almost euphemistic.
Dr. Cooper’s contention deserves closer examination for it must surely be argued that a modern military service such as the RAN keeps a close watch upon the health and fitness of its members and therefore the Doctor’s remark cannot apply. Sadly, this is not necessarily true. Using heart disease as the base for investigation one finds that the medical and physical conditions which bring about heart disease also contribute to other illnesses, and have ready breeding grounds in sedentary naval life.
Nothing can be done about heredity; we are what we are and little is gained by blaming our forebears, but to some extent heredity can be offset. Diet is a different matter however, for casual observation in ships and establishments today shows many young men obviously overweight, reflecting the society in which we live. The effects for the service are varied, ranging from simple physical inability to carry out arduous tasks to severe posting restrictions through enforcement of medical category stipulations. DI(N) PERS 31-2 requires obese personnel in some circumstances to be classified Temporarily Medically Unfit, recognising that “Excess weight is injurious to health in general and in particular predisposes to heart disease and high blood pressure.”
Obesity for some is a glandular problem about which they can do little but it is mostly a clinical condition, the same as heart disease, lung disease and the rest The unfortunate thing is that surplus fat places a heavy load upon the heart – try carrying a 40lb (18kg) weight about on your back for a day – forcing it beyond its capability, thus risking heart attack or ‘cardiac arrest’. Most people know the dangers of obesity yet do little to prevent it and worry hardly at all if overweight by two stones (12.7kg) or more. To the author’s knowledge no exhaustive study has been made into the consequences and costs to the Navy from overweight personnel but in terms of manpower alone the bill for medical treatment of obesity cases could only be matched by the loss of man/work hours throughout the whole Navy from attendance at sickbay.
Also fuelling heart disease is the hidden diet problem, cholesterol. The goodies which adorn Navy meal tables are almost invariably bad for the cholesterol and triglyceride watcher struggling to keep down his intake of fatty food. Milk, butter, eggs, cheese, red meat, ham. pork, bacon, prawns, oysters, and other delicacies are all high in cholesterol or fat thus increasing the level of fats floating in the blood vessels. Over a period of time some of it clings to artery walls causing arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. If the crust becomes thick enough to block supply of blood to the heart, a heart attack occurs which can be fatal if a coronary artery is involved.
Smoking and alcohol also contribute to general poor health as well as to heart disease. The evidence against the former is overwhelming, yet possibly as many as 60% of Navy men are smokers. Among the most conclusive research on the dangers of cigarettes is the Framingham study published in the USA in 1964 which compiled data on more than 2200 men aged 30-60 over a period of eight years. Its major finding was that smokers were three times more prone to heart attacks than non-smokers due to the fact that cigarette smoke contributes to the development of arteriosclerosis. The estimation that 75% of male RAN personnel drink alcohol is a fair one, and the combined effects of smoking and drinking upon an individual’s capacity for work are very marked. This has significant consequences for a small Navy where long hours at sea on the job in all kinds of conditions are normal.
Obesity, diet, smoking, drinking, and heredity are serious dangers to good health and fitness but they assume greater importance when tied together with the string called inactivity. The effects of insufficient activity upon the body will be addressed later but it is relevant here to look at the supporting role played by naval life. At sea the opportunities for exercise and physical activity are governed by ship size and programmes where in a busy ship men are usually either closed up at work or resting off-watch. Sea routines are designed around fighting the ship and make little provision for sport or physical recreation especially during workup or exercise periods. In other than large ships there is rarely sufficient space in any case. Ashore the introduction of rations and quarters charges has accentuated the drift away from close-knit naval life as more and more single personnel choose to live in private accommodation outside the establishment, and married men naturally live at home. One result of these factors is that after basic training RAN personnel get very little opportunity for regular, controlled physical activity throughout their careers. The legacy is physical decline.
Effects Upon the Navy
Manpower is among the most expensive items in Navy’s yearly budget; we must therefore make the best possible use of it. Ships’ complements include the column ‘ineffectives’ to allow for members on leave, under training, or incapacitated through illness, and the latter category assumes significant proportions. Quite apart from the question of money, in terms of manpower lost the sick constitute a very severe problem to those endeavouring to get the job done at the coalface. Current manpower shortages mean fewer available replacements thus a man lost through illness is more often than not lost until he recovers. The task does not decrease meanwhile, and so our efficiency and effectiveness suffer.
The matter of efficiency opens up further avenues of investigation. Dictionary definitions are often misleading but to the case in point the Oxford definition is particularly relevant:
“Efficiency-Ratio of useful work to energy expended”
It follows that capacity for work affects efficiency, and few would disagree that an efficient person is one who totally achieves his task and almost invariably he or she works hard for long hours. Fitness levels can be directly related to this line of reasoning for the fully fit person generally has more energy, stamina and prolonged alertness than his run-down contemporary. In the highly competitive, performance oriented society of the Navy at sea in particular, job performance and efficiency undoubtedly suffer where the incumbent cannot cope through unfitness brought about by the excesses addressed earlier.
Significant also is the cost to Navy of the medical support presently required. It is beyond question that such support is necessary, no fighting service could be without it, but is the RAN’s medical corps spending time and money treating patients who with better self-care might have prevented their illnesses? Conjecture has little place in a serious essay but to probe the point, how many patients who were treated last year for heart, psychiatric, blood pressure, obesity or ulcer complaints might have contributed to their conditions through over-eating, smoking, drinking, and total lack of exercise? It is certain that whatever their causes those illnesses and patients cost the Navy dearly in terms of medical manpower, equipment, money, and follow-up treatment, not to mention the expense of training replacements where this was necessary.
Studies and R esearch
In the period April to October 1968 Dr. Cooper conducted a project in five US Air Force bases at the request of the US Air Force Chief of Staff to determine under normal operational conditions the effects of different training programmes upon physical conditioning. 15,146 men were studied. Among the most interesting results was the discovery that not all exercise is good exercise, some of it being hardly worth the effort. Old favourites such as isometrics, calisthenics, weight lifting, and even 5BX have failed to create sufficient oxygen demands on the body to be effective conditioners. The most suitable activities were those in the Aerobics (pronounced a-er-o biks) group which stimulate heart and lung activity for a period long enough to produce beneficial changes in the body. Running, cycling, swimming and jogging are typical exercises in this group but others which produce the desired conditioning or cardiovascular effect can fit into one’s daily routine quite easily. Examples are walking briskly for the train or climbing stairs.
Physical fitness and conditioning have been given a great deal of attention by national leaders and others in recent years. Himself a jogger, President Kennedy in the remark quoted at the beginning of this essay drew attention to the relationship between fitness and capacity for work. Recent Australian studies by the Research Institute of Applied Physiology in Sydney showed that cardiopulmonary (heart and lung) fitness reaches a peak in males at age 14 and then slumps badly in their next ten years. The Institute found that lack of correct exercise was the major contributory factor in this decline, based upon analysis of the results of the first 1000 people to pass through its laboratory. In the survey it judged cardiopulmonary fitness on how well the body makes use of oxygen, ie. how much oxygen it burns per minute per kilogram of body weight. The more oxygen consumed the fitter one is, generally speaking. It was discovered that of those surveyed the 14 year olds consumed 55 millilitres of oxygen per kilogram whilst those aged 25 only just managed 40 millilitres. In layman’s language this means that in order to provide sufficient oxygen to meet a demand brought on by extreme physical activity (such as running for a bus) the heart of a deconditioned man has to work much harder than his fit contemporary, and the older one is the more critical it becomes.
The above data have the potential for serious consequences in a fighting service where extremes of physical and mental activity occur. The phenomenon known as ‘sympathetic storm’ can, and does, kill outwardly fit men whose lack of conditioning left them unable to cope with the cardiopulmonary demands of a sudden crisis. Emotional stress, apprehension, a close escape from injury or death all cause the body’s nervous system to attempt to meet emergency with a supply of hormones to stimulate the heart to a higher work load. A ‘sympathetic storm’ occurs when more hormones are produced than the parasympathetic system can neutralise; the heart races wildly and sometimes gives out under the strain. Medical theory suggests sympathetic storms as the explanation for witch-doctor killings amongst natives in voodoo or pointing-the-bone ceremonies, and also advances this as the cause of heart attacks brought on during acute physical stress or the chronic stress of trying to get on in today’s highly competitive world.
In the outline of this essay the word ‘solutions’ was deliberately avoided because in context it is synonymous with ‘answers’. The methods used or programmes followed to ensure the physical fitness of large numbers of men must inevitably vary with circumstance, but the studies discussed above have significance for the RAN. Although most of its members are young men who have no disease, heart or otherwise, available evidence clearly shows that this is no guarantee of continued good health, particularly in stress filled environments like major fleet exercises or limited war. The task confronting the Navy therefore is one of prevention rather than cure, naval administration, training, and thinking must take account of the physical as well as the professional needs of the men.
Ways and Means
On the assumption that it starts with a healthy product fresh from basic training the Navy has two alternatives in maintaining health and fitness. The first seeks to promote the peak fitness exhibited by Olympians and marathoners, and although a Navy full of such men would be remarkable this level of fitness is not necessary nor is it possible. Naval requirements tend rather towards a more reachable level, that of the sports team participator or weekend athlete, and this could be achieved by following certain principles.
First, facts such as those in this essay relating to the harmful effects of inactivity and excesses of eating or drinking should be constantly kept in the forefront of naval education programmes. DI(N)s, posters, talks by Commanding Officers are necessary to bring the need for fitness to the attention of all. This principle is labelled EDUCATION for the purposes of this essay but is by no means restricted to the three examples above. Education must come through all levels of Navy, commencing at the training establishments during basic training.
Another principle which could be followed is that called CATERING. Gone are the days when Navy meals were best avoided, the culinary skills displayed today ensure that meal tables are filled with good quality dishes of wide variety. As discussed earlier many of the foods could promote heart disorders through high cholesterol content, and servings usually are too generous. In this context one asks is it really necessary to serve in one day a large breakfast followed by two three-course meals with (in some ships) biscuits at morning tea, and sandwiches at 1600? The potential for over-eating is self evident. Planning of menus to offer low cholesterol choices (fish, veal, chicken, lean meat, cottage cheese) as well as ordinary foods should not be difficult. Together with polyunsaturated margarine and non-fat milk these dishes could encourage more personnel to watch cholesterol as well as calories. Undoubtedly this might require some revision of supply procedures but since the foods mentioned are readily available to the housewife their purchase in bulk for Navy use should pose few problems.
The most important principle is EXERCISE. This presents the greatest challenge however, for to be successful the programme chosen must strike a clearly defined balance between compulsion and encouragement. Whilst it is in the RAN’s best interests to have all its members at a satisfactory fitness level throughout their careers it would be plainly impossible, for example, to insist upon daily PT for all. The resolution of methods used to actually achieve or maintain physical fitness is not essential to the development of this essay provided they conform to the firm principle that aerobic activities are best. The succeeding paragraphs put forward a system of regular checks and balances against the progress of individual members, attempting to provide incentives for fitness, apart from any which might come from the education process advocated previously.
Physical Examinations
At various points throughout his naval life each member of the RAN should be required to take a physical examination. The exact form would vary according to the age and status of the individual, an AB might require a less stringent examination than a CPO, but the basic content should be the same: a medical check-up by a doctor in a surgery to determine his state of health, plus an oxygen demanding activity to prove his aerobic fitness.
The timing of such examinations may depend upon circumstances but the following are seen to be suitable. On completion of basic training each recruit or cadet should have his fitness level, weight and general health assessed as a base for future examinations. Having completed what is usually a rigorous training period he is probably then as fit as he will ever be taking his age into account. For officers an annual medical/fitness inspection should follow but if this is impractical, a medical one year with a fitness test the next would suffice. Because of the numbers involved annual examinations are not feasible for sailors but two alternatives come easily to mind. A fitness test based upon aerobic principles could be required every year (or two years) along the lines of the test prescribed in DI(N) PERS 31-2. A time/distance test of this kind is relatively easy to organise for large groups and would accurately identify the unfit. The system then encounters difficulty for what happens to those who fail? Are they fined? Is their leave stopped” It is here that this method founders because without compulsion (ie. compulsory fitness) it would be impossible to administer.
The alternative approach encourages fitness by requiring a full medical/fitness examination to be passed before candidates can be promoted to any rank above Seaman. Easily added to existing qualifications, the test would be simple to manage because a medical is required now and the fitness segment falls within the aegis of the PT category already borne in ships and establishments. Additional manpower should therefore not be required yet the system could greatly improve the fitness levels of those officers and sailors intent upon promotion to higher rank, for their fitness goal could only be achieved through regular exercise. The test might vary but running a set distance in a required time is simply arranged. Typical of this type of test is the time/distance requirement used by Dr. Cooper in his USAF project where men under 30 had to cover 1.5 miles in less than 12 minutes. Graduated for age this test let men of 40 complete the distance in 14 minutes and pass. Organised training to achieve the standard would be necessary of course, and this might not be easy in small ships. If fitness became a promotion qualification however, more effort would be dedicated to this aspect of naval life than is now the case, and trial and error if nothing else, could lead to the best training methods.
The last career point medical/fitness examination in the series comes as a condition for re-engagement. The fitness test could accompany the existing medical, ensuring that candidates are fitted in all respects to serve another term.
Conclusion
There can be little doubt that manpower represents the RAN’s most precious commodity, without it our ships and their weapons systems are useless. The dangers to personnel from the diseases discussed in this essay are no less real than the causes of the diseases themselves so it behoves,’ us to be aware of the problem and take steps to overcome it. The author contends that many members of the RAN are unfit, and under present procedures and routines are unlikely to improve. The methods suggested to remedy the situation are not the only ones possible but they do attempt to raise fitness and general health in the Navy from a systematic approach, based upon incentive or self-help. It is probable that a large proportion of those members now serving have no wish to increase their physical capabilities but the avenue should be provided to those who do, in the same way that new RAN members need to be encouraged to achieve high physical standards early and maintain them. In the long term the success of our Navy will depend upon the calibre of its men equally as upon its material resources, thus dedication to their fitness and well being now may in tum be represented as the RAN’s investment in the future.
