Physical Training in Firestone - A Recurring Theme

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Over two years ago at this point, I made a forum post regarding physical training (or ‘PT’) and my stance on it. Here’s the link: [Physical Training - Previously Banned, Now Back Again]

With the comments being up for discussion, an overwhelming majority of respondents disagreed with the idea of physical training being used in government institutions. The public view seems to be (or had been) firmly embedded against the idea of physical training in Firestone.

So, having said that, here’s the issue:

I was spectating a POST Tier 1 today, and you’ll never guess what happened; the cadets were assigned PT. Jumping jacks, cheer jacks, hell jacks, all different types being given. Bare in mind, this isn’t even a punitive measure; it’s just built into the base curriculum. I understand it wasn’t the instructor’s fault and I place zero blame on them. It’s the responsibility of the POST command in order to ensure their curriculum doesn’t include things such as physical training; yet it does.

I’m going to get into my personal opinion regarding why PT shouldn’t be used in Firestone, so from here on out there will be immense bias in my messaging. If you disagree, feel free to comment.

Anyways, all of this begs the question: Why is physical training bad in the first place?

Advocates for PT will propose the idea that physical training, such as jumping jacks, instills a sort of discipline in someone. The problem with this proposal is that there really is no correlation between PT and the improvement of discipline among cadets. I myself have not benefitted from physical training, and I highly doubt it will work for others either.

Another use of PT is for punitive action; if you mess up or act out of order, you’re forced to undergo some sort of physical training. Having performed much physical training over the past few years, I’ve never felt a feeling or remorse for acting out of order/doing something wrong nor have I ever felt threatened into acting in line from the proposition of PT. Being forced to go through PT instead fills me with spite and impatience; it’s wasting my time, other’s time, and makes me linger over the idea of hating PT instead of thinking about what I did to deserve it.

Regardless of my personal experience, it really disappoints me to see Firestone returning to the use of physical training. I believe it is an ineffective process, and if the consensus is the same as it was 2 years ago, most others do too.

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never understood the reasoning for PT and never will.

“physical training” as a form of punishment in a Roblox academy where they’re supposed to be teaching you concepts/law enforcement knowledge is very odd…

if what you said is true about tier 1 having PT, I may not be 100% right but that is probably why some of the new POST certified individuals come out not knowing basic concepts because they’re afraid they’ll get physical training for asking a question for reassurance from their instructors

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make them experience real hell in autopt….YEAH

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Back in Norfolk, we ROOTED PT in every aspect of training. At one time, we were pushing out dang fine officers, and applicants would legit say “I quit” and drop the class in the middle of our rigorous PT. Yes, it’s just a Roblox game, but if you can’t do 25 jumping jacks and spell the numbers out, plus 25 more, we don’t need you in what we “strive” for professionalism.

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Bro it’s a game, it’s not that big of a deal. You play Roblox knowing for a fact that you’re going to have to push the buttons on your keyboard to create actions. No one is forcing any Cadet to do PT, everyone that goes through POST has the ability to make their own decision to stay or leave. Ultimately, their dedication to accomplish a task in the game and their mentality are the deciding factor as to whether or not it legitimately happens. I’ll be damned if someone tries to pin their faults and actions towards another individual.

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It also keeps applicants at keyboard, rather than boring lecture where they just record it.

Back in Norfolk, after like every paragraph of lecture we would make the applicants shout “Understood Instructor” and of course, it would weed out the ones slipping AFK, and we’d make the whole class do PT even if just one was AFK.

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NOT TO MENTION, if you can type up to 50 jumping-jacks as fast as you can, without misspelling the word, and getting yelled at by instructors, that really does prepare you to type on your radio getting shot at. No joke.

FSP made the whole class start over the 50 if ONE person misspelled it.

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ROBLOX PT seems kind of useless if you’re just giving it, maybe as a punishment but I still don’t see a usage… Tired fingers is all I can think of as the outcome

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FNG does not do PT and there hasn’t been any major issues with the department because of it. a dishonorable discharge (termination) is a lot scarier than lego training lmao

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i would assume it is the objective of an academy to explain, demonstrate, and assess basic PT.

PT makes more sense in an academy setting, where things like strikes won’t really stick or be as scary because you’re only there for a limited time. PT being annoying makes sense for it to be used punitively.

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Well, discipline is perfect, but it’s also patience. Not many people want to sit and count to 50 jumping jacks and have to start over at 48. It’s mental discipline… and yes it’s just a game… but we strive for professionalism to an extent.

pt is cringe and is just filler so it looks like you do things

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pt is meant to waste your time in a setting where you may be constrained by time so that you shut the fuck up for everyone else. if a tier is 2 hours and you only have 2:15:00 and now they’re wasting 5 minutes doing PT because you didn’t shut the fuck up, thats on you bro.

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lol its not that hard just type

anyways, I don’t see it useful as a form of discipline, as others have said.

I do however see it as a somewhat effective way to determine who pays attention to details. If you’re told to do a jj a certain way, w/ certain punctuation or /e cheer in between, and you fail to follow those directions, without correction, it shows you’re either not listening or you’re mentally challenged

yes, there are other ways of determining if somebody is listening or not, and can pay attention to detail, however this is the only real benefit of ROBLOX PT I see

PT is stupid…

FNG doesn’t do pt…

You just get fired or verbally reprimanded or something like that…

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low t fng

The only PT that POST should be doing in my opinion is a couple (like 5) jumping jacks at the start of a training as a small warmup, I see no need to do 20-30 hell-jacks and laps, especially when you have to redo every time you make a small typo.

As a Senior Operative in SWAT I think PT should mainly be taught/done in tactical units, specifically obby training as it is useful.

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exactly. only time doing pt would be somewhat acceptable is if someone is messing up in POST however i still think if they mess up enough they should just be removed. i’ve seen hardly any cadet removed for making jokes or doing something stupid while training. it seems it just gets easier and easier each class.

only see POST utilize it. FFA has it, but not really utilized/taught. IRL It was supposed to create a sense of discipline. kinda pointless in a lego game

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its pretty pointless, been/being apart of 2 of the 3 main academies in firestone, i can tell during my time PT never seemed to do anything. PT is supposed to build “strive” but all it really does is make people more bored

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