Do alot of you have wrecked bodies? (knees, back etc)

[blacktriangle]

So I've been thinking about how long I want to be in the CF, and I'm looking to get out by about 30.

I've heard of "Snr NCO's knees" and many a bad back in the forces, so I'm just curious, if any of you have experienced severe long term side effects from PT/Training/Operations have they set in as early as 30, or not until later on in life?

Also, can the majority of these ailments be prevented or is it a given in military life?

 

[Love793]

I'm 31 going on 32 and my knees/ankles and back are cosnstant issues, along with shin splints. A lot of it though was caused by me being young, dumb and supposedly knowing more than all the old guys. Lesson learned (the hard way).

 

[aesop081]

I'm 32 and my knees and back are a constant source of various aches and pains and sometimes its enough to knock me out of action. Over a decade of sleeping in holes in the ground, ruck marches, jumping in and out of trucks and APCs..........

 

[Kat Stevens]

Knees were shot before I was 30,  left shoulder and neck trashed before 35,  back destroyed by 37.  Slugging bridge panels, falling off the top of vehicles in dark hides, full on full contact sports, endless pavement pounding runs, and crawling in, on, and around AEVs and AVLBs for a whole bunch of years.  Plus, when I was a much younger sapper, all senior NCOs were also cross qualified as doctors, and could instantly tell you that nothing was wrong, you were just being an idle crow.

 

[medaid]

I'm on the young side... but wrecked left trap muscle and shoulder. That was 05, 2 years later still not healed properly.

 

[Spanky]

A bad knee and my ears need checking. 

 

[Armymedic]

From my experience, I have found that the incidences of injury and chronic aches are no more that in athletes. You do anything physically strenuous for years, and your body will break eventually. Some break early (in thier 20's) some last into thier 50's.

After all, if you really think about it, we are professional athletes (too bad more people do not think that way) in the worlds most extreme contact sport - combat.

 

[Jed]

Well said, Prairie Dog. I hope this thread does not become a massive hypocondriac whine session that scares off the young guys.  The life does take its toll but so do other professions out in the civi world.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

If the CF had to follow the Occupational Health & Safety Act and Regulations, we'd all be sitting in offices at ergonomically designed workstations.

 

[Harley Sailor]

It's not just in the Army either.  After 30 years in the Navy my knees are shot from running up and down ladders as the ship in moving up and down.  My back is shot from slipping down hatches and landing on it.  My left ear is dead from sitting beside the gun while firing it.  Others have bad shoulders from lifting as the ship is rolling, or being thrown out of their bunk during ruff weather. And the list goes on.

 

[Haggis]

If the CF had to follow the Occupational Health & Safety Act and Regulations, we'd all be sitting in offices at ergonomically designed workstations.

DND and the CF is required to follow some aspects of the Canada Labour Code.  Every unit is mandated to have a General Safety Committee to deal with OH&S matters.

I work at NDHQ and have been the Military co-chair on our directorate's Health & Safety committee.  Although it's true that DND/CF is exempt from certain OH&S legislation, in garrisons and HQs the regulations must be applied due to the mixed civilian/military workplace/workforce.  There have been cases where CF members have faced NDA and/or criminal charges arising from workplace "industrial" accidents which have cause death or injury.

Once deployed, however, the principle of unlimited liability effectively cancels out many OH&S requirements that could hinder the execution of the mission.  Even so, every injury and death while deployed must be investigated to ensure we can lessen the risks for others.  In the final analysis, a possible negligent discharge could be interpreted as a workplace accident and be investigated as such.

 

[Sig_Des]

DND and the CF is required to follow some aspects of the Canada Labour Code.  Every unit is mandated to have a General Safety Committee to deal with OH&S matters.

I work at NDHQ and have been the Military co-chair on our directorate's Health & Safety committee.  Although it's true that DND/CF is exempt from certain OH&S legislation, in garrisons and HQs the regulations must be applied due to the mixed civilian/military workplace/workforce.  There have been cases where CF members have faced NDA and/or criminal charges arising from workplace "industrial" accidents which have cause death or injury.

Once deployed, however, the principle of unlimited liability effectively cancels out many OH&S requirements that could hinder the execution of the mission.  Even so, every injury and death while deployed must be investigated to ensure we can lessen the risks for others.  In the final analysis, a possible negligent discharge could be interpreted as a workplace accident and be investigated as such.

Sidebar question for you, Haggis.

Any locals that we employ overseas, are we obligated to apply OH&S standards?

 

[Haggis]

Sidebar question for you, Haggis.

Any locals that we employ overseas, are we obligated to apply OH&S standards?

in the camps, we are (morally/ethically?) obligated to provide as safe a work enviornment for them as we would for CF members,  CFPSA or OCGD employees.  Outside the wire (terps, for example) we cannot do the same as the Taliban/AQ do not provide a safe work environment that we can control.

 

[blacktriangle]

Ok looks like a common theme. Thanks guys. I'm getting out just after my 29th birthday I guess, then off to retire in the tropics  > 10.5 more years to go...

 

[smithdc]

hell, ive only been in for 2 years , done bmq sq and dp1, and i have nerve damage in 3 toes, and i already have a chit for magnums because my arches and heels are messed up, but thats just army feet, it happens, soldier on :warstory:

 

[rormson]

Definitely some chronic issues with muscles and knees. Question is do you want to end life at the finish line in perfect shape or knowing that you had fun along the way & contributed in your own way to the work and greater efforts of the CF? Civies do the same, trust me. (e.g. welders, truckers, white colllar MFs, etc.)

PS RIP Combat Engrs - - the lads hit the ground in Trenton today. CHIMO

 

[X-mo-1979]

  Plus, when I was a much younger sapper, all senior NCOs were also cross qualified as doctors, and could instantly tell you that nothing was wrong, you were just being an idle crow.

bhaaaaaaa!

That really made a bad day a lot better!
Funny stuff...cause it's true.

p.s I was faking a broken Fibula a while back...I swear to god.Snr NCO didnt know me well I guess,seen my cast come off towards end ex and decided to say "how coinvienent it was" I could take the cast off now that the ex was done. :

Only issues I have is my ankle keeps blowing out...after it folded in half thus breaking my fib off.

 

[xo31@711ret]

44 years old: Spent 6 years in the infantry; then 18 as a medic, mostly with field units (been doing supp res / employed since). Have some 'minor' issues with my shoulder, ankle and (sometimes) back. Sometimes I think, I'm broken. But then i look at some of civvies friends I've known for +30 years; out of shape, pot belly, etc. Had a couple who kicked the bucket with the old heart before they were 50....yep, I think I'm doing ok considerin'.

 

[geo]

Heh... been in for 35+ yrs - back is in decent shape, ears are surprisingly decent shape (considering), the only real problem I have is my right knee ( darned WWB !!! ) and that only happened in the last year.  Yeah, my back & knees did ache before the big fall - but, at 54 - there are a lot of people who are younger than I who are a lot more messed up & spend a bundle to recover their health.

Must be all that clean living.

 

[George Wallace]

Let's see.......  After 30 plus years, and many of those on Tracked Vehicles, there are signs of compressed discs and arthritis in my lower back.  Years of wearing a headset, mostly over the left ear, leaving the right ear to listen to other 'outside' noise, as well as having CC'd and fired HMG and Tank, I have reduced hearing in the Left ear...........although I can still hear the Stereos of many young driver's pimped out rides in city traffic.  (Wonder what their hearing will be like before they reach their 20th birthdays?)