Fitness freak

  • Published
  • By Col. "Tip" Stinnette
  • 39th Air Base Wing Commander
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  During a safety seminar at a coal-burning power plant the following incident was reviewed for lessons learned. Jack's job in the power plant was supervising the coal runner which was kind of like a treadmill except it moved coal from the hopper to the burner.

One day Jack's co-workers returned from their break to find Jack missing. In fact, all that remained was his lunch bucket and work boots. Jack's doctor had recently warned Jack that his cholesterol and blood pressure were both dangerously high and that regular mild exercise would help bring it down. Jack had little spare time on his hands but thought he could fit in some exercise time on his lunch break. Apparently, Jack finished his lunch, changed into sneakers, and hopped up on to the coal runner to get a jog in.

Because he was self-conscious about his weight, he exercised when no one else was around. Evidently,
Jack fell off the coal runner and into the burner, and went on to fame as yet another story for the Darwin Awards book.

There are so many lessons that can be learned from this story ... don't run on coal-runners, exercise with a friend, don't eat and run, don't get out of shape, stay trim and eat right.

At the end of the day while most of us would acknowledge the story as sad, many of us would ask: what was he thinking; you have to be bagging me? Yet nearly every weekend the stories come rolling in, some in the blotter and some not, and I ask myself "what were they thinking?" It's okay to be a freak every now and then, but make sure you have a friend nearby who can rescue you from your stupidity and save you from a Darwinian demise.

Let me add just one other point while on the topic of fitness. In the 3 Fs of Incirlik the middle one is Fitness Excellence. As we have discussed on many occasions, fitness is multidimensional and includes the mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing of each of us.

Medical fitness is clearly a component of physical fitness and includes being medically ready to deploy and fight! Okay, so it's a BFO ... blinding flash of the obvious, but here is what's not: what happens when you miss an appointment? You hurt your buddy, you deprive your family, and your unit is less ready. Think about it, a missed medical appointment is lost time ... time that could have been used to tend to your son's dental requirements, time that could have been used to see your buddy or fix what was ailing, time that could have been used to make someone else ready to deploy and fight. Missed appointments are impolite and hurt the entire community. Just don't do it!

By the way, this coming week we are hosting the Air Force Innkeeper Award team here at the 'Lik.' Our services and lodging team are ready to strut their stuff. We have a first rate support team and it should be a BFO that we are the best in the Air Force. If you get the opportunity, be sure to welcome the Innkeeper team into our community and show them our Incirlik pride in ensuring freedom's future with a first class lodging operation!