Screenshot of the Air Force recruiting video, which was taken down in 2009.
An old Air Force recruiting video in which a military instructor claims trainees are in better shape than most Marines just won’t go away.
The Air Force removed the video from its website in 2009, but it in the world of social media, nothing really dies, so it was recently resurrected on Facebook.
The 57-second video of trainees exercising is narrated by an unnamed elite “blue rope” military training instructor, who says that a common misconception is that the Air Force has the easiest PT standards of the military services.
“Actually, we are the hardest when it comes the PT standards,” the unnamed instructor says. “Our standards are higher and we don’t have the 12 to 16 weeks like the Army and Marines do to get them there, so when the trainees come here, they have very limited time to meet our graduation requirements.
“So when our trainees leave here and become airmen, they’re in better shape than most Marines are.”
Then Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Roy had the video removed after receiving a complaint from then Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlton Kent.
“Needless to say, I was shocked when I checked my e-mail this morning,” Kent told Marine Corps Times on Oct. 15, 2009. “I had numerous e-mails from privates first class through senior staff [non-commissioned officers] questioning the intent of this video. You have to understand, Marines are very proud, and they view statements like the ones in the video as an attack and will defend the honor of our Corps at all costs.”
When asked about the video on Monday, a spokesman for Air Education and Training Command called the instructor’s comment’s “one man’s opinion.”
“Obviously the MTI was quite proud of the physical fitness standards in his basic military training program, but doubt if he used any hard core metrics to assess how his Airmen are ‘in better shape than most Marines,'” Col. Sean McKenna said in an email.
