Scoop Deck blogger Lance M. Bacon just completed a 24-hour embark aboard the carrier Harry S Truman. This is the play-by-play.
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Walking through Truman’s passageways, it’s not hard to see that today’s Navy is fit. The hanger bay’s dozen treadmills are in constant use. The “seaside gym” has a dozen other machines in near-constant motion.
In the medical department, the ship’s physical therapist combined the push for fitness with a cultural hit and challenged the sailors to be Truman’s “Biggest Loser.”
Cmdr. Denise Milton launched the program Dec. 5 – just in time for the holiday crunch. It started with 115 sailors, and 22 made it all the way through. This was no crash course in dieting – the goal was healthy weight loss. Participants were required to keep a daily log of exercise and intake, and could not miss more than two weigh-ins.
The winners were Lt. Cmdr. Mark Garrigus for the men, who lost 4.1 percent of his body weight, and ET2 Olga Seoanes for the women, who lost 2.9 percent of her body weight. Other sailors lost more weight, but didn’t do all the required tasks. As such, they were not eligible for the grand prize: A stay at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott.
But as an added measure, the ship’s XO said he would give a 72-hour liberty to any sailor who lost a higher percentage of body weight than him. Capt. Meier lost 3 percent, and five sailors exceeded his mark.
