Originally Posted by rickair7777

Yes, basic fitness (not SOF fitness) and military bearing should be a given for anyone who plans on going much further than E3. By no means is that the end all, be all. I got promoted by being smart, working hard, and having the luck to develop some critical skills and experiences early in the game before anyone knew they were going to be critical.

I did have a friend from way back who was always into fitness (as was I). He gained some media publicity for training for an iron-man while serving as the CO of ship on deployment. He would have the ship stop dead in the water so he (and only he) could swim laps around a destroyer for training. I found that to be odd and perhaps not appropriate, and I would have been uncomfortable with media coverage in any event. He ultimately came under indictment in the fat leonard business, so there might be a type of personality that manifests that way. But almost everyone I know who got command was fit, usually former athletes, probably reflects motivation and stamina (especially as you get older, gotta lead from the front).