Dr. Ed Thomas gets a very determined look in his eye when someone asks him about his passion -- the physical education degree program he started, with help from the Army Physical Fitness School and the U.S. Army Infantry School's Directorate of Training at Fort Benning, Ga.
"A body that is not balanced and comfortable will usually accompany a mind that cannot focus. It all comes down to movement," said Thomas as he talked about the degree program and Army physical fitness in general.
That movement can be something as simple as squatting. Squatting is very therapeutic, Thomas said. It stretches the lower back, lifts the chest, stretches the quadriceps and mobilizes the Achilles tendon. "Squats mobilize the whole body in a unique way," Thomas added.
So what?
Well, said Thomas, in the United States, we haven't squatted for so long, we've left ourselves unable to do it, for very long anyway. And all of the physical movements inherent in squatting are not only therapeutic, Thomas pointed out, "they're essential for the soldier."
A soldier who can't squat won't be able to crouch to cover under fire, Thomas said. And if a soldier tires after crouching twice, that soldier won't be able to move, cover, fire and continue to "operate out there," particularly wearing a heavy ruck. "So this loss of mobility is a serious problem," he explained.
"Soldiers are required to move in ways that other human beings are not," Dr. David White added. "When a soldier goes into combat, he doesn't go in the back of a limo."
White, Thomas' colleague, runs the master's degree program the two recently developed. White first became a believer in Thomas and his program in 1993 when White was commandant of the Army's Physical Fitness School.
"When Ed came to me in 1993 and explained his program and what he was trying to do with it, I was very impressed," White said.
The Army had a limited view of the importance of the physical fitness test at the time, he said.
"The PT test had become an end rather than a means. We weren't focusing on how to use fitness, health, strength and endurance to make us better soldiers in our jobs instead of better in a general physical sense," White added.
Tying fitness to soldiering is one of the program's tenets.
"This is a mission-related degree," said Leon Johnson, a retired first sergeant who now works in the program. "Through this program soldiers can come through here and take something right back to their units and immediately apply it."
"This degree is directly applicable to the demands that we place on combat soldiers," Thomas added.
The undergraduate program awards its graduates a bachelor of science degree in physical education. Currently, it is available only at Fort Benning, Ga., through Troy State University, but Thomas hopes to soon expand the program to other military installations.
The program is geared toward what Thomas and White call "functional fitness." "Soldiers don't only need to be healthy and have strong muscles, they need to have strong muscles that do something," said White.
The program's curriculum, based on early European and Asian systems, is divided into pedagogical, restorative and martial components. The pedagogical, or theoretical side, includes basic theory in anatomy, kinesiology, health promotion, foundations of fitness and nutrition.
The restorative, or restorative arts, component includes those techniques used to bring the body to its optimal state of readiness, Thomas said. This can include relearning basic movements with Indian clubs [sort of like old, wooden, bowling pins] and gaining muscular endurance through use of dumbbells and increasing flexibility.
The martial component includes weapons courses, close-range grappling courses, medium-range kicking and striking. Thomas said that the program does not limit itself to a particular style of martial arts. Instead he looks for martial arts "that can be applied to a soldier, not sports and games. So, if we teach judo, we apply it to the task of being a soldier."
Thomas also has an excellent relationship with the U.S. Army Physical Fitness School at Fort Benning. "Some of the cadre teach for us," he said. "I think most of the NCOs are in the program as students. It's a perfect marriage of education and training."
All of this results in a program that soldiers have been flocking to. The program grew by 300 percent in its first year. Response was so good that Thomas and White started the master's degree program in only the second year.
And they hope to interest other combat arms-related installations, such as Fort Bragg, N.C., and Fort Campbell, Ky., in hosting the program in the near future. Then soldiers can start the program at one installation and continue it when they PCS.