Grrl Power #747 – Physical Training Snooze… Don’t
Sydney doesn’t frequent psychologists, but she’s been around them a few times in her life. Notably when she was younger and got diagnosed with ADHD, and a few follow-ups to tweak her meds. She’s being progressive about asking for help when it’s needed instead of letting this fester because she’s hoping there’s a pill she can take for it. For a lack of a better term, let’s say she’s got a touch of PTSD. There might be a better diagnosis – she’s not to the point where she’s having panic attacks or waking flashbacks, at least not yet. Just nightmares bad enough to give her insomnia.
In case you’re wondering, Sydney taped her orbs to her hands, as she has done in the past a few times, because dropping her shield orb while she’s sleeping and letting the monsters in would be bad. Falling asleep in her airtight bubble would be actually bad, so – tape. It’s a pretty secure way to sleep actually. Except that her shield doesn’t keep out light or noise. Well, it keeps out lasers, so maybe it keeps out dangerously loud sounds. It just doesn’t keep out the usual annoying noises when you’re trying to sleep. Dogs barking, your neighbor’s party or TV. Incidentally, her room is next to Dabbler’s, but fortunately the resident succubus had extra soundproofing done. Well, not physical soundproofing. It’s like a ward.
I can’t imagine trying to exercise while sleep deprived. It seems I can barely motivate myself to do it when I’m feeling 100% these days. Doing it while exhausted? I think you’d probably plod along in misery for a few minutes, then you’d get some sort of adrenaline reaction that could carry you 10-15 minutes, then after that you’d start feeling like you’re having an insulin crash or something. I imagine the military, especially in boot camp, is probably not reeeeeal sympathetic to complaints of insomnia and the like. In fact, I can’t help but think there’s probably a perverse delight in running NCOs into the ground. Cause, you know, making people literally pass out from exhaustion is ‘hardcore’ or whatever.
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Looks like the reality of everything she’s just gone through over the past couple of days/months has finally sunk in. Now Sydney gets to go up close and personal with PTSD. Quite frankly I’m a bit surprised that Max didn’t immediately set up some counseling after her mile high confab with Sydney. Once she realized that Sydney engaged in solo combat with a bunch of nightmares of legend, Max should have realized this was going to hit Sydney hard sooner or later.
to be fair she might have LT jumped to professional help really quick. and I’m not expert but i bet stuff like that works better after you ask for help.
Peggy jumping to the professional stuff need not be something Max put her up to. She surely has her own demons haunting her, with that leg, and a loooong past of top secret operations.
I am a licensed expert and you are correct, it works WAY better when asked for first. I might quibble a bit about PTSD but for a functional definition of issues, it works.
it helps. that having adhd. usually brings about therapy at some point. mine was only a year. but some people have had one for years. So at some point she went to one. So..
I was in therapy for ADHD and a few related things that seem to tag along with it from the time I was…oh, 9 or 10 I think until sometime after I got my driver’s license. But then I was a pretty severe case. Me off my meds during my preteen years made Sydney look calm and focused.
Thankfully it’s gotten less severe as I’ve gotten older. These days I’m able to control it through self medication with coffee. Most days, anyway. I occasionally still have a day when I just resign myself to not getting anything done.
yep
I’m on the same side of opinion regarding Sydney’s heavy-duty and recent psychological trauma right here, especially since prior to joining ARCSWAT she was both a regular civilian and a huge comics’ fan who, I might add, probably never figured for a hot minute that anything like this was ever going to happen to her.
I suspect that her ‘private conversation’ with Maxima up towards the edge of orbital space was only maintained by the tail end of her ‘psychic adrenaline’ shooting through her, with shock setting in heavily along with what I assume was her ‘partying crash’. I’m not saying she needs or deserves some time off, but take it from someone who’s gotten more than a few extended-length psychological gut-punches of this kind of extremity (IMHO) in his own IRL: stuff like this does need a proper bit of time away from stress or the generation of it, to return to a healthy mental place inside without permanent injury.
I’d agree with that wholeheartedly. In addition, it might have been easier for her to open up about feeling like she could use some professional counseling to a fellow ‘member of the A-team’ rather than Maxima. Sydney tends to put Max on kind of a pedestal.
(Not a literal pedestal, though, because then Max would have to change her name to Oscar.)
I don’t think it was the psychic adrenaline, this is probably just the first night where she was alone, and not worrying about more immediate things, like your ass releasing a plasma light show. So it’s just hitting her all at once, right now.
I wonder if she’s even processed yet that those aliens weren’t robots. she did a lot of destruction. Even if the ships wound up being remote controlled. she killed some. that’s going to be a lot of therapy
Brains are pretty amazing things – they are pretty good at keeping you going until the crisis is over and then they unload. Survive then thrive.
Not true for everyone at all times, I know, but lots of people survive horrible stuff with surprisingly little trauma. That said, it’s cool that Sydney recognizes her need to talk this out – been there myself a few times and talking to a professional has some technical twists that bitching to one’s friends just can’t help.
If you think you might need help, you probably do – never be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help.
I think you mean “running recruits into the ground.” The NCOs are the ones doing it.
Also, word missing in panel seven.
And… which word would that be?
“Even I’m sleep deprived” -> “Even though I’m sleep deprived”
I’d guess.
Was just messing with them, for not saying which word was missing
It’s like saying “there is something wrong with one of the panels” without saying what they believe is wrong, or even which panel
There were a couple ‘problems’ with images in the latest “Merceneiress” page, butt by pointing out what image(s) and in which panel, they were able to be fixed
When sleep deprived, people’s grammar is often wrong. “Even I’m sleep deprived” might be the better option in this case because it is coming from a brain that’s not functioning at 100%.
Agreed. I also find it bizarre she apparently managed to pronounce all of her words correctly. I mean, I generally do these days, but after enough nightmares one starts to adapt. It’s my impression she’s generally been spared from that sort of thing.
If.
True. NCO’s are beloved and hated for that fact.
It’s weird, but the fitness thing is important. Your mind is only as good as your body.
Also – people judge you on how fit and strong you look. You get treated better when fit. I know this from personal experience.
True. Although the most successful way to get in shape is to work your way up, rather than going all-in from the get-go.
Sydney could probably benefit from exercise at the moment, simply because in the large majority of cases exercise is great for mental health.
That said, if this was IRL she should probably be given a psych evaluation before she’s given the green light for the rest of her training program. And frankly her psych’s recommendation should outrank anything anyone else says.
Yeah though speaking as someone with mental health issues, taking walks through nature, working the fields or light exercise with friends would probably be way more benificial in Sydneys current situation than mandated training with a sergeant screaming at you.
Honestly if I have a bad day the last thing on this entire planet I’d need is someone screaming at me. I’d probably just curl up and start bawling. Excersize is good, yes but some days you also just deserve a break and eating chocolate icecream on the couch for a *little* while can be helpful too.
It was my understanding that Archon was the sort of lighter, happier military where they don’t scream at you just to make you exercise when you’re suffering from PTSD, especially when you have some kind of high damage output at your disposal.
Military fitness does work it’s way up.
What seems insane the first few days is a fraction of what the recruits will be called upon to perform by the third week.
And if the recruits can look back at how far they have come in bootcamp, well, that is only a start point for a line batallion.
It hasn’t even been more than about a week for Sydney and she’s already seen combat way beyond what most humans on Earth will ever experience (that includes every super), so somehow I kind of doubt that shoving her through exercise is going to help anything in her current state. Once she does talk to a therapist about the entire experience (one that has security clearance), maybe they’ll see how fucked up it is?
You can understand her being stressed out, once you remember that the entire run of the comic has taken place in a few weeks of her life.
But I wouldn’t assume PTSD at this point; A couple days after an experience like that, nightmares don’t need to be considered a medical syndrome.
Even without factoring in the time frame of events in the comic as a whole, it’s literally been 2-3 days for Sydney vs 2 months for everyone else. Not to mention the fact that what she had to do to survive the a fore mentioned alien hellscape included killing things personally (something she’s likely never done before). Also 1-2 days prior she kind of died (but got better).
It may be a bit early to fully call it, but Sydney is currently demonstrating some pretty standard symptoms of PTSD right now. Namely the disturbed sleep stemming from nightmares/intense recollection of traumatic events, and extreme paranoia following said traumatic events (she taped her shield and life support balls to her hands active while she tried to sleep despite being in place she should by all rights consider safe).
You’re probably right, but I’d say it’s a fair on-the-fly call coming from Peggy. Sydney seems lucid and not in any sort of agitation that would warrant an emergency, and it’s very important to establish a fitness routine, and keep to it.
As long as Peggy keeps a close eye on her while she’s exercising and is ready to intervene if something feels off, things should go alright.
Once she sees a psych (hopefully quickly, just for safety’s sake), mental health is absolutely a priority. It’s critical for normal soldiers, much less powered beings which might be on par with(or more powerful than) nuclear ordinance.
Considering we do know that Peggy is aware of Sydney’s hard limits (and not to over-invoke the Bat), and that she also knows how to watch for signs of mental fatigue, anxiety, etc…I think Peggy is going to go “easy” on Sydney in terms of intensity, maybe ramp up from the warmup slower than usual, and keep a closer eye on her…but still have her exercise.
It’s 100% correct that you do need to keep up with a physical fitness regimen. The trick is to do the muscle-building exercises (heavy weights, resistance training, etc) on alternate days and the lighter, more aerobic exercises (jogging, running, easy but repetetitve stuff) on the in-between days. The body can build up muscles when they’re stressed,but they need 48 hours of light exercise, not heavy straining, in between each session, or all you’re doing is injuring muscles, not building them bigger. (Also, eat LOTS of protein.)
(Any quick suggestion about how to get rid of belly fat? I have some muscles underneath the fat, but the fat is still there.)
Have you seen the actor for The Mountain? Real strongmen arw known for being built like a bear, not a cheetah
Just work on the strength and don’t worry about the “fat”
IIRC most doctors recommend mild exercise, like walking (if you have a dog, that’s a good way to force yourself to get out and get some exercise twice a day, if you’re the type of person, like me, who simply can’t exercise just for the sake of exercise, only when I’m actually accomplishing something) If you live close enough to work, possibly consider getting a bicycle and cycling to work instead of driving or taking an Uber. If you work or live on the 2nd to 5th floor, resist the urge to use the elevator and take the stairs if practical (not if you’re carrying 50 LBs of groceries, or live on the 10th floor. No need to go nuts.)
If you don’t have a dog, I would recommend some AR game: Ingress, Pokemon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite …
You can’t target where you lose fat, it’s going away or added everywhere. Where the most comes from or goes to is going to vary from person to person. The best advice is therefore to find the foods that make you most satiated at the same amount of calories, which usually means getting protein rich and fiber rich foods, with an added bonus for stuff containing lots of water like certain fruits as well as soups.
You can’t target weight loss. Doing situps doesn’t make you lose belly fat, it just burns slightly more calories than not doing situps. You just have to lose weight. If your body clings to it in certain areas, you have to adjust your calorie intake and exercise until you start losing weight again. Or losing fat, more accurately. You don’t necessarily want to lose muscle mass if you can help it.
Well, to be fair, situps also tighten your abdominal muscles, and a belly can be from slack abs, not just from fat.
As long as you don’t overdo them, which can result in you having a rock hard protruding belly… Which isn’t unhealthy, mind you.
Buy a bicycle, and park your car. Depending on how far you live from work washboard abs in 2-3 months. If you don’t get killed first. It took me just over a year to get killed, but as one of the cops that shadowed my ride home said, “You’re an idiot magnet, and those idiots are paying our bills.”
I have a bicycle and I loved to ride it, but don’t dare yet again after 2 disc prolapses shortly after one another. I get special training (Pilates) now and hope I get back to ride again next year.
But according to previous experiences, riding the bike didn’t do anything noticeable. Maybe I didn’t do it enough. (It takes a lot more time than the car.)
If you’re talking about subcutaneous belly fat, i.e. fat between your skin and your ab muscles, what everyone else has said. If you’re talking about visceral belly fat, i.e. under the muscles and dispersed through the abdomen, then look into a low inflammation diet or check out a company called Day Two which takes an inventory of your age and lifestyle, and gene sequences a stool sample to evaluate your gut microbiome and gives you a personalized diet recommendation based on the results. Day Two isn’t perfect, but it’s a heck of a lot better than flailing around trying different diets based on the claims of currently popular ones.
Coolsculpting.
Liposuction.
Many thanks everybody!
And yes, it’s subcutaneous fat, I can flex the muscles and feel them but there is a nice smooth layer of fat on top of them so they never become visible ^__^
I disagree. You can have trash as a body and posses the sharpest mind.
It has been proven time and again that regular exercise leads to increased mental toughness which allows you to shrug off the effects of stress better, such as combat stress. It’s been highly studied in the last 10 years by the military what with the high op-tempo of combat operations and the high rate of PTSD in the early stages of the War on Terror.
So yes, you can have a trash body and a sharp mind. Yet you can increase your ability to resist stress effects from things like combat with a good regimen of exercise. Sharp minds don’t always resist stress well, and that’s the key here.
Source: Me. I’m a combat vet.
Actually, I had a friend who studied that in the 80s. It turns out that exercise and body building does in fact make you stupid… I’ve forgotten his results, but it was something like 1 standard deviation (10-15 IQ points) that he lost over a few weeks.
However, after he stopped, his intelligence returned to full clarity, and the health and energy benefits were significant, so he just cycled though.
That’s because body building is not healthy exercise: to get that sort of figure you see on stage, you are literally starving your body of nutrients, and you are far from being fit let alone strong
sharpest donesn’t mean toughest.
You know, if doing PT helps get her tired enough to pass out and get some real, actual sleep, that would be good, right? :)
depends if she has night terrors
The Batman boop a boop song will be back. (Shudders)
I’m just glad Peggy didn’t ask Sydney if Batman would skip PT because of nightmares.
(Note: I don’t for a second imagine she would have even thought about doing that.)
I mean, he wouldn’t, as he canonically has recurring nightmares about the night his parents were murdered. But saying it would have been pretty awful under the circumstances.
Yeah, I was gonna say, I’m pretty sure Batman stays up all night training because of nightmares. Which is really kinda worse.
She knows there’s a point where invoking the Batman one too many times is a bad thing…so she’ll use it sparingly. Especially after Sydney swore her to secrecy on her angry profaning.
I wonder if the shield actually does provide protection against various forms of psychological stress? The flight orb provides protection against vertigo…
See what DaveB wrote below in this one:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-665-rock-paper-particle-beam/
“Welcome to the desert of the real”
I like how the shielding is advanced enough to be able to dfferentiate between harmless light/sound and the harmful kind. Unlike the shield of a certain villain in a certain game: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-2/
Isn’t she lucky!?
That page (and the whole flash forward thing) is actually a bit of a plot hole that’s been bugging me for a while, because in that flash forward, its revealed she’s already gotten a rank which she hasn’t even gotten to yet. However, after the fight at the restaurant, Sydney calls dabbler in the middle of the night to ask about lights going through the shield, treating the flash forward as a flash back, and is stunned by the answer as a result. The flash foward argument shouldn’t have happened because she already got that knowledge from dabbler, and the dabbler reaction shouldn’t have happened because the game hadn’t happened yet.
Remember: what happened in the first few pages takes place after every thing that came, well, after the first few pages
I’ve never seen that as a plot-hole myself. The game-playing flash-forward can still happen after the current comics.
The super-hero gaming system doesn’t have to work exactly the same as (Grrlpower-)reality.
Her shield experience, and Dabbler’s explanation, are “reality”. She KNOWS that her shield works with a filter, but also that that is because it’s way-advanced Nth-level tech (as we learned from Cora).
The gaming discussion was rules-lawyering about how the fictitious-superhero-game system works (and trying to bend it to her advantage).
From her “prior” experience with her own shield, she knows that “smart transparancy” is a complicated, high-level feature, so likely an insanely expensive power-up in the game-logic.
She then goaded the DM (who likely hadn’t thought that far ahead) into either live-upgrading the villain to god-tier power-ups, or make her attack work because it’s a “dumb” shield.
Speaking as a former DM: you DO NOT go down the road of god-tier villains, especially not in the spur of the moment. It always ends badly. Players WILL use this reluctance to manipulate you :-)
spoken like a true RPG player.
As a fellow experienced DM I agree. :D
Also, the villain’s shield was a copy of one of the hero’s shield, so if the DM had upgraded it, the player character would’ve gotten a free upgrade. For those who haven’t played superhero RPGs before: You start with a pool of points to buy powers. Then you buy basic powers, and spend more points to buy upgrades, and you can gain points by taking disadvantages. Her argument was that her fellow player had only bought the basic shield and not any advance upgrades.
Her team-mate did indeed have the ability to make her own force fields opaque, but the villain had just copied the powers and not learned how to do any such power stunts. He’d probably be able to do it given the time to figure it out, but he didn’t get that chance.
The main reason Sydney won that Rules-Lawyering was because Kopy Kraut had only just stolen that ability so wouldn’t have been able to figure out how to filter the malevolent from the benevolent
That game is in the future. She’s a corporal.
Yes, in the future, which is after she learnt what she learnt from Dabbles
Nth-level tech or Q-level tech? And I am not referring to James Bond’s tech guy.
Arguably the same thing.
Exercising while sleep deprived? That’s pretty much the definition of Basic Training in the military.
Been there, done that. Far too many times. It sucks.
Yes. Although not usually while suffering post traumatic stress disorder. That’s supposed to come after basic training.
She doesn’t have PTSD. She’s having a normal stress reaction. It would be weird if she didn’t.
PTSD is when it lingers for years, and even affects you while you’e awake. It’s a form of obsession.
Well, for what we know, that could be the case because it hasn’t been very long since she got back.
However, PTSD – and trust me, I work with people from all walks of life who have it – is not something that you can predict or recognize at the get-go. One combat encounter can wreck the least prepared person’s life for a long, long time. Not saying you’re wrong, just saying she could have it, we wouldn’t know until we see long term.
I would not think Sydney was completly unprepared for combat encounters. She has great skill at distancing herself from the situation by viewing it as a comic book.
It’s not an obsession, it’s a side effect of having dissociated the mind to cope with an event or series of events, and not having processed the experience into memory.
As the mind ages, it becomes more difficult to suppress things. This is why people can seem to be unaffected or little and then fall apart into a tangled bundle of flashbacks and anxiety in their their thirties or forties.
That… could explain a lot. Thanks, Doc. It’s too soon to tell for sure, but that feels like it’s really going to help. :)
Field operations and combat involve strenuous effort while sleep deprived.
Shouldn’t Sydney’s second talk bubble as she’s removing the tape from her hands say, ‘Even if I’m sleep deprived’?
Sometimes when you are sleep deprived entire sentences just kind of don’t come out with all of the words.
And what’s wrong with ‘Even though I’m sleep deprived?’ o_O
“If” is a query about her ‘condition’, “though” is a definitive statement
Regarding the commentary about military exercise while sleep-deprived: are you kidding? My understanding is that they practically THRIVE on forcing recruits to exercise through sleep-deprivation. Finally allow people to go to bed around 2 AM, wake everyone up at 4AM for morning PT, run them through a whole day of getting their butts kicked by exercise, let them finally collapse into bed around 2 AM, get them up again at 4 AM… rinse repeat.
That is a bit extreme. It is usually more like a 16hr days, expecting soldiers to fall asleep immediately upon getting to the barracks. Sundays are usually given off, but you are not allowed to sleep but clean instead (or go to a worship service of your choice).
But it does train the mind to push through exhaustion rather well.
Wow Sydney is really worried about whether or not people are grabbing her secrets from her brain and her sleep
first, @daveB Peggy’s eyes look amazing. great work
the only question is Peggy wherein lip gloss? she doesn’t strike me as the type to do that for morning pt
p.s still reading even if i don’t comment much anymore
“Cause, you know, making people literally pass out from exhaustion is ‘hardcore’ or whatever”…
No, it’s not because it’s hardcore, it’s because in a real battle you can’t ask time out.
You better at least know the feeling. Drill Sargeant get a bad rep but they save life’s.
it also reinforces the don’t think just do as your told mentality that military’s love in their cannon fodder
Yes but supers aren’t cannon fodder. They are a rare resource, high value asset. They’re going to be treated differently.
The “don’t think just do as you’re told” mentality is also meant to save lives. It can be HORRIBLY abused, of course. But the idea is that after basic training with a Drill Instructor who conditions you with “when I say jump, you JUMP! You don’t ask how high,” you can go into a combat zone, and when you hear “hit the deck!” you don’t ask “why?” You just hit the deck and take cover… before the grenade you didn’t notice landing in your vicinity goes off.
The same thing applies to “Hypervigilance,” where the subject is so overly stressed that they freeze, or panic, or run, or stand up, or any of a bunch of other things that only make sense to the subject because they’ve got tunnel vision, can barely hear anything over the sound of their own heartbeat, etc. Hearing an authoritative voice barking out commands can help settle the subject and let them focus on their training and the orders being given, IF they’ve been conditioned to follow orders.
Again, this can be badly abused. But the intent is to save the lives of the troops.
Thank you for explaining it better than me
The military does not thrive on “Do as you’re told.” At least it damned well has not since My Lai.
Throughout my years in the military there was a great emphasis on the “Lawful” part of “obey lawful orders” and troops are taught to evaluate what they are ordered to do to an extent.
Eh, that’s more about stress testing and making sure people have the right reflex reactions to situations. Grab your shield orb, don’t punch the laser zombie etc.
People hardly need a push to do as their told by authority figures, follow the herd or generally just pass on decision making or responsibility whenever they can.
https://www.cracked.com/article_16239_5-psychological-experiments-that-prove-humanity-doomed.html
Forcefield and Air…obviously.
Set and forget?
Good thing nightmares don’t change parameters.
Also…with her hands full…no PewPew upon waking up.
+2
…If Sydney can erect a bubble around herself in her sleep, isn’t there a risk that her nightmares will result in oxygen deprivation?
Nope, The green orb makes air, so she has infinite air.
With the air orb active inside the airtight shield I think that Sydney would also be experiencing PTSF.*
* Periodic Temporary Shield Farts.
she had the air ball in the other hand. it’s why she used her teeth to get free
The US military standard for sleep is 3 hours per day. Not necessarily in a row. And that’s after 3 days of no sleep at all. Because that’s what war does, and you really want to stay alive.
Basic training is conditioning you to the reality that you really can function while sleep deprived.
Or rather that you can function to a degree – particularly if you are in very good physical and mental health beforehand. Which you want to be if you are undergoing that kind of training.
Sleep deprivation is still terrible for you, and if you aren’t in a good state to begin with you can do serious harm to yourself.
Perhaps that should be obvious, but there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for imitating the military around. Sleep deprivation is not of those ‘what doesn’t kill me makes me tougher’ things.
I thought Sydney would have to compensate those two months with KP duty…!?
Why? She was MIA, not AWOL: more training rather than punishment (… although many would consider any trainingto be punishment, which is why they get training)
I’d give you a hug and tell you it would be better Sydney…. but after 10 years it hasn’t worked for me yet.
When I was in the Marines, I was impressed with the number of guys and gals that would come to PT with only 2-3 hours of sleep and still hung over, yet still perform well
So, not only have I been through USArmy Basic Training as a recruit, but as a fresh Butter Bar, I got to run a Basic Training platoon for three months. First of all, most recruits are between the ages of 18-20. This is a time of life when one has ridiculous amounts of energy. Second, the NCO’s and officers are well aware of the effects of sleep deprivation and do their best to minimize such. Lights out is rarely later than 10pm, and most days the recruits are awakened between 5am and 6am. If there is to be night training, usually an enforced nap in the early evening, right after evening chow, is on the agenda. By the time such happens, most recruits have learned to sleep whenever given the opportunity. There are 72 hour exercises, but these are rare, and the recruits are allowed a full night’s sleep prior and a day of rest after. The 72 hour exercises are to show the recruits that they can do it, and survive it. The USArmy also understands that sleep deprivation can be alleviated, to some degree, by additional carb and sugar intake. Every read the calorie count on an MRE? My usual breakfast, when I was Infantry, was a ham steak as thick as my thumb, a three egg omlet with ham and cheese, a large serving of hash browns, a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and syrup with milk, a bowl of sweet cereal with milk, two slices of toast with butter and jam, two large glasses of milk, and two large glasses of the juice offered (usually orange). I would consume all of that within 15 minutes, and, on may way out of the chow hall, secure two small boxes of cereal, usually something sugary, two pieces of fruit, and a handful of cracker packets. This last was my 10am snack. I guarantee that I burned all of those calories in the morning, during training, and was starving by lunch time, wherein I was fed another large meal. It has been noted that an army travels on its stomach, and appears to be quite true.
As far as running NCO’s into the ground, after about two months of strenuous PT, I went through Basic in 1980, our morning PT usually included an hour of physical exercises in full gear, followed by a 10 mile run, still in full gear. This was before breakfast, of course. We were required to maintain an 8 minute per mile pace, which is a USArmy standard for full gear and a 50 lb. ruck sack. This allows a soldier to move about the field in a relatively quick manner, while still having the energy to enter an extended combat situation. So, after about two months, the recruits are in pretty good shape. At this time, the Drill Sergeants take a more of a back seat and allow the Drill Sargeants in Training take a more active role. This is usually when the recruits test the heck out of them. Are they tough enough to hang on the run? What if we step up the pace a bit? Are they tough enough to control us? The recruits may think that they are being clever and unique, but this is all part of the the planned training.
USArmy Basic Training is primarily about instilling a military discipline and mindset in young civilians who have been, mostly, raised in privilege. Practically everything that is done during this period is extremely well thought-out and has been scientifically studied for centuries.
+1
Agreed on all points. Additionally, as hard as the recruits are run, the training is arranged and set up by those very NCOs running them into the ground. This means those NCOs are getting less sleep than the recruits, and have to stay in a sharper state, since they’re having to train them while performing the same strenuous activities.
I find that the sleep deprivation that you hear about in training in the military comes during the more advanced training courses. Like SERE training, or NBC excercise training. Basic training feels like you’re sleep deprived from the get-go, mostly because you aren’t prepared for the mental and physical stress with the early mornings. Eventually, though, you get used to it (unfortunately, since time seems to fly in basic, you only seem to be used to it at the end of training).
What kind of made me laugh was I was the … secretary for better word? … of the Commander at the 321st training squadron (Air Force) that had to do inspections and monitor training. And sit in the Snake Pit (I feel for everyone who gets that reference). Which was just another excuse for “getting recruits used to having officers around so they learn how to salute and address them correctly.” I 100% agree with the fact that NCO’s often had longer days and later nights than recruits, and then they had to put their game faces on with their perfect uniforms an hour or so before the day started. That was impressive. And to keep that amount of energy going all day. I was certainly impressed, and the NCO’s that worked their hardest actually had the best squads that showed the most appreciation for them. Those NCO’s that didn’t do their jobs right were the ones who had the least respect afterwards.
Sleep deprivation in the military is a result of the mission the military performs.
It exists as part of bootcamp because it is important for personnel to develop an ability to cope with it.
As with many, many other things, bootcamp is used to weed out people who cannot cope with sleep deprivation before more money and time is invested in them.
Pretty much spot on TC. I’ll only add that sleeping was never a problem what having to double time to get from one point to another even when not in formation. When one wasn’t undergoing physical activities there were always classes, classes classes exercising the grey matter muscle between the ears. Don’t recall sleep deprivation as ever being a thing as I zonked out out as soon as my head hit the bunk until reveille and usually dozed whenever we got as much as a 15 minute break. Yeah, there were a couple of field exercises where we were on the go for an extended time but for myself those times were interspersed with adrenalin rushes and were interesting enough that lack of sleep wasn’t an issue.
Abiout training when sleep deprived, make sense. Enemies don’t have snooze buttons.
Also, so the orbs works even while ‘sleeping’ (for a given value of sleep). Interesting.
I am actually kinda happy to see Peggy again. I did not know she was the PT Instructor.
During boot camp, and usually for a while after, there’s no such thing as “not being able to sleep at night”. You learn to sleep anywhere, anytime. I’ve slept while marching. I watched a guy get up, get dressed, make his rack, march to chow, eat, and then not wake up until we were standing in formation afterwards. That one resulted in a lot of push-ups for the whole company. His reaction upon waking up was immensely amusing.
I’ve didn’t see it that bad during boot. But yeah, sleeping anywhere is a thing for sure. I did fall asleep for a second in formation, but my knee buckled and I immediately woke up, stiffened my legs, and avoided falling down. There were giggles for sure.
:D
Yeah but IRL you are going to boot camp before you see combat. Sydney is getting boot piled on top of her recent experiences.
When I was in Boot right after Vietnam (yes, I know I’m old) I managed to fall asleep in formation and march a mile without waking up until I missed a “Column Left” and continued to march straight. I was in the outside column for the column left… Sgt. Martinez was none too happy.
You know what my fave thing to do after following a webcomic for so long.
Hitting that ‘First’ button, and marveling at how the artist has improved their art so much over the time that it has taken them to reach the current page.
Its ALWAYS a beautiful moment and I hope that the artist does this sometimes.
Yeah, and that’s why, POO, don’t like it when the artist goes back and ‘updates’ the beginning (fix errors, sure, butt updating the art to that of the current quality, after years, if not a decade? no)
Heck, the author of “Merceneiress” even managed to put an in-comic reason for why the main character changed appearance three times (he upgraded his 3D software)- he had the character have plastic surgery (first time was after being too close to an exploding taxi)
First then Latest is the best way to refresh comments.
Fun fact: The term “cocooning” was brought to us by someone named Faith Popcorn.
.
.
.
Fun fact #2: When I cocoon I put my faith in popcorn as a comfort food.
Thank you for this. :D
No…oh no. “Cocooning” is what happens after you get grabbed by an alien xenomorph.
You are correct about the time being off for PTSD. You are looking for “Acute Stress Disorder.” Essentially, it’s the precursor for PTSD in that it is diagnosable immediately after a traumatic event happens where PTSD requires that the symptoms persist for a period of time before you can diagnose it.
Far as I can tell (in about 20m research) – most states have mandatory counseling laws for police after any kind of traumatic incident… but not the military.
Your CO can recommend – or command – it, but it’s at their discretion… and given how well Sydney *seemed* to be holding up during her chat with Max… everything about this panel makes sense.
Thank you. You addressed my initial concern someone else brought up earlier. Maybe she’ll have PTSD, maybe she won’t. And we won’t know until we see long term.
And, as PTSD is a condition of effects of actions recorded in memory which did not get properly processed, early treatment greatly reduces the likelihood of developing PTSD.
^^^^ THIS ^^^^
(+10 for spreading awareness that early treatment is important)
Since the shield is air tight we can conclude that the air orb transmutes air from CO2 to O2 and deals with the carbon somehow since if it was creating air the pressure would at the very least build up enough that she would regret dropping the shield and returning to room pressure and would probably suffer more than that overnight.
This raises the question of whether or not she can turn lead into gold and other such acts.
Changing carbon dioxide to diatomic oxygen isn’t transmutation. It’s just the chemical process of removing carbon from a molecule (much like what plants do.) It’s reasonable to assume that the orb has some ability to do that, pulling the carbon out and discarding it as a solid on the floor or Syd’s bed sheets as dust. About 12 grams of “carbon dust” an hour.
Now making an elemental change on an atomic level (much like turning lead to gold) would require something very, very, different.
There are still some upgrade options open on the air ball. Maybe she can find a way to have the extracted carbon stored in a crystalline form. (FYI 1 gram = 5 Carats)
The webcomic Tales of the Questor did a variation on that. Aluminum was poisoning the ground, so a scientist developed a plant to draw it out of the ground… the flowers were rubies. :D
Carbon dust is unhealthy.
The orb expels the carbon as diamonds.
3 to 5 carats each.
There is not a good reason from its demonstrated uses to assume that the air orb is transmuting anything. When Sydney used it in the pool, it created a semi-coherent grouping of air bubbles around her. Later, she created air bubbles that displaced water fairly violently, drenching Harem (drenching 1/5 of Harem? Drenching a Harem?) hard enough to knock loose her bikini top. Then she used it to disperse the burning blood smoke in the Black Reliquary. Those could be changing available environment into preferred environment, but they could also be creating it from sufficiently advanced technology (read: magic) or transposing or transporting it from somewhere else.
Heck, given the tech level of the Amaze-Balls, they could be deciding which method to use to accomplish the desired effect based on the situation at the moment, or just on their mood when she decided to have them do it, like Roger Rabbit (specifically, his ability to slip out of handcuffs, but literally only when it’s funny), or Empowered’s alien bio-suit (which is implied to be rip-prone and failure-prone because it gets off on her getting tied up, but which pulls out all the stops when she’s actually in danger).
There seems to be a bit of wiggle room to how they work. They let in light, but not laser blasts. Sound, but not harmful shockwaves. Presumably they don’t refresh the air in the shield automatically because the set comes with an environment generator, and you’re not supposed to have pulled a Greatest American Hero with the user manual?
Ok so that would make its function create and destroy matter right? I know the Orbs seem to be separated by purpose but Sydney is the sort of person who will look into required secondary powers when she understands how something works.
This is not real military by any means. Everything is too relaxed. It’s more like track team summer camp.
It’s real easy to get motivated for PT (in the military) if they threaten to take away your free time, confine you to the barracks, take money out of your pay, and potentially ruin your entire life with a dishonorable discharge. No government related or contracted jobs for you ever, no matter how much school you go to. So you are damn sure there at PT formation regardless of how you feel.
They try any of that, and the Super will walk, it’s why they are paid so much: why risk your life and limb (or a toe, RIP Heatwave’s toe, lost in the line of duty) when you can get paid to knock down buildings legally :)
I’m sure Deus would be glad to hire her as his personal starship at considerably more than they’re paying her, so, yeah, they don’t really want to seriously piss her off.
Heck, just towing satellites into orbit occasionally would allow her to afford an infinity pool the size of a football stadium; What would Nasa pay her to do a quick jaunt to Pluto with a rover?
They’ve all got serious earnings potential, but she’s got “buys countries out of petty cash” potential if you think about it.
Launching a satellite actually wasn’t feasible until her latest space upgrade – and still may not be, as we don’t have an actual number for her new velocity. “Getting to space is easy. The problem is staying there.”
Granted she can (probably) now get reasonable payloads to the correct altitude and give them a good push, but they’d have to be custom-designed to be launched in that way, and the cost (and risks) of designing and safety coordination based on a single high-demand individual may actually be more expensive than traditional rockets.
I know her top speed in atmosphere is supposed to be mach 16 or so, which isn’t quite orbital velocity.
But top speed in atmosphere is a balance between thrust and drag; Once you’re in space, drag goes away, and what you’re looking at is maximum acceleration, instead.
She couldn’t have realized this, lacking (Not knowing how to access?) Proper instrumentation, but once she was in vacuum, she was accelerating, likely pulling a LOT of gs; Mach 16 at relatively low altitude would require an enormous amount of thrust. She just didn’t have the patience to keep accelerating until she was visibly closing with the Alari moon. (Good thing, too. I doubt her shield would survive
She was probably capable of making orbit even prior to the recent upgrade, they just hadn’t done the necessary tests to confirm it, given that she’d have to be wearing a space suit for safety, and it would sort of require very specialized gloves.
Space launches using the “Halo booster” would require some dedicated hardware, you’re right about that.
“I doubt her shield would survive” her hitting that moon at several hundred kps. The problem with accelerating directly towards your destination without instrumentation is that you don’t know when to flip over and start accelerating hard the other way… If she’d persisted in trying to reach that moon, she would probably have died when she hit it and left a good sized crater.
I think what we’ve seen of her flying so far suggests that the flight orb can cancel inertia, and that she may have effectively infinite acceleration, and be able to hit top speed immediately. Maxima’s flight capabilities appear similar, however, so it may be a property of the comic’s place on the scale of realistic physics, rather than a specific ability of Sydney’s flight orb.
Sdy’s orbs have a absolute speed irregardless of what medium they are moving through. by word of god the space magic by which the orbs work by has no acceleration past the set speed. so when moving at max speed Sdy moves at “mach 16” no matter if its under water in air or in outerspace.
so it doesn’t matter is she travels for one second or five years she will never be faster then mach 16
Launching a satellite into orbit requires moving that object at orbital velocity, but orbital velocity is not a fixed speed; the further out you go, the slower that speed is.
That having been said, I’m sure Sydney lacks a lot of precision you’d need to make up for with the satellite’s orbital maintenance propulsion.
But we have elephant problems. Specifically, to launch a satellite into orbit like this requires the simultaneous use of the molestorb, flight orb, shield orb, and air orb. I realize that she wouldn’t need the air orb the entire time, but she can’t switch out between flight and air due to the sensitive nature of the satellite (they can handle constant thrust, but not necessarily jostling.)
If you specially designed a harness for the shield orb, which she then lets go of by shrinking the shield, she can forgo the molestorb, but she’s still needing to sometimes use three orbs at once.
She’d need to have assistance from Varia to be able to pull it off. Note that we don’t really know exactly how that works, and officially nobody in universe even *noticed*.
Changing the shield size requires toggling it off & on again (some aspects of tech never change, no matter how advanced).
However the harness around the shield is a pretty good idea, just add a remotely-triggered release mechanism. Then she just needs the shield and flight orbs, occasionally switching out flight to refresh the air. Mach 16 is about 71% of a LEO satellite’s velocity, and while we don’t know her carry limit we can assume at least the lighthook’s 16-ish tons as a reasonable guess.
That’s plenty of weight to contain a Halo-deployed system with thrusters and a payload, and NASA could easily direct her course over comms to an acceptable initial vector. If she can launch at full speed from someplace isolated it’s only a 6 minute flight each way.
Now that I’ve checked the basic numbers, I’m thinking this is actually very doable.
In fairness, this isn’t Real Military because it’s a bunch of superpowered people as well.
Rules are a bit different when someone can toss a tank around.
Rules are different when one can dent a tank, with their face!
Rules are different when you get paid that much.
I’m curious about your statement that Sydney as only visited a psychologist a few times and a couple of those times was to “tweak her meds.” Well, first of all, psychiatrists are the medical doctors and are the ones who can prescribe medications. Psychologists are strictly used in therapeutic capacity.
Also, assuming she is on something like Adderall, she would need to be visiting her psychiatrist on a regular basis. Adderall is a Schedule II Control Substance in the U.S. and requires a new prescription from the doctor every time a new refill is needed. And, generally speaking, Sydney would need to contact the psychiatrist’s office herself, the pharmacist cannot do that for her.
In my experience, psychiatrists can write prescriptions for up to three months (although that may have technically been three separate prescriptions, two being post-dated), and GPs can write for a single month. Also, actually meeting the psychiatrist/GP is not required for a refill prescription – just calling their office, then coming in to pick it up from the front desk (if they can’t send it electronically) can suffice.
You are correct, they don’t have to meet a Psych or GP to get a refill of a C II. But they do, at least, have to contact them (via phone call or whatever.) And yes, post-dating prescriptions is a valid, if a tad frowned-upon, thing.
At any rate, my point was that in our version of reality; Sydney would have had to have met with a mental health professional more than “a couple of times” if she was still taking ADHD meds. I would hope that the Psychiatrist was doing more than just “rubber-stamping” script refills.
I am in the midst of my schooling to get a pharmacy technician certification (I’m currently training in an actual pharmacy now,) and I’ve discovered quite a bit about how controlled substances are handled. It’s quite a thing!
Up until last year, I could get scrips for 90 days from my psychiatrist. Then the practice’s lawyers made them change to 30 days, so I have to deal with it three times as often.
That means these days I’m having to spend a half day once a month tracking down the right generic meds. The scrip has to be electronically submitted these days, to a specific pharmacy; which pharmacy has the best prices changes all the time; paying through my insurance would cost more than goodrx generics; but I need the generic from the specific manufacturer that works for me, or it costs half my daily productivity.
It’s a very annoying system.
Indeed, my son is on something similar, not that precise med, and, yes, he has to be seen by a doctor every few months. Perhaps it’s because he’s still a minor, but he needs a physical every 3 months while he’s on it.
THANK YOU for reminding us that serious events like what she went through has serious mental consequences, instead of brushing it off and making all the characters normal again at the start of the next episode.
Thats something interesting i never thought of. Sydneys shield is airtight, how does it transmit sound from the outside to her?
It’s been theorized by some that the shield actually does block all light and sound, but then reproduces non-harmful video and audio of what’s happening outside of it. The issue of it being airtight actually lends credence to this idea.
But hypnoboobs can penetrate it unless Sydney intending for that to work let it happen.
magic
Non-harmful sounds (and light) can pass through, or how could she even see anything? And if light can pass through, what’s stopping a laser?
The shield wouldn’t actually have to be air-permeable for it to transmit sound. It just has to transmit the vibration of the air against one side of the shield to the other. Consider that she can feel in some way when the shield is being hit, so external force is transmitted in some way that she can perceive.
+1
Dave, shouldn’t Syd have some gloves that assist with the orb holding already?… so that she doesn’t need to tape her hand to them? Orb grasping gloves, so that she doesn’t lose protection should she fall unconscious, seems like a no-brainier accessory that they would custom-make for her.
Heck, if nothing else, Dabbler can create some high-tech orb holding gauntlet; she can pretend that she is Thanos (or some other generic gauntlet-wielding comic villan/hero).
Also important so that when your hand is taped to the defense/shield orb, you don’t accidentally drop (or the tape fails) from the hand holding your life support/air orb.
I expect her to start carrying over-sized Kevlar fingerless mittens (or maybe a pair of socks) at some point to tuck her hands into for ‘endurance mode’ clinging to the orbs. Way easier, faster, and more comfortable to have a Power Pouch* than tape her own hands. Especially in a combat zone.
* pending Arianna’s approval and legal applications. Power Pouch is ™ Archon Merchandising and sold separately from other Halo™ accessories.
out of personal experience, trying to exercise while sleep deprived is a lot like trying to start a new exercise after running for 10 miles non stop while having a rabid monkey bonk you over the head with a spoon the entire way, with no rest in between. basically every muscle in you body hurts and you are likely gonna have one hell of a headache, and that’s just light sleep deprivation.
If the monkey was hitting you with a spoon the entire way, rather than trying to bite your face off, it almost certainly didn’t have rabies. That having been said, running for 10 miles with a conscious monkey on your back is almost certainly going to be a more unpleasant experience than I think anyone should have to endure, and you have my condolences.
I second your commendation re. realism. I was surprised that she wasn’t immediately (1) put into quarantine… even if the other aliens aren’t a concern, Syd dosn’t have the benefit of alien vaccinations or super-techno-immunity, (2) immediate debrief… preferably before any press conference, and (3) post-combat counseling, which would definitely include some down-time, especially since she killed.
I basically went off on the lack of an immediate debrief, and I’ve never even been in the military… I’m just a military brat.
As for quarantine… I’m not really entirely convinced it’s necessary. Alien microbes haven’t evolved in the presence of earth based life, so they don’t know how to infiltrate and exploit earth based life to feed off of it. Like an alien virus probably isn’t equipped to properly hijack human cells. Heck, viruses that your pet dog can get aren’t properly equipped to hijack your cells, nor vice versa. An alien virus would have an even worse time of it.
Alien equivalent to bacteria or fungus might have a better time of it, assuming that it’s not made from a bunch of right handed amino acids, right handed nucleotides, and other incompatible isomers, then it’d just starve to death.
That said, quarantine would still be expected, just in case. But that said, Dabbler likely has decontamination spells and or gadgets.
should also note she WAS checked over by a Medic after being picked up, namely Frix. He woulda noticed anything harmful to her.
And how much experience has he really had with hyu-mons?
What may be harmless to him (or anyone else on the ship) may not be so harmless to a Dirt Monkey
Ha ha, dirt monkey…
+2
They did quarantine Apollo 11, on the other hand they know earth is packed with alien sex tourists, so probably not.
They did quarantine the earlier Apollo missions, up to Apollo 14, but after that point it was taken as demonstrated that there wasn’t any risk: either the Moon does not harbour life capable of hitching a ride on an Apollo, or Earth’s environment and/or the human body deals with it before it causes any issues.
And yeah,…it can be PTSD. You don’t necessarily need to have night terrors or jumping at everything as an indicator. I served literally decades in combat and high stress locations in the Army in my 28 year career. Usually I was considered crazy as I chuckled during a firefight or artillery barrage. I got diagnosed as having it given I missed being back in the fight, as well as a level of heightened awareness and I was not sleeping. No nightmares of my combat days, usually. But certainly weird dreams.
Point being, thank you for showing this young girl, especially one not brought up and trained in the military or emergency services cultures, cannot easily brush off what she went through. As a veteran I appreciate how you have dealt with this. And expect so do your other vet fans. As an old Army sergeant I have had young troops like Sydney. Grumbling Ole’Sarge with his coffee mug telling them to get their ass out of bed for PT, but also trying to be “Dad” and pull them back from breaking down and help them.
It’s always the “after” that gets you. When everything ramps down to “normal” and what you just went through crashes in. You can be a fully functioning operator with no night terrors or crazy violent outbursts,…but still have elements of the trauma.
Sine Pari
+1
That said however, it’s been established that (as with ^regular^ Law-Enforcement), it’s ^definately^ something to watch out for, it’s too soon to be certain that she definitly ^does^ have PTSD.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I don’t speak from any level of experience or expertise here, but I believe the military wouldn’t let you sleep in even with this excuse, even if it was obviously a legit excuse, primarily because war is hell. Basically if they coddle you, you won’t be prepared for the harsh reality that is living in a combat zone.
Way at the start we saw the orbs deactivate when Sydney went to sleep. But even asleep, if they’re taped to her arms, they stay active… I can’t help but wonder if that’s a problem, like the orbs need downtime or something and this is denying them that.
Sydney is complaining about reliving an ‘Alien Apocalypse Hellscape’. That type of viewpoint is relative to whatever the person is used to. I can imagine Sciona complaining to her associates about the weird dreams she had on her original arrival on Earth. “It was horrible. The comforting steaming volcanic plains of home were replaced by rolling fields of what they call ‘grass’. The dull low acidic clouds were gone and the harsh light of the sun shone down directly on the ground. The air was filled with the horrible sounds of feathery things called birds. And, so help me, there were kittens! The horror! The horror!”
We didn’t actually get to see the Alari homeworld as Sciona knew it. The steaming volcanic plains may very well have been something that became a reality in the 50-60 days between when Sciona last talked with her people and when they actually arrived. I mean, orbital bombardment does that sort of thing.
I get what you’re trying to do, but I’m pretty sure none of that was true of Sciona’s homeworld before it was blasted by those planet killing aliens. It seems like she was quite shocked by it’s state when Dabbler cleared the air.
Sydney needs it, and glad she is getting it sorted. Having a counsellor is pretty much an American thing (yup Dianna Troy, I’m looking at you), from my side of the pond. But the stuff Halo has been through fully justifies it.
Of course, counselor Deanna Troi is not American. She’s not even fully human and she was born and raised on Betazed.
I think you mean Deanna Troi, the therapist on Star Trek TNG, not Diana Troy, aka Troia, who was Wonder Girl before Cassandra Sandsmark in the Wonder Woman comics.
Don’t you mean Donna Troy, Diana (Prince) was Wonder Bewbs
I shamefully acknowledge my mistake, stand corrected and acknowledge that I was wrong. Yes, I meant Donna Troy. I deserve to now be flogged for my ignorance in combining two different characters’ names…. while correcting Yorp on making a mistake on names. :(
:)
Your penance is 20 Hail Maximas and burning a candle made from the legal docs you wrote during your first year of practice after passing the bar.
And also a ticket for littering.
No flogging (unless you are into that…), it was an easy error to make (just happen to play “DCUO” and have fought against, and beside, Donna Troy a few times :D)
I’m pretty sure Pander meant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanna_Troi. Just sayin.
No, she was referring to Wonder Girl, whose name is Donna, not Diana