Current AD, and depends on your current job a good bit. But I would argue that your desire can overcome some of what your daily duties are (within reason of course). We are a subset of society and just like our civilian counterparts, some make "it" work and some don't. Most military bases have swimming pools, which doesn't help if you're deployed or down range but the vast majority of our work fitness is at least encouraged if not mandatory. The biggest challenge I have had is making a training plan, because work (last minute deployments, having to come in early, stay late all with limited notice) happens. Just be honest with your time commitment, family time should take precedence over this fun triathlon thing we do. Good luck with your training and make sure to have fun!

Jonathan

I know a lot of people that do Ironmans and are active duty. Most of them are studs though. Generally if you're combat arms you don't need to train for the run because you run all the time. But the rest of your training will have to be done at lunch, after hours, or the weekends. It's possible, just like everything else how much do you want to suffer.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I feel like it's good for me to mention that I am single. 25 years old and in a pretty lax career field from what I'm told.

I just retired last year as an enlisted fighter jet crew chief. Material management is essentially our supply folks and I worked hand in hand with them on a regular basis. You could be tied to a logistics squadron or imbedded with an aircraft or vehicle unit. With all of that, most supply units and logistics squadrons have 3 shifts- Days, Swings, Mids, and follow the flying schedule. I was able to work any of those shifts and adjust my training as needed even when working 12+ days. Being single really helps and if there is a base pool, you will be set.
Do some research and see which bases have pools and a flight line with aircraft (fighters, UAV's, cargo, or helicopters). I think that may help you decide which bases you put on your "dream-sheet" for when you leave Technical Training School and you'll have a better chance of getting one of those bases. I went to Mountain Home Idaho for my first station, they have an excellent pool there but the base is a bit remote. Feel free to DM me with any questions and I can give you some greater detail on the career field and tri training. Good Luck!

YES!

This is exactly what i am looking for help with

There is nothing magically different about being a triathlete in the military or any other occupation on the planet. If you MAKE time to train, you will. If you have the word "FIND time" in your vocabulary you won't train. Just like money, which we never find, you will never find time if you hope that training slots magically happen. You have to MAKE them happen and if that means cranking off two ten minute runs during the day with a 3 min warmup followed by a hard mile in each one on deployment in a combat zone looping around the a corner of the safe perimeter, or using up an entire half day of vacation to do a 6 hrs ride starting at 5 am, you have to MAKE your own time.

I did 13 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force as an Aerospace Engineer. I was "lucky" in that I competed for and got selected for a profession and postings that would allow me to work on cool tech, but also pursue post grad studies at nite school, not have extended deployments, and have access to facilities. I was told by my commanding officer at my Aerospace Officer's school that I should go to a front line combat unit, but I knew if I did that, I would not be able to get my MBA since I would be in the middle of nowhere (at least no access to a university back then). I put down "tech oriented" posting playing with software and simulators in HQ (it would be like going to the Pentagon)....not the ideal place for career advancement for a young officer, but the Air Force benefited from having a computer literate young guys on those F-18 programs more than putting me in a combat unit. So much to the chagrin of my commanding officer who said I should go to the front line, they sent me to HQ.

Like any "system" be it the services, the corporate world, etc etc, you have to figure out how the system works and then navigate inside it to GET THE BEST FOR YOU. You are your only career manager. No one cares about you. The most successful soldiers are the ones who figured that out.

I got what I needed from the Air Force for myself and the Air Force got way more than their side from me. We had a high level of triathlon in the Canadian Armed Forces in the 1990's. I won the 1993 Cdn Armed forces Championships, did 6 Ironmans, raced around the world, did various training camps, and one of my teammates on the women's side went on to race for Canada at the Sydney Olympics. If you are good enough to make any military national teams it gets as good as life can be because you're a sub pro level athlete, but on full salary (vs being a starving pro).

All this to say, if you can navigate the system and make your own destiny then its awesome (and all my military triathlon friends to this day do exactly that, as I have subsequently coached a few of them long after I became a civilian).

Current AD Navy. Honestly depends on your job and rank. I had an awesome job on deployment that allowed me plenty of time to train. I even squeezed in a 112 mile bike in ~6 hours one time. Ran upwards of 23 miles on the treadmill once. But some people worked more than 12 hours/day 7 days per week. I was extremely lucky. At home, I also lucked out that my command stressed PT and had command PT twice per week. I was excused from that so I could train on my own. My job was also very at my own pace, and I didn't have a ton of actual due outs, so I was able to do my own thing a lot of the time. I'm at a new job now, work a lot more, but as long as you make time for it, you could still train. Also, again lucked out and I am allowed 1.25 hours to exercise per (12 hour) shift. Married, no kids, wife is supportive of my hobbies.

Looks like it's up to luck !

I see how having PT time afforded to you can help, and be able to complete that on your own.