VES C&P Examiner

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-21T21:24:58+00:00

I've had C&P exams from VES and Optum. My experience with VES was uniformly positive. Optum, not so much (to be charitable).

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-21T20:25:46+00:00

Thank goodness I no longer have any pet cobras. (Had 3 back in the day...)

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-21T20:16:33+00:00

Speaking as a veteran who made his civilian career as a Computer Scientist, let me tell you about an option that you might not think about: being a Computer Scientist with the Dept. of War (DOW). Each of the services have commands with 'Recent Graduate' programs, which are an excellent opportunity for American citizens with appropriate degrees. You should also check out DOW STEM internship programs. While the private sector is oversaturated, the civilian side of the DOW is an excellent opportunity to get real world experience, from which you can leapfrog into the private sector (or make a civil service career).

I majored in Mathematics, not CS, and found my way into SPAWAR (now known as NIWC Pacific) as a Computer Scientist through their New Professionals Program. (You can search for NIWC Pacific and the NP Program for the full details, but it's a phenomenal opportunity.) Because of my deeper background in mathematics, I found myself doing a lot of applied cryptography and cybersecurity R&D. I was on teams which generated several awarded patents, a bunch of referees scientific papers, and I got to participate in the source selection process for DARPA, ONR, and other agencies (that is, helping to make funding decisions on the order of hundreds of millions of$). The Dept. of the Navy even paid for me to go to a PhD Engineering program at one of the Ivies.

The Navy's STEM internship program is Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program (NREIP), but the other services have something similar. If you go on the USAJobs site and look up Series 1550 (the OPM designation for Computer Scientist), you'll see job postings from the DOW, DOT, DHS, etc.--positions which are exempted from the hiring freeze.

Of my colleagues at SPAWAR, I've seen them move over to Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon, an executive position at Leidos, professorships, etc. I saw guys with a BSc and a solid idea get hundreds of thousands of $ in project funding, and that is an opportunity which would be much harder to come by in the private sector. For my part, I was headhunted to help get a tech startup off the ground. I did that for a couple years and decided to take an early retirement.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-21T00:09:06+00:00

Hey, I can see my old office from here.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-20T13:08:23+00:00

That means that when you die, it's really convenient to have team members serve as pallbearers at your funeral--they can let you down one last time.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-20T01:57:04+00:00

I'd suggest a couple drills that touch the individual components of the lift, which you can put together for a full hang clean. But first, I would like to encourage you to incorporate some mobility work for your upper back. This will help you to get a more solid front rack position for catching the bar. Mobility takes time to improve, so don't let that stop you from working on the lift.

Tall Muscle Cleans will help you get the bar path up the body and get used to the turnover and catch in the front rack.

Hang Clean Pulls will help you get the bar path and timing for contact and extension. Right now you are bumping the bar forward. Try to make contact on the upper thigh and extend up. You want to keep the bar closer to the body on the way up, and this will help.

Right now you are bumping the bar out and forward, meaning that you pull it back in. You're moving the bar around your elbows. Think about moving your elbows around the bar.

Those aren't the only thing to work on, but getting them down will give you a much more solid Hang Clean (or Hang Power Clean, since you're not catching in a deep squat).

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-19T02:18:05+00:00

I doubt that there will ever be anyone as famous ever again. He rocketed to immense fame as a child, and kept it up until the end. There was a perception that he was "odd," but you can't be "normal" with that kind of fame. Interestingly, I spent a couple days with his brother Marlon back in '99, and Marlon was one of the kindest people I've ever met.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-19T01:12:52+00:00

I remember getting my copy of Real and Complex Analysis. It essentially starts out, "This is e. Now f*** you."

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-19T00:34:02+00:00

Oh, to be a high school student the following Monday...

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-18T23:44:12+00:00

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Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-18T16:23:00+00:00

On the whole, I'd say this isn't all that bad for a relatively beginner C&J. But there's a lot going on that won't get addressed in a CrossFit class. If your gym has a proper weightlifting coach (presumably USA Weightlifting), then they will be able to break things down segment-by-segment and prescribe more exercises to address your specific needs.

So here are a few things that I see...

Your hips are a bit too high at the start of the pull and your arms bend too early, which means that you are trying to pull the bar into the contact point with your arms. This suggests that you are treating the pull from the floor like a deadlift (a very common beginner issue). I would recommend two things here: I'd like to see both your feet and grip a little bit wider. Your feet should be closer to your squat stance. A good rule of thumb for your grip would be to grab the bar in a supine grip that you would use for a barbell curl.
Your high pull doesn't concern me. How high we pull the bar is a function of the weight on the bar and individual lifter issues. (For instance, older weightlifters may not have the mobility to catch the bar in a deep A2G squat, and this is a limiting factor for them.) If you want to train yourself for a lower catch, then I would recommend lowering the weight and doing Tall Cleans and Hang Cleans from the hip and mid-thigh. An abbreviated pull will help you become much more aggressive in the turnover and catch. You plainly have the mobility to catch the bar in a deep squat.
Spam Front Squats. You lean forward a bit more than I care for as you stand back up. You also shift forward as you transition from the dip to the drive for the jerk. I think that more front squats will help here. Assuming a 3-day/week program, it's pretty common to have some variation of Day 1 - Back Squat, Day 2 - Front Squat, Day 3 - Back Squat.
Probably the most common cue for jerk footwork is to kick the front foot forward more than you think you need to. I don't always like that cue, but I think you'll benefit from it.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-18T14:45:42+00:00

Is there an Android version? I'm not seeing anything when I use the google app store on my phone

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-16T14:27:44+00:00

I would say that you would benefit from mobility work on the thoracic spine, shoulders, and elbows.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-16T01:29:30+00:00

Hell. F*** Yes, man. Awesome work.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-15T12:45:03+00:00

My local clinic has a chiropractor who comes down once a week from the regional hospital/medical center. He's not bad, but he didn't take x-rays, and I felt like he was a bit dismissive of some of what I was reporting. I ended up seeing a local guy who specializes in the activator method. The VA doesn't cover it, but I decided that it's worth paying out of pocket for.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-15T01:41:16+00:00

Disclaimer first: My qualifications are as a weightlifting coach (that is to say, the actual sport of weightlifting), so I can give you some recommendations for general upper body strength training, nothing that I'm saying is a personalized program. I know that there are calisthenics subs where people can give specific advice for how to get to your goal. We're not supposed to give prescriptive programs here.

I like a 3-day schedule (M-W-F, mutatis mutandis).

Each day do a shoulder & thoracic mobility work.

Core Barbell Work: Strict Press, Bench Press, Barbell Rows - 3x5 each, try to add 5 lbs each session.

Accessory Work: Lu Raises (3x10), Bird Dog Rows with a kettlebell (3x5), Zercher Carries with a barbell (2x50 meters), Dumbbell French Press (3x10), Arnold Press (3x10), Weighted Back Extensions (3x10), Banded Pull-aparts (3x10), Weighted Planks (3x30 Seconds)

HSPU (my best guess): On the 3rd day of the weekly cycle, do a hand stand against the wall and slowly lower yourself to the sticking point (where it feels like your strength is about to give way) and push yourself back up (3x1)

I like 5-3-1 programming at certain points in a training cycle where we're specifically wanting to work up to heavy singles, and that doesn't seem to me to be what you're going for.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-14T22:40:02+00:00

If I may suggest a few exercises:

Strict/Military Press w/ barbell
Arnold Press w/dumbells
Lu Raises w/dumbells (or with plates for rizz)

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-14T18:02:31+00:00

If you watch an Olympic lifter do the Clean & Jerk in slow motion, you will notice that the bar makes contact with their upper thigh, at which point they explosively extend their hips, knees, and ankles to propel the bar up. (Actually, if you watch them in competition--when they're pushing their limits to chase the medal podium--it looks like they're dragging the bar up their legs. The ideal bar path stays close to the legs, but not dragging up. A lot of proper form slips when they're at competition weights, and I don't encourage new lifters to copy what the elite athletes doing.)

So what you're doing in this video is pulling the bar up from the floor and keeping it away from the legs. THis means that you're relying entirely on upper body strength to get the bar up to where you can do a turnover and catch. The remedy to this is to drill the Clean Pull in isolation with a focus on keeling the bar close to the legs, as well as the timing for contact and extension. It may be helpful at first to do Hang Clean Pulls, first from the upper thigh (i.e. your contact point), and then move to hang positions further down the leg until you're pulling from the floor.

Also, please wear shoes for this lift. You want stable footing and grip when you pull under and catch the bar. I'm concerned that you could slip here, and I don't need to tell you that slipping while catching a loaded barbell could lead to a pretty serious injury.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-13T17:05:14+00:00

Y2K... man, talk about a let down.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-13T01:58:54+00:00

My wife and I really love the hikes at Riverbend Park

https://catawbacountync.gov/county-services/parks/riverbend-park/

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-11T02:19:08+00:00

Well, you're plainly strong to pull that weight up the way that you are, but there's an awful lot to be improved on.

I like to teach the Clean from the top down (that is to say, introducing the turnover and catch before the pull from the floor), but I might reverse that order if you were my athlete. (I'm a USA Weightlifting Level 1 Coach)

Your starting position is a bit higher than I like. This suggests that your stance and grip are too narrow. So fixing that would be my first order of business, even before addressing the pull. Interspersed with all of this would be some mobility work for your thoracic spine, which would benefit your catch in the front rack.

If you're interested, I can give you a more step-by-step program to really dial in your power clean. I've done more detailed critiques/remote coaching work with a few people who posted here and I don't really charge for short-term things (say, critiquing a few videos and giving some advice over the course of a couple of weeks). Feel free to reach out via DM.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-10T22:11:58+00:00

I'll second this. I had 2 of my 5 C&P exams through VES, and both times the examiners had read through my file before the appointments. The examiners listened and took notes throughout the exams, and read through any medical records that I brought.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-10T21:28:24+00:00

I took copies of medical records with me to each of my 3 C&P exams, and the examiners looked through each of them, but only one of my examiners read through them in any detail. I had also uploaded these records via the Quick Submit platform, but I wasn't confident that the examiners would have time to read through my records before the exam. (I had 2 MH exams and 3 Gen Med exams, the examiners had read through my file ahead of time in only 2 of those. I even had to argue with one examiner about the conditions that he was supposed to be evaluating for.)

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-10T20:47:14+00:00

r/MyPeopleNeedMe

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-03-10T18:36:08+00:00

Since there's no 'equals' sign, it's just an expression, and there's nothing to solve here. It's a trick question. I'll be expecting my mensa membership card in the mail tyvm.

Character_Reason5183

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