[killingtime]

Originally Posted by MartinHarper

Here's the research I mentioned elsewhere:
BBC News | HEALTH | Stretching before exercise 'a waste of time'

And some more up-to-date research (2007)
BBC NEWS | Health | Stretching does not cut soreness

I find it interesting that the second article states:

Originally Posted by The second article

He said: "The main reason to stretch before exercise is not to reduce soreness, but to reduce the risk of injury."

Perhaps they didn't believe the evidence of the first? Though the first article didn't state what activities the troops were involved in either. If they were performing risky exercises with a high chance of injury then maybe it wouldn't have much of an effect.