Posted on 07/10/2018 5:02:39 PM PDT by DFG
Military officials say the U.S. Army will roll out its new and improved fitness test by October 2020.
The Army Physical Fitness Test that soldiers have known since the 1980s — 2 minutes of pushups; 2 minutes of situps; the 2-mile run — will be retired before the end of the decade. While the 2-mile run will still conclude the assessment, five other events seen as a better predictor of successfully completing combat tasks have been added.
“The Army Combat Fitness Test [ACFT] will ignite a generational, cultural change in Army fitness and become a cornerstone of individual Soldier combat readiness,” Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost, commander of the Army’s Center of Initial Military Training, said Monday. “It will reduce attrition and it will reduce musculoskeletal injuries and actually save, in the long run, the Army a heck of a lot of money.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I have no issue with this. Everyone should try reading the article, before calling the tes soft, it’s actually a good test. As a cadet we had to do the PFT which sucked, long jump, max pulls ups, max sit ups, max push ups and 600 yard run in 2:03. That was tough and you had to be in shape to do it. You need to be in shape to do the new one as well.
What’s next - walk a mile in women’s shoes day? Oh wait...
I encourage commenters to actually read the article and descriptions of the proposed replacement events.
If anything, it sounds like passing requires more upper body strength, not less.
It also requires a lot of bulky and heavy equipment to perform an assessment, which would require more centralization, and maybe eliminate those shady PT tests with just the first sergeant and the trooper who can’t seem to pass without some personal encouragement.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this new fitness test will be implemented along with a deeper division in readiness assessments for combat arms v. Support troops. Maybe the combat fitness test for combat troops and the old PT test for support troops.
The army of the future will have a lot of need for keyboard warriors too, and the physical requirements for hackers are not much more than being able to sit in a chair and stay awake.
“IOW, women can’t do pushups and we don’t want them to feel bad.”
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Just. Not. So.
The auto reaction is the result of all the other craziness we see going on in our country and culture today.
It’s got to be something a girl can do.
Is the man on the right the BEFORE Basic Training picture,
or AFTER Basic Training?
If the Michelin Man had a grandson...
“it will reduce musculoskeletal injuries”
With Deadlifts, Sprints and weighted sled drags before the two mile run; I find it hard to believe there will be fewer injuries.
I used to do exclusively pushups for upper-body fitness; not that I was a pushup champion, but I did around 300 per day at the age of 63. Then my aorta dissected, and I have a funny feeling the pushups had a lot to do with it. Now I’m not permitted to do pushups, or lift anything heavier than 40 pounds, and not even that if I have to “grunt” to do it.
Crock ... of ... shit.
It's a pushup with a rest for the biceps between each and every pushup.
Congratulations. However, the situps, pushups and two-mile run were standards that everyone could compete against. Now they are going to vary it by sex and MOS? What a crock of BS.
“They can’t meet the standards - so lower the standards.”
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What they will be lowering will be a great many soldier-ettes into the ground when they are killed during the next major war....and many of the men along with them.
Pathetic situation.
I won’t ask my son, the DI, nor my other son, the Green Beret, what they think of this proposal.
How far will they lower the standards?
Pushups involve triceps, not biceps. The hand lift insures your chest comes in contact with the ground.
We take the PFT at work for our wellness program. At 59 I did 88 situps, 61 push ups and the run in 18:50. The sit up and push up are past the 100%. The run is the worst for me barely passing the 60% minimum for my age. Never a good runner and a couple of leg injuries. The push ups are the hardest to judge. If you do not get the upper arm horizontal or “shoulders low / lower than elbows” the push up does not count.
To be replaced by the Purse Throw, the Flower Arrange-athon, and the Swimsuit Competition.
Maybe after 24 years of them and seven shoulder surgeries? Same with sit ups. Several issues at both L &C spine vertebrae.
Not saying my disabilities are apft related as other combat and training injuries occurred. But it all adds up.
We can do better. In IET we loose maybe 20% simply due to too much too fast. We cannot force the nation’s youths to do PT instead of video.
All branches suffer these same losses. It costs. Many recruits wind up with VA rated disability....
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