AR 600-9, is leadership doing their part to ensure compliance?

SSG (Join to see) at 31 years old, after losing 88lbs, I joined at 23% fat. For joining at my age, the max body fat required is 28%. With that amount of pounds lost, I have loose skin at my belly which makes it uncomfortable, to say the least, every time I get taped. I was just taped this last Thursday, 6 times, yes, you didn't read wrong. The first 3 times my PSG didn't know where to tape me and kept saying it wasn't fair because you can tell from the rest of my body that I do workout a lot but my belly skin just doesn't get tighter. Imaging how frustrated I get when I see somebody out of shape and I'm here working twice or three time harder just to pass the tape. I care for myself, I work for myself, I can't fix the system, less at my rank. So, until I have responsibility over someone, I'll keep working on getting myself better and showing that there's no excuses to be out of regs.

Call the shot, just as you are doing SSG (Join to see). You will see some Leaders are more concerned with not wanting to hurt feelings because they may feel the Trooper might go to the IG or EO route while it is a failure of leadership to not enforce the standards. Those same Leaders are actually hurting those that do meet the standards because they are not calling the shot on the mediocre troops. When you have the shot, take it!

I understand what you are trying to say that it's all up to the person to decide how they look like in uniform. I think the main concern is the standards itself. I can pass the pt test no problem with flying colors and still get taped. I think that the standards need to be changed. It needs to be accurate. I'm considered over weight due to having more muscle than fat in my body. It doesn't make sense to me at all. I'm just heavy for my height. 5"6 180lbs. Average 280 above pt test but still get taped. I really do think it's the standards.

But I do see obese soldiers who don't care at all and still slide due to favoritism. But that's none of my business. One day right will overcome wrong doings and it'll catch up to those that don't care. Karma will catch up!

If you have the self pride you won't do anything about your weight or appearance. It's a shame so many young people don't care anymore

SSG (Join to see) The military in general has gone about this issue all wrong for a long time, in my opinion. When I joined, I went to boot camp the day after I graduated high school, after a full year of varsity football and wrestling (I even had offers to play football at the college level). I was 6'2" and 215lbs. In my profile pic, here, I'm about 220. Absolutely zero problems doing any of the Navy PT (boot camp was kind of a joke, physically). And yet....the Navy had, at the time, this silly little chart that said someone 6"2' could only weigh 180 lbs. So I had to get a waiver. When I went to the doc, he shook his head, laughed, and said, 'Yeah. You'll weigh 180 lbs about 2 years after you're dead," signed, and sent me on my way. I never had a single problem with PT during my time.

I think the whole 'one size fits all' standardization is inaccurate at best, and downright unfair at worst. What it SHOULD be is common sense. When it comes time to get checked, your senior nco's and Div O's will have a good idea of what kind of shape you're in, and if they think there's a problem (ie you're not performing), then they send you to a doctor, or a panel of doctors, who can say, 'Yeah, ok this big guy doesn't fit the tape, but he's in great shape. Pass." Or even more likely for women: "She has larger hips that, combined with smaller neck, skews her measurement. But she runs xxxx distance just fine. Pass." Or, "Yeah...soldier/airman/sailor, you need to work on this." Etc.

In other words, common sense.

SGT Swanson,
Check it out, leaders need to give good PT Monday-Friday. But that us not enough. I am huge on PT and anyone of my guys can tell you I destroy my platoon. They love it. I love it. We take huge pride in hoe we look and how put platoon average is. But I still eat right ans go to the gym after work everyday. And I see almost my entire platoon in there working out. They realize it is on them as well. It is a small responsibility on the leader to get the soldier under control. But the soldier has to be willing also. It really is the solder responsibility to meet army standards. If your over weight get up and go work out. Go run. Leave the fat pills alone. Anyone can lose weight it is a fact. Good luck!

You're on the right path by setting the right example. Hang in there SSG (Join to see)

The Army ties the hands of leadership and often forces the retention of Soldiers who do not meet Army standards. Looking at the big picture, there is a need for the total number of personnel that must be maintained. If the Army, or a specific branch/MOS, is in a period of expansion or has critical shortages, "big Army" fills the seats with sub-standard Soldiers. In the reserves, there's a such a retention push that it's even more difficult than usual to out-process Soldiers who won't even come to battle assembly. PT failures seem to be getting over, as well. I suspect that on the shrinking active-duty side, this is turning around pretty sharply, however. There are probably still some that have escaped the chopping block, but unless something drastic happens, they won't for long.

I turned 18 in basic.

Good on you for working on it and maintaining your self-discipline. There are a few HT/WT combinations that don't really get a lot of leeway or are harder than others to maintain for various reasons. BLUF: If you want it you can do it; the standard is the standard and should be enforced without exception.