Is my PT test good for BLC during COVID-19 restrictions?

CPL Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 17:50:35 -0400

I have a passing PT test from march of this year and am about to attend vBLC. Will I need to take a new one for the course or can my passing one be used?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 18 at 2020 5:57 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 17:57:53 -0400

Your passing one will be used! It's actually called eBLC (Emergency Basic Leader Course). Due to COVID-19 restrictions we didn't do a PT Test, but you have to already have passed one for that Fiscal Year in order to attend, which yours was March. Unless something changed, which I'm currently deployed and did it this way; you'll be doing the same I would suppose CPL Private RallyPoint Member ! LACE THEM BOOTS AND DRIVE ON TO THE NCO CORPS!!

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 18 at 2020 6:29 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 18:29:17 -0400

Based on the guidance that's been pushed out, any current passing APFT is good. The only people who have to take an APFT are people who are flagged.

So yes that APFT should be good.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 18 at 2020 6:44 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 18:44:32 -0400

Your passing score should be good for a year as most courses are following the guidance sent out about APFT scores and height/weight/body fat measurements. BOLC is doing the same per their school house.

Response by SFC Kenneth Hunnell made Jun 18 at 2020 7:07 PM

SFC Kenneth Hunnell — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 19:07:05 -0400

WASHINGTON — The Army will adopt its long-planned, six-event physical fitness test as its official evaluation on Oct. 1, but with fitness testing suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic, service leaders said soldiers' scores will not count for some time.

Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston announced the shift to the Army Combat Fitness Test on Monday in a move that means most soldiers will never again have to take the 4-decade-old Army Physical Fitness Test. While the ACFT will become the test of record for soldiers on Oct. 1, the Army is still working to finalize the evaluation, Grinston said.

“We’re going to have to take physical fitness tests once we come out of this [pandemic-caused] pause,” he told reporters Monday during a news briefing. “As we begin anew … we wanted to go to the new Army Combat Fitness Test, and pretty much the goal for this year is just to take the test.”
The Army initially planned for the new test to be fully implemented by Oct. 1, but with soldiers locked down under stop-movement orders and many of them teleworking, the service indefinitely paused its physical evaluation requirements in March and announced it would hold off on officially implementing the new evaluation.

The pandemic also stopped the Army from completing a second round of testing meant to evaluate ACFT scoring and the initial set of standards it rolled out last year.

Once restrictions are lifted, Grinston said, the Army will use information it gathers from soldiers conducting the ACFT after Oct. 1 to help with any adjustments that still need to be made to the test. For now, the scores will not be used to assess soldiers in any official manner, including on annual evaluations
“It will not be used for any flagging or adverse action,” Grinston said. “If you don’t pass the test, you will not be separated from the military, at all.”

The Army will reevaluate when it will restart the requirement of passing physical fitness tests to remain in the service. The Army has tentatively marked March 2022 as the time when soldiers must be able to pass the ACFT, but Grinston said that could change to an earlier or later date.

The Army is making at least one other adjustment to the test — adding an alternative test to its leg tuck event, which primarily tests core strength. The service will allow soldiers who cannot do a leg tuck to instead complete a two-minute plank, Grinston said.

The plank is only meant to be an alternative for a short time, as Army leaders believe the leg tuck and the test’s other five events can be completed by any soldier in the proper health to serve.

“What the leg tuck does that the plank doesn’t is they both work the core muscles, but where the leg tuck benefits over the plank, is it does hips and it does shoulders,” said Maj. Gen. Lonnie G. Hibbard, commander of the U.S. Army Center for Initial Military Training. “So that complex exercise (the leg tuck) gets after many more common soldier tasks and warrior tasks.”

The plank is the second alternative event the Army has approved. It approved a stationary bike ride in place of the 2-mile run event for soldiers with permanent medical profiles that prohibit them from running too far. The bike ride initially was planned for a 15,000 meter ride but has since been dropped to a 12,000 meter ride, Army officials said.

The ACFT’s other four events are deadlifts, a standing power throw, hand-release pushups and the sprint-drag-carry. Army officials spent years evaluating tasks soldiers typically do in combat — like loading rounds into cannons or tanks, dragging a wounded comrade, or moving across a battlefield — to develop the new test, which they say better correlates to those activities than the old, three-event test.

Soldiers have long expressed concern about the equipment needed to complete the ACFT, which includes a deadlift bar, a pullup bar, a weight sled and a medicine ball. Without access to the equipment, they cannot train for all events, troops have said.

The Army has acknowledged that issue. Hibbard said Monday that about 95 percent of the needed equipment has been distributed throughout the Army, though some of it might not have reached smaller units yet.

The general also said some 200,000 soldiers will have completed the new test by Oct. 1. Of those, some 135,000, are new soldiers who have been training on the ACFT since October as recruits.

Grinston said the Army had seen ACFT practice scores improving in the months before the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is going to make us stronger and make us a healthier Army,” the sergeant major said. “We just need to evolve and progress. This is good for the Army."

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This is verbatum

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Jun 18 at 2020 9:43 PM

SGM Bill Frazer — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 21:43:27 -0400

You will take several more during BLC, 1 when you 1st get there or they will send you home.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 18 at 2020 10:15 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 22:15:16 -0400

SMA pushed out an email to the total force about the ACFT. Have you checked your military email recently?

Key Points: (Especially #4, 6, and 7 for this case)

1. Your goal for this year is to pass at the GOLD standard (this is the very minimum standard). If you are in halfway decent shape, you should be able to accidentally hit these minimums.
2. If you fail to execute the leg tuck, you can drop to the ground and do a 2 minute plank to receive 60 points for that event.
3. Alternate bike event is decreasing from 15,000 meters to 12,000 meters
4. If you passed your last record APFT, it is valid until further notice
5. If you failed your last record APFT, you need to pass
6. Until further guidance is published, your performance on the ACFT will NOT be included on your evals, record briefs, or in consideration for promotion
7. Until further guidance, you will NOT face adverse administrative action for failing the ACFT

Response by CPL Earl Kochis made Jun 19 at 2020 1:55 AM

CPL Earl Kochis — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 01:55:58 -0400

Good luck you can do this. Just remember PT is your responsibility so make sure you ready yourself physically and mentally.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2020 10:58 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 10:58:57 -0400

Yes, your current passing APFT will be used for your enrollment in the course. Currently, a passing APFT within the last 12 months and covering your attendance dates is valid.

BLC SSGL
124th RTI