Should Height/Weight be Disregarded if the PT Score is High Enough?

My actual opinion, and yes am retired sooooo take it as you like lol, if you pass your APFT and do not present an un-Soldierly appearance in uniform, then I believe the ht/wt should be "waived".

I love having to get taped when I just ran a 12:55 and maxed the PU/SU with time to spare. If you can prove you can handle your weight and don't look like a bag of A$% than yes you should get a pass with a score above 270.

The Solution: Stop making uniforms in sizes we are not allow to be. If you do not fit in your uniform, punish that. I have seen lots of Soldiers have to be taped and bust tape who do not in anyway appear unprofessional. Big guy + small neck = HT/WT failure no matter how fit.

Personally I believe the Height/weight standards are out of whack.  I had an awesome Assistant Team Leader who was a little shorter than I, but built like a rock.  Didn't pass height/weight, or tape test..  The man had great PT scores, carried his 120 lbs load with no problem and performed his duties in in an excellent manner.  But both he and I had to deal with this issue every time we had a weigh-in.  My belief from personal experience is that if the service-member can do the job, and has a higher PT score, height/weight issues should be made irrelevant.  It is the idea of the "zero-tolerance" principle that has ruined many a life, whether it be for the 4 year old who was "suspended" from daycare for hugging another girl in the room, or the kindergartener who chewed his pop-tart into the shape of a gun, or the soldier who works out, but doesn't meet the height/weight standards.  Arbitrary standards such as these, with mandatory, un-appealable,  or irrevocable consequences such as these are designed to give bureaucrats a way to do their job without having to THINK, often at the expense of the individual.  I Vote to reinstitute the art of THINKING back into our Every day lives.

I do not agree with any of your choices. If the Army has set a standard, who are you or I to set a new one? (i.e. >240 or >270) I believe the grading system for the APFT is flawed in and of itself. I believe that it should be a go/no go (with a higher standard than 60%). I also believe that as long as a Soldier looks professional in the uniform, is healthy, and can get that go on the APFT, than height weight shouldn't matter. Now, I also understand that saying someone looks professional is very subjective based on some person's opinion. But ultimately, what does height and weight matter??? If a Soldier can pass the APFT and perform the tasks that are required of their MOS and that of being a basic Soldier than what does it matter if they are at 24% or 26% body fat? I do agree with you that there are too many Soldiers that are penalized because their neck is just a little too skinny or they are just a tad too plump in the middle. Most of the time, you would never know this by looking at them and personally that's what I think matters.

They changed the system in the Marines several years ago. Now, you can challenge the weight standard by a getting a body fat measurement, or achieving a 1st class PFT score. If you can still perform, then it shouldn't matter what the scale says.

We are kicking fit people out because of the inability to use discretion. The system is hurting the system.

I agree with your idea. I have seen good soldiers get flagged and chaptered because they could PT, but couldnt pass weight and tape. I dont know that getting rid of the weight and tape standard for those with any certian PT score with fix the system. I think if you do that you only promote the 'Artifical Standard' of PT in the Army. Once a soldier is over weight leaders will start PTing a soldier untill they get a 270 or whatever and stop taking care of soldiers. I have been in a while and I have never seen a "Speical Pop" that actually helped soldiers. I mean those guys are there because they have problems in certian areas, not just because they cant run. Which is all that the program seems to do. It is also suppose to be done on the commanders time not the soldiers, and I doubt this will help that at all. I dont think that because a soldier gets a 180 PT score he/she should be look at as a poor soldier. They passed!!! I also dont think that a soldier who gets a 300 and fails tape should be looked at as a poor soldier. Really what I think should be addressed is the way that the Army looks at PT, and how we empliment it. If we took more time to address the struggles of individuals and less time telling them they messed up, we could fix a lot more of problems as a whole. If a soldier cant shoot we dont send them to remedial PMI and make everyone do dime drills. We focus on that soldiers weakness and work to improve them.

Combat doesn't care how you look, only how you perform. Set the standards based on requirements, then enforce them.

I remember before the Iraq war was going to kick off, we had some soldiers who were over weight and they were of course flagged.  Some of them were in the process of being chaptered, and I am not sure what stage in the chapter they were in.  When the call came down to pack our gear and go to Iraq, those chapters stopped and those soldier were suddenly good enough to go to war, and they performed just as well as the other soldiers who were not over weight and passed their PT test and because of the heat, sweating, three meals a day, those soldier who were over weight loss their weight and were good to go.