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

I was always big at 6'4" and anywhere from 210-230 in Basic and AIT, to 275 later on. In my peak, I could bench 405. I always passed the PT test, but was still bitched at for being "over weight". I think the stick men were just jealous. :-)

Coming from the Navy side PRT, i believe strongly that if a person can pass the PRT no problem then the weight standards should not come into play at all. It only makes sense that if you can pass the physical readiness tests set forth by the branches, then you weight and height should not matter

I saw several "Monsters in the gym" that got discharged in my time...

Discharge "The Hulk" because he doesn't meet height/weight is stupid.

Back when all this started it smelled like a RIF exercise.
I saw a few really good (and fit) soldiers tossed aside in spite of herculean efforts of the CoC to stop it.
A few slobs too.
Has never felt good or just to me. An exceptional APFT should not make a difference.
Does the Marine Corps have a similar program?

I agree that if a Soldier can achieve excellence in APFT that they should be allowed to have the effects of 600-9 waived as long as the APFT is conducted to standard. The only way to maintain verifiable records of this is to mandate video recording of each APFT. One other consideration is appearance in uniform...but I believe, through personal observation that if a Soldier can attain 90 in each event, that they will look acceptable in their uniform. I had a 1SG that was a soft 230...but on 2 occasions (out of 6) out ran me on the 2MR. last one I had a 12:21...he passed me and the BDE CDR and finished with 12:10. He was also older by around 5 yrs or so and on a Run Across Georgia (Team Brave & Bold, 2011), he took the 1st leg of the 24 hour race - 8mi - and got lost (wrong turn and self corrected) - AND STILL BEAT RANGERS on other teams to finish that 8mi in 50 minutes. The man was a beast.

I was a heavy equipment operator. I had a carpenter in my company who maybe weighed 135lbs. He couldn't drive a nail with a nail gun, but he could score high on the APFT. As far as CTT went, he could score high on his APFT.

In a sense he was just a uniform, someone who could pull a guard shift, but he still made 5.
I had plenty of people that made a minimum board score and got there 5's on deployment. Some good, some just uniforms.

I think ability is more than being 5'9" and 165 lbs.

My point is there should be a lot more qualifications than the APFT, a tape, and a scale. There are plenty of uniforms out there that do just enough not to get noticed, but don't really do enough to help the cause.

Height and Weight is more about appearance than performance. I would not object to a height/weight/tape waiver if a Soldier can pass a standard APFT with a 240+. I value performance over appearance every time.

The height/weight standards were a bad joke when I was in the Corps about 5+ years ago. I was responsible for BCP at both a Battalion and Regimental level for a number of years. I can count on one hand the number of Marines in about 3 years that went on BCP and actually deserved to. The vast majority fell into one of two categories: Short and stocky, or tall and fit. I saw plenty of guys who didn't tape out simply because the taping standards for being tall assume you can take cover behind a flag pole.

That's not even mentioning the unsafe practices Marines would undertake to skirt the standards if they were close to being over: using sauna's to drop water weight by making themselves dangerously dehydrated, spending all their time in the gym doing nothing but neck exercises in an attempt to tape out, eating disorders, and plenty of other things that were completely unnecessary since most of them were clearly fit and good PTer's.

Especially since Marines must be weighed individually as-is, they may as well give leadership the ability to say that a Marines/Sailor/Soldier/Airman/etc body composition does not affect their fitness or professionalism.

I think that Height/Weight is a very outmoded, inaccurate system. It rewards skinny people with no strength and punishes very muscular people.

Likewise the waist/neck system is ludicrous. I don't have three chins and a huge neck, so I always got hurt by the tape measure.

The most effective way is the displacement method, as it takes into account mass and volume, and gives a better measure of whether the mass is fat or muscle...

Had an Amateur Bodybuilder at Fort Meade when I was in. He was put in the "fat boy" program because he weighed too much. So I see it hasn't gotten any better.