Should the Army Height and Weight Standards be revised?

Great question SGT (Join to see) I have waited for 23 years for the Army to update and or change the standard. That being said yes, the standard needs to be addressed and updated to a more effective practice in measuring body fat also the different types of body types needs to be incorporated into the standard.

I ask this question because I am a black female who ALWAYS has to get taped. I am 70" tall and I weigh in (it fluctuates) anywhere from 179-184. I've never had an issue with being taped until you run across those who don't tape correctly. Therefore putting Soldiers at 1-2% over, but yet scoring 270+ on PT test. No matter how hard I train my genetics will NOT CHANGE.

This needs to be seriously looked at, but right now it won't no matter how much we bitch, whine, or moan. There is a strong desire to get troops out. By hook or crook it's going to be done. This is another tool that will be used in some commanders box to weed out those who aren't "bad" troops, but aren't as "good" as others. How many times have you seen TOG Soldiers and hear "they are models of professionalism and how we should look"? Not to take away from ANY of them, but with some of them getting there fresh out of BCT, are they really? I use them as my example being I used to be judged against them when I had to stuff my tail in Dress Blues on a regular basis at Myer. We preach "total Soldier" and the H/W and APFT come in to trip some very, VERY good Soldiers up. I've had to assist in chaptering out a NCO who was SH*T hot in her MOS, awesome in regards to teaching her job to new troops who weren't even in the Army, but due to APFT/H/W she was seen as a sh*tbag, and even though 1SG hated to do it (He was HELLBENT on saving this NCO), he had to get her counseling done and the recommendation to the commander to chapter her out on weight control. She was sent packing. Is this what we've come down to? A good leader, great NCO, and could TEACH? I know many "stellar" NCO's who couldn't teach themselves how to rip up an already torn paper bag. But they're studs, never have to be taped, and know how to play the game with those above them. I foresee soon that the Army is going to realize that they cut too far too soon. You're going to see massive changes to get back a lot of the talent that it sent packing to include debt forgiveness, bonuses, and stop losses. At that point, MAYBE the Army will take a longer look until it feels the service is too "fat" again. I remember the talk about changing the APFT to make it more inline with what troops are doing in battle.....how'd that work out? Been at war for 14 years and still do the same three event APFT, even though it's been shown it has no relevance to what the force actually does. If anyone on RP has ran two miles in 12 minutes, done 80 push ups, and did 90 sit ups in two minutes in full battle rattle, while conducting your PCC's and PCI's, please let me know. I know dragging a Soldier, carrying a Soldier, road marching over ROUGH terrain with body armor and ruck, working your neck to death looking everywhere and nowhere at the same time, all play into the APFT we need to focus on for the battles coming up. The one upside to the three event test is there's no money and very little time involved to conduct it. Do the six event test on a company, and get ready to be there all day long. S3 can schedule in advance for the next six years for the six event test, and something will go wrong they cannot control. I hope the Army and the sister services get past the "looks" part of being a troop, and realize there is more to this, and actually practice the Total Soldier Concept.
I think after reading this, I'm dead wrong. If the Army really listened to those at the ground levels, we would still be wearing BDU's or a very close variant of it with green jungle boots (tan isn't bad), and they would've realized what the rest of the Army already knew; we had the best uniform ever at the time, there was no need to change it, but we did to a uniform that works great on a couch or in the sky, but not in terrain where you're "grey" and the surrounding ground is tan or green.

Here is what struggle with...
Many of us are now a sitting Army, sitting in cubicles, staring at powerpoint and excel and going to meetings and discussing what we saw, while sitting.
One hour of exercise in the morning, assuming you don't have to skip that and come in for an early meeting, just doesn't cut it anymore at 40 years old.
My brother works at a warehouse, walks 6 miles before lunch!! Computer stations are standing and on wheels.

I agree that they do need to be revised. I think they are silly to be honest. I am in the same boat you are. I consistently get 270 on my APFT. I run a lot usually but usually around 200. I go to the gym daily but I still get taped. So when there is an APFT I have to start cutting. I have a small neck so I run the risk of failing. But I see soldiers out there that are pouring over their belts that get a pass on height and weight. It blows my mind. I went to Ranger School weighing about 210. My allowable weight for my height is 184. So I was a good 25 over. But at Ranger School they don't weigh you knowing you are going to lose it. So I did the Ranger PT test and Ruck and didn't have any issues. We did a 5 mile under 40 minutes and I made it with no strangle. But if I were to have been taped I would have failed. I have only made weight a few times in the Army. When I first joined, mainly due to not lifting. Then after Ranger school when I dropped 30 pounds. After my weight went back up. I can't maintain a 184. I would have to get rid of all my body fat just to do that. I wish they would give you ability to weigh more with a higher score. But I don't see that coming.

It is way over due for an overhaul....its seriously outdated!

I've always thought that if you can pass the APFT, it doesn't matter what your physical makeup is. After all, we've seen enough reports in Army Times in which world-class athletes like NFL linemen would not be able to meet Army standards.

Also, given the Secretary Defense's recent announcement on women in combat arms positions, we need to immediately go to a universal standards for minimum and maximum height.

Height and weight shouldn't even be a factor. Fitness only.

The whole APFT and HT/WT/Tape standards need to be looked over. I think our APFT should be more along the lines of what the Marine Corps does for their fitness test and our HT/WT/Tape needs to be looked over due to the fact that the people's bodies now versus 25+ years ago are completely different. Plus there are waaaaaaaaaaay too many over weight legit fat bodies that pass the tape test because they have a 20+ inch neck.

The part of people saying they work at a desk all day or don't have time to do PT is complete BS. The military pays you to do PT! YOU signed up for this and knew what the requirements were, you MAKE time! I just came from a duty where I was up at 0500 in order to get to work by 0630 and was non stop until I left at 1700 or later and didn't get home until 1800 or later, sometimes just in time to put the kids to bed. So I would be doing PT at 2100 or later just so I could do my duty as a Soldier and maintain my physical fitness. Sometimes you just have to suck it up, yes it sucks but you have to make it happen.

It ABSOLUTELY needs revised. Everyone in the Army should agree with that. We have all seen good soldiers get the boot because of this. It's ridiculous. I get taped every single time, I'm 6'2" 225lbs. I always pass though. The chart says I need to be 205lbs. Well I'm sorry I'm not a stick figure, I'm just built this way and it's not body fat.