Posted on Feb 21, 2019
A new PFT?: Why the Corps might adopt the Royal Marines’ fitness tests
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US Army is not the only one changing its physical fitness test. USMC may be looking at imitating the Royal Marines...
A new PFT?: Why the Corps might adopt the Royal Marines’ fitness tests
Posted from marinecorpstimes.com
Marines
PFT
United Kingdom
Physical Training
Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 7
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LTC Eugene Chu As an old Marine,i wonder when we(Marines) strayed from endurance, speed and agility? Didn't even consider a PT test at that time,just another day to us.Sure there were a few that were less fit than others,but all could make the grade. Run a 100 meters in so many seconds,do x amount of pushups,pull-ups,run 5 miles with full gear,fireman's carry 100m down pick up and 100m back in allotted time.
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SSgt Terry P.
MCPO Roger Collins - Enlisted in the Army from the Marine Corps after 15 years and thought the PT test was a breeze.(i know that statement is going to cause a S**t storm) but it is what it is.
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MCPO Roger Collins
SSgt Terry P. No comparison to Navy Boot Camp when I joined, but it always depends on your physical/mental conditioning. I was a dock worker and was in excellent condition. We used to take turns leading PT, it stopped when the leader stopped. My turn nearly earned me a visit from our friendly “blanket party” that night.
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SSgt Terry P.
MCPO Roger Collins - Sailors were trained across the bay from us in San Diego--of course the drill instructors were always making comments about them to us,but what i observed was their training and harassment was pretty much consistent with ours,only shorter.
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MCPO Roger Collins
SSgt Terry P. As I recall, far more harassment from your peers than DIs. Just as when you left Boot Camp. And in the civilian world.
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Too bad we couldn't just switch over to the existing Marines physical fitness test. We're still going to lose La people cuz they can't do pull ups. I wouldn't mind running 3 miles. I foresee a great loss and and strength in both the active-duty and Reserve component with the Army Combat fitness test
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SSG (Join to see)
What do you mean when you say “ lose a lot of people because they can’t do pull ups”? Do you mean in combat or discharged for failing to meet standards?
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The problem with "Fitness Tests" is that they are by definition (DoD) HEALTH tests, and they are designed to assist in the long term prevention of injuries (healthy troops are injured less).
Physical Readiness Tests (like the CFT) are a much harder test to administer mainly because units have different missions and compositions. The wing doesn't need the same readiness as the ground elements nor the logistic elements, however there are adminstrators and support in all three.
Furthermore, despite what we like to preach, sometimes a warm body is better than an empty billet. Even a guy with a broken leg makes our lives easier because we can push garbage details onto him.
When it really boils down to it, we want to "say" that anyone can fit into any billet. That the "standard" is the standard, but we're so wrapped around the axle on physical capability that we have forgotten what our actual goals are.
When it really boils down to it, if a MEU is capable of getting it's SOC qualification, and a battalion is capable of getting its conventional warfare qualification, then we're probably meeting the collective "standard."
Physical Readiness Tests (like the CFT) are a much harder test to administer mainly because units have different missions and compositions. The wing doesn't need the same readiness as the ground elements nor the logistic elements, however there are adminstrators and support in all three.
Furthermore, despite what we like to preach, sometimes a warm body is better than an empty billet. Even a guy with a broken leg makes our lives easier because we can push garbage details onto him.
When it really boils down to it, we want to "say" that anyone can fit into any billet. That the "standard" is the standard, but we're so wrapped around the axle on physical capability that we have forgotten what our actual goals are.
When it really boils down to it, if a MEU is capable of getting it's SOC qualification, and a battalion is capable of getting its conventional warfare qualification, then we're probably meeting the collective "standard."
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