Army Combat Fitness Test Fiasco! Slides Reveal 84% of Women Failing ACFT - ClearanceJobs

Ok - I am going to give an unpopular opinion, if women are allowed in combat arms, then the standard must be met. If that means less women, then so be it. Is the military purpose to fight and win our conflicts, or is "Diversity" the goal. Bottom line up front, everyone is an infantryman, and must meet those standards, Basic training is training everyone to shoot, move, and communicate, not MOS specific. AIT is where you get the skills needed to perform your MOS specific duties.

( This paragraph regarding the profile aspect is incorrect, Regulation changed in July)
Reading the article, an awful lot is left out, deliberately, by the author. A woman post pregnancy on a profile for 6 months, is given ample time to recover, No one expects them to pass the physical fitness test the minute they come off profile, they are given a minimum of 90 days to meet the minimum requirements. That is 9 months total to recover and prepare to meet the requirements. If you cannot meet the minimum requirement for the leg tuck in 9 months, then yes, separation is warranted.

Military service is a physically demanding job - Just because you may handle finances and personnel issues, or may specialize in paralegal duties, does not mean you may not find your self in the suck, and having to utilize your physical condition in order to effectively assist any given situation. The Militaries goal is to win the fight, and we can get someone who does meet the standards, and can also be trained to perform all other soft skilled duties.

The test is the test. It appears that the test was passed by 70% of the men and failed by 84% of the women. If women are the equal of men then shouldn't the pass rates be roughtly the same? There are two things this result tells you, loud and clear:

1. The army has a real issue with physical fitness when 30% of the men fail a physical fitness test. That is simply unacceptable so lets not waltz past that statistic.

2. Women, physically, are not keeping up with men. This was true when I was in, it is true now, it will always be true. That doesn't mean that women cannot pass the test, clearly some (about 16%) did.

The army, instead of damning the test should look at itself in the mirror on physical fitness in the ranks (officer and enlisted) and do something about it rather than acting like the test us unfair.

You can find a test 100% will pass. You will not like the force you have with it though.

Personally, I am motivated by this. The Army has fostered a bare minimum culture when it comes to Fitness.

This assessment will put a lot of careerist and the Soldier that doesn't care about their wellness on notice.

It will also change the culture of I'm this gender, age, or MOS so is expected of me not be as physically fit that some other jobs in the military.

The leg tuck as been in FM 7-22 for almost 8 years in two different drills. Therefore, there is no excuses for not being able to pass. If the failure rate is that high it comes down to poor implemented PT programs and leadership.

My recommendation to improve on this is to take the challenge as leaders, employ your MFTs effectively, and be creative when conducting unit PRT.