The US Army Center for Initial Military Training is at Ft Leonard Wood this week in order to evaluate the proposed Army Combat Readiness Test. The evaluation includes Soldiers from the 1st Engineer, 3rd Chemical and 14th Military Police Brigades.
The goal is to replace the 40-year-old Army Physical Fitness Test, which is only 39% predictive of a Soldier’s ability to do his or her job, with the proposed ACRT, which is about 81% predictive.
According to a recent Army News story, the ACRT consists of six events:
2LT Elizabeth Tarbox extends her arms after lowering herself to the ground during the T pushup event Oct. 17 while testing the Army Combat Readiness Test at Fort Leonard Wood. (Photo Credit: US Army photo by Dawn M Arden (Leonard Wood))
A modification of the traditional pushup, where Soldiers lower themselves to the ground extending the arms into a “T” position before returning to the starting pushup position. This is repeated for the duration of two minutes.
1SG Alan Forester walks backward, dragging a weighted sled during the 250-meter sprint/drag/carry event Oct. 17 while testing the Army Combat Readiness Test at Fort Leonard Wood. (Photo Credit: US Army photo by Mike Curtis (Leonard Wood))
A Soldier begins in the down, or prone position, stands up and sprints 25 meters and back, followed by walking backwards while pulling a weighted sled to the line and back. Once back at the starting line, they grasp two 30-pound kettles, returning to the far line and back. After returning, this exercise requires them to sprint the 25 meters to the far line and back. This is a timed event.
Soldiers from 1st Engineer Brigade complete the leg tuck event Oct. 17 while testing the Army Combat Readiness Test at Fort Leonard Wood. (Photo Credit: US Army photo by Dawn M Arden (Leonard Wood))
Soldiers must grasp the bar with an alternating neutral grip in the dead hang position before flexing with elbows, hips and waist to bring knees up, touching both elbows, before returning to the dead hang position and repeat as many times as possible.
1SG Brad Reigel prepares to throw a 10-pound medicine ball for the standing power throw event Oct. 17 while testing the Army Combat Readiness Test at Fort Leonard Wood. (Photo Credit: US Army photo by Mike Curtis (Leonard Wood))
Soldiers must face backwards holding a 10-pound medicine ball, lower it to touch the ground, rises up and throw the ball backwards over their head as far as possible. Soldiers are allowed a practice throw and two record attempts.
SGT Robert Winstead prepares to lift a trap bar during the 3-repetition deadlift event Oct. 17 while testing the Army Combat Readiness Test at Fort Leonard Wood. (Photo Credit: US Army photo by Mike Curtis (Leonard Wood))
Soldier steps inside a trap bar, feet shoulder width apart and bends at the knees and hips while reaching down to grasp the handles with arms fully extended; stands up and lifts the bar by extending hips and knees until becoming fully upright, pauses, returns bar to the floor while maintaining flat back and without leaning forward. This is repeated two more times for a total of three repetitions.
Soldier runs a 2-mile running course that is solid with no more than a three percent uphill grade and no overall decline.
What’s next?
Over the years, the Army has looked at several new physucal fitness assessments, but so far, none have been implememted. Consequently, there is no word on when, or even if, the proposed ACRT might replace the APFT.
I doubt a test that requires that much equipment will be implemented.
Agree. Not only does it require substantial resources to conduct, but if the score is a discriminator for promotion and retention then the expectation would be those same resources are always available for a Soldier to train in order to perform well on the test. The thought that the APFT should representative of being able to “perform a job” is ridiculous – that’s what specified unit training should accomplish. The APFT is simply an indicator of a Soldier’s overall fitness as applied to serving the Army – not meeting specific unit performance requirements. IMO.
As long as promotions and schools are tied to pushups, situps and the run, then Soldiers will focus on these three events.
The thought that the APFT should NOT measure the ability to “perform a job” is ridiculous. Unit PT usually sucks and is only as good as the NCOs (or occasionally the Os) that run it or determine what it will be. (Got a battalion commander that likes to run? You are going to run a lot whether you need to or not.)
I also doubt this test will ever be implemented, but it would be an improvement.
You apparently think that the weights of things that need to be carried adjust themselves to the soldier, out on the battlefield.
This is a much more complex test than we had before, but it’s also a hell of a lot more rational, in that most of the test components are not body-weight based, but real-world based. This is a superior approach to what we’ve been doing, I’m afraid. The days when we could tolerate 90-lb weaklings who can max the APFT, and yet who couldn’t actually participate in unit missions effectively need to be put behind us.
“Overall fitness” is nice, and all, but I’d like the men and women on my left and right flank to actually be physically capable of doing the damn jobs they need to…
^Can I get an AMEN!?!
Have two.
Yes, this will take longer. Yes, this will have to planned and put on the training calendar. Yes, the OIC and NCOIC will have to book space and equipment for the ACRT. Yes, that is more than showing up at a building some stop watches, a few clipboards, and some cones.
That’s okay. If we are going to prioritize physical fitness, then we will have to actually prioritize it. You should lift, you should sprint, you should run, and you should train for your job. We should eliminate the APFT. It bred the mentality that a soldier could train for a month and crush his PT test and then be good to go. This test will force people to adjust their PT, make it an actual priority, and develop an actual program. Delegate it to the NCOs, Fire Team Leaders and Squad Leaders are the best people to make this work.]
Well said!
It would be a big adjustment, but we should not let the fact that something is more work and harder to implement prevent us from making a change.
We shouldn’t but we will.
“Harder to imnplement” is exactly why we left the test previous to the APFT…
I like the new test just fine.
That said, I’ve known junk Soldiers who were PT studs but their problem was mindset (or sometimes leadership), not overspecialization. Anyone who can knock out 100 CORRECT push-ups AND 100 CORRECT sit-ups AND run 2 miles in 11 minutes will do just fine on a capably led mortar team.
Longest deployment in the history of deployments: The one with an all-service athlete who was shipped off to Kosovo for what he said was a “growth opportunity” and wouldn’t do jack or squat if it didn’t sync with his efforts to re-join his team. The BC had to sit him down and tell him, “Look, dude, you were cut. I KNOW your former coach. If a tryout was even an option I’D do your work. But it ain’t, so I’m stuck with my real job and you’re stuck with yours.” I thought it would be a lot more fun to watch that conversation…
Caveat that with “Anyone who can knock out 100 CORRECT push-ups AND 100 CORRECT sit-ups AND run 2 miles in 11 minutes will do just fine on a capably led mortar team”–And, who is of average male body size and strength…”, and I’ll agree.
The West Point-grad LT I worked around, who was all of about 110lbs soaking wet in full uniform, on the other hand…? 320 points on the extended APFT scale. Had to have help getting her bags from her fiance’s car to the loading area during our deployment to Iraq. She literally could not lift her goddamn dufflebag with all her TA-50 deployment gear in it…
Fitness ain’t strength or endurance under load. It’s an indicator for it, but the reality is measured in what you can do in reality. And, the two don’t match up very well, unless you’re comparing like-to-like.
I mention a guy below, a PFC Begay. I watched him crank out his sixty pushups that he could do for the APFT, once. On a bet. With his team leader sitting on his back…
Didn’t matter what you did with him, it was around thirty pushups a minute, rain or shine, no load, or if you stacked a half-dozen sandbags on him. How the hell does the APFT capture something like that? It simply doesn’t.
Good for them trying to update the standard. But y in the end it will be all about the consistency of execution.
I don’t really get the “T” push-up though. That feels like a rest as opposed to the properly executed standard push-up which constantly keeps the muscles engaged. But that could just be me.
The “T” looks to be the same concept as hand-release push ups. Keeping you from essentially bouncing your body off the ground while going “fast”.
The idea is to make sure that each rep is completed, making it as objective a pushup as possible.
True the T won’t engage the core the same way( where people usually start failing first),it will make the reps go through a full range of motion and if you think of it like the towel push add an extra upper body and core element to the exercise.
Current APFT takes over an hour to properly execute….by my estimations, this proposed “ACRT” will take an entire enlistment to complete. Soldiers will likely begin the event as young PV2’s…by the completion they could probably be E4’s or E5’s.
I don’t like it. I agree with the fact that the equipment will be a problem. Why not just push, situp/crunch, 1 mile, 300m sprint, pull ups. Dragging something then running two miles is not going to work for some people. We would have to redo our entire PT program… old guys like me will struggle.
Redo the entire PT program! That’s the point. It does need an overhaul. Sorry you are old. Embrace the struggle and you might be better for it. The Army isn’t there to make your life easy.
The test is flawed from the beginning because it is based on the concept of functional fitness. If they would use a straight bar for the deadlift, they could use the press as the upper body event. That would decrease the amount of equipment needed and simplify the test. It would also give the army a reason to buy barbells and plates. Trying to standardize a combat fitness test across the force is a bad idea. Unit commanders can implement tests and evaluations that are based on their METL in addition to the APFT or whatever replaces it. Perhaps they’re floating this as an addition but it will actually replace the APFT over time. Either way it has too many events. Deadlift, Press, and some type of cardio event is all they need to do.
I think the Trap Bar was a risk mitigation measure.
Or they saw Bradley Cooper doing them in “American Sniper.”
“Unit commanders can implement tests and evaluations that are based on their METL in addition to the APFT or whatever replaces it.”
No, not really. Sure a commander can create any willy nilly standard/test they want but to hold soldier’s feet to a real fire (e.g. promotion). It has to be an Army wide standard. Don’t you think if commanders REALLY could set unit PT standards based on METL that there would be women in as many combat arms as exists?
IF a commander established a “unit standard” all it would take is the first person to not meet THAT standard but meets the ARMY standard to file a complaint. Add EO criteria to it to put a quick stake through the heart).
Look, a division commander put a policy in place that any soldier that gets another soldier pregnant or becomes pregnant in theatre will suffer administrative action because it robs the unit of combat power. It lasted about 10 days before the policy was rescinded by the Army. How long do you think a BN or Company Commander’s “new standard” will last?
While I think this is a step in the right direction there are a few concerns.
1) Equipment availability will be an issue away from the larger BCTs.
2) Injuries will abound with people trying to deadlift with poor form. Expect herniated/bulged discs coming straight out of Basic/AIT.
3) The 2 mile run event is largely irrelevant. If the premise of the test is to predict the ability of a Soldier to do their job, this event should go away. The sprint/drag event should replace it, not be an addition.
You made some good points. The key to implementing the deadlift is teaching Soldiers how to use proper form and set their back. The educational part has to be on point before the test is implemented on a wide scale. I agree with eliminating the 2 mile run. IMHO make it a 400 or 800 meter sprint.
I reckon the trap bar deadlift is seen as safer or less technique driven than the straight bar deadlift. I assume that’s why they chose the trap bar.
But you are right. I see injuries and young soldiers try to max out on the deadlift.
Do you realize that IET soldiers at MEPS are being tested on deadlifts using a hex bar through the OPAT, and that they’ll have to take this new PT test, including the deadlift portion, several times in BCT?
So this would be the new Army-wide PFT? Way too many events, and I agree with the other comments, way too equipment intensive. I foresee major ass-pain administering this. I think it basically shoots your day.
If they’re going to get this complicated, scrap the sprints, and put in a 5-mile forced march with a 50lb pack (or pick whatever the standards) – that would be truly useful. Walking with a pack ain’t like running at all and it would ensure a baseline of muscular fitness from which to build if you have to take the guys in the rear and put them forward.
The T-pushups are brilliant though. No momentum and no faking going all the way down.
Perhaps someone more knowledgeable or a kinesiology major can explain to me how tossing a heavy ball backwards over your head shows how fit you are for combat? All I see, is a lot of potential VA concussion claims when the weight falls on the participant’s head. With the amount of equipment required, maybe it would be cheaper for the Army to just hold Highland Games and judge soldiers physical readiness based on their results in the Caber Toss, Sheaf Toss, Scottish Hammer Toss, and Stone Putt.
What? Didn’t everyone have ammo can throwing competitions?
I’m kidding.
It’s a 10 pound medicine ball. If soldiers can’t get it over their heads without knocking themselves out, then by all means lets use it to weed them out.
It’s a measure of power (you might say explosiveness.) Kind of an Olympic lift without the need for technique or elaborate equipment.
Seems to me that the distance you can throw a ball backwards has a lot more to do with technique than it does actual fitness. It’s all about the angle…
Soldiers will practice and find the optimal angle. This is not rocket science.
The article even says they get a practice throw and two attempts for the record.
I guess naysayers will always find a reason not to improve something.
Rob, I read the article. If this asinine measurement of “fitness” becomes a skill that soldiers spend time practicing, that’s taking away time from actual job relevant skills. I fail to see how this is an improvement.
It’s tossing a ball over your head. You are making it out to be harder than it is. Don’t over think it.
Like Joe doesn’t have time to practice it because he’s working on relevant job skills? (That’s laughable.)
It should be incorporated into PT – problem solved.
I’m with Tim. Rob, you’re saying it’s not hard to implement.
Agreed. But what’s the usefulness? I don’t see it either. About as useful as including, say, a cartwheel event.
I’m not the designer and can only guess what they are trying to measure, but I’m sure it’s something along the lines of “explosiveness” or “power” (power would be work over time).
I’ve seen other assessments that use the standing broad jump to measure “explosiveness.”
I put “explosiveness” in quotes because folks argue about the definition.
If you measure it and grade it, then Soldiers will work to improve it. This seems to be missed by some commentators. The purpose isn’t just to measure it once a quarter. It’s to incentivize Soldiers to improve the thing being measured.
How about once a year you have to run a 50k and deadlift 400lbs
My understanding was that this was more of a gender- and age-neutral physical test to help determine job placement (physical ASVAB). So you’d only do it once. If that’s the case, and it keeps physically weak people out of combat arms, I’m all for it.
I agree, we have too many folks that just are not physically ready to be soldiers coming in then getting hurt.
You’re thinking of the OPAT. That’s a separate test.
Doesn’t sound too bad but would probably require a civilian run testing center at each post. At least the grading standards would be more equal if soldiers aren’t doing it. We’d probably also need a version for a deployed setting; I’d suggest 100 burpies for time.
No, just no. The Air Force did this. Nothing says, “NCOs, we don’t trust you” like civilian physical fitness testing.
That was a shit show of nearly epic proportions. I can say with absolute confidence that it was one of the dumbest thing the USAF has done in my career. It was right up there with the original dark blue ABU prototype, blues Mondays, and kicking 1,000s of Airmen out right around the time ISIS captured Mosul.
If the Army wants to screw this up, follow the Air Force’s lead.
bloke_from_ohio,
Agreed….you and I were definitely in the same AF.
When this concept first reared its head, I imagined a bunch of short-timer field grades penciling out the costs to bid for an O&M contract.
Probably civilian-operated facility (Jock spouse? Have we got a job for YOU!) for military grading. Looks like they’re using DS’s to address the grading issues, which is a thing that’s even done on the Guard & Reserve side.
Don’t deployers already get waivers for board purposes?
straps,
I talked to some of the civilian testers and they said it was a foot in the door for a federal job. One good thing about having civilians was that there was no good ‘ol boy grading or rank intimidation.
Why not use gear soldiers are likely to lift in combat, the way the marines use ammo cans. Use a dummy with a weight vest to similar the average weight of a troop in kit. Use ammo cans instead of kettle bells etc
Yeah… this sounds like the army created an overly complicated knock-off of the USMC’s CFT.
We came up with something like that, once, sitting around and BS’ing in the office during the run-down from one of those alert/battle drill tests we used to run, back when.
What we came up with was, I think, actually pretty damn smart, in that the test wasn’t based on body weight or anything else–You had to do it in your full combat gear, and since we were a headquarters unit, you used your own equipment to do the testing with. The events were mission-based, and consisted of things like “Load truck with equipment”, and “dig fighting position for security”. We included all the crap that drove us crazy, whenever we deployed, because all the “big, fat, and out-of-shape” guys would wind up getting driven into the ground because they were the only ones actually capable of man-handling the giant camo nets and other crap that went with the Headquarters elements, while the little flyweights would be running around uselessly, getting in the way. We’d watched that crap, once, paying attention to it, and documented that we had only about 25 people, mostly male, who were doing the work–Out of an 80-odd Jump TOC element. The rest of the mob literally couldn’t handle doing the loads, despite the majority of them having outstanding scores on the APFT.
There’s a lot to be said for the APFT, in that it measures overall fitness. What it doesn’t address is fitness to perform the damn job, which is a lot harder to capture. You do start figuring out means to capture that crap, though, when you’ve spent 18 hours or so doing heavy physical labor because you’re part of the minority that can do it–The stuff like setting up tents, unloading/loading trucks, running cable, and all the rest of that crap we don’t test for. Brute strength is something that’s necessary, no matter how much “labor-saving” equipment you have. Sometimes, because of it.
So, are you endorsing being big, fat, and out of shape?
I’m endorsing realistic fitness standards. The problem with what we’re doing right now is that the system is optimized to produce people who look pretty in uniform, can run like the wind, and who likely can’t do their damn jobs when push comes to shove.
I used to be a platoon sergeant in a battalion-level Support Platoon. In that platoon, I had a selection of guys and girls who ran the spectrum from “borderline tape-test” to “super-fit”. The “borderline” Navajo Indian I had was always having trouble making tape–His body shape could best be described as “pear-like”. However, that young man could throw a five-ton truck tire back into its rack without hurting himself, or breaking a sweat. I watched him bend and break numerous tire irons (mostly, because our mechanics were in love with their pneumatic tools, and put the wheels back on too tight when they serviced them…) without resorting to anything like a breaker bar. PFC Begay was one of my hardest workers, and most effective soldiers on whatever mission I put him on.
But… He looked like a real-life version of the Sta-Puft Marshmallow man in a uniform, and getting him into even a remote semblance of a “military appearance” was an ongoing nightmare. I don’t think we ever managed to get his APFT above about 225, because while he could go forever, he couldn’t go there quickly. I was constantly under pressure to “get rid of him” from some of my seniors, because they thought he “looked like ass”.
That pressure finally evaporated the morning we were finishing up some round-robin nuttiness that had the troops broken down into teams and doing stations out in the woods on a circuit–Someone’s brilliant idea for doing CTT, that year. I’m at the final station, doing that portion of the CTT, and listening to the new Brigade CSM bad-mouth the appearance of some of our troops to the First Sergeant, with emphasis on “that scruffy Indian kid”, when out of woodline comes shambling said “scruffy Indian”, carrying his ruck, one of his teammate’s rucks, his M60, the other guy’s M203, and literally dragging the third guy by his LBE. He’s got a smile on his face, and turns out to be the only one who could complete the CTT station, which I think was either a 9-line or a SPOT report. He got a “GO”, the other two were incoherent, and then he takes off at a fast shamble towards the finish station, still dragging them along. They came in either first or second place for time, but lost out because PFC Begay was the only one who’d managed to score “GO” on all the stations. I should point out that both the other two were notable “PT studs” who regularly scored on the extended scale…
I never heard that CSM refer to PFC Begay as “scruffy”, after that.
The current APFT and tape test capture something, but the unfortunate fact is that “something” isn’t all that there is to being an effective soldier. If we were all the same physical type, with similar proportions, musculature, and physiology, then the test would be fine. However, with the vast range of physical types the Army takes in, the testing very badly needs a “sanity check”, to ensure that it isn’t weighting things inaccurately. Right now, the APFT and the tape test miss or ignore some key things like actual physical strength and endurance for work loads. If you’ve ever been on the other side of a transit case that is supposedly a “4-man carry”, and the other three “men” are slightly-statured females whose APFT scores are all over 250, you’ll likely come to understand graphically what I’m getting at. Been there, done that, have the damaged lower spine to show for it.
I hear you, I’m all for realistic standards. I’m just tired of hearing heavy set guys with an aversion to doing any kind of cardiovascular work complaining how the standards just don’t suit their “body type.” “I can lift all day long but I’m just not a runner.” Ok, if you can lift all day, running two miles in 16 minutes shouldn’t be a problem.
I had a few “Begays” in my platoons over time.
Kids with that work ethic are fun to take on interval runs where you can break them of that “225” pace, which I’m convinced is rooted in a cadence that got stuck in their head during Basic. Then teach them to shoot and they’re unstoppable.
Agreed that the female scale generates completely meaningless assessments of fitness–particularly so at 250 and below.
I think a well-executed PT program built around success at events like those reported above (with a greater diversity of core and upper-body work) will do more for females than for males in terms of actual functional potential. I don’t see that as a bad thing.
Training females to a higher level of fitness will be faster and cheaper than reclaiming the obese, diabetic, hypertensive males we’re bouncing at MEPS.
I have to disagree with you, vis-a-vis the females. Yeah, you can get them to a higher fitness level more quickly for their scale, but you cannot get a 120lb female to perform tasks even remotely close to a vaguely in-shape 180lb male. Period. Been there, done that, again have the scars to show it.
The problem that most of y’all don’t seem to grasp is that we’re not getting the 95th percentile females into the Army, and we’re sure as hell not tracking the few we do get into the jobs where we really need them to be.
Physical capabilities are entirely ignored during the accession and assignment process, and what you get out of the pipeline is not that Brienne of Tarth chick you see down at the gym. You get little Sue Anne, who drove from her job working the counter at the Hardee’s back home, and probably never walked more than a few hundred meters at a time in her entire life. She’s what you get, with zero built-up muscle attachment points, limited skeletal mineralization, and only a short history of actual physical labor once she’s joined the military. That’s the average you’re going to get, because there’s precisely zero understanding inside the system that such personnel don’t belong out at the pointy end, because they’re going to break before you get a chance to really even train them.
We really need to start doing some serious longitudinal studies on both men and women throughout their careers, and track what is happening to their bodies as they attempt to complete a military career, as well as what happens to their personal lives while doing so.
From anecdotal evidence that I’ve personally witnessed, I’m willing to lay long odds that we’d see some severe health and well-being effects on these females we’re tracking, willy-nilly, into the combat arms. Sure, you can get some really impressive short-term results with some investment in training, but how long does that last, and how long can those women keep it up?
Bingo. We break a huge number of female junior enlisted soldiers, with career-ending orthopedic injuries and other disabling conditions, right from the git-go.
The statistics are a bit murky (purposely?), but I’ve heard reasonable estimates that 30-50%, perhaps more, of female junior enlisted do not complete their first term of enlistment, largely due to injuries and other medical issues.
There are plenty of appropriate positions within the force structure for females, and there are positions that NOT appropriate.
As far as the Combat Arms females, sure, there are a relative handful of very strong, athletic, and intensely (mis)motivated, early 20’s, YOUNG women who can BEGIN a Infantry career in the general purpose force. Some MIGHT even be able to reach retirement, but at one hell of a cost to both their long-term health AND to the force that had to bend to accommodate their personal career ambitions. And also at a heavy cost to the vast majority of female soldier, who do NOT share the same very strong, athletic, and (mis)motivated nature, and who will now, even more than ever, be mis-assigned and unrealistically compared to the “Combat Arms” amazons.
I see the utter lack of serious study in this area as an indicator, because if what I suspect from observation is true, the people behind this crap belong in jail on oh-so-very-many levels. Not the least of which is malfeasance of office, in regards to the proper care and custodianship over the health and well-being of their female subordinates.
I could stand to be refuted, by a properly run study of the matter, but the fact that nobody is doing that kind of study tells me all I need to know: Nobody wants the honest answers to these questions, and that shows a deeply rooted moral cowardice on the part of our military leadership.
You guys are failing to understand the COE reference women in the combat arms. The institution is not interested in data showing that path is problematic.
Enlisted women in combat arms will not succeed long term doing the same jobs for the same duration as their male brethren. The science says they are going to suffer to a greater degree physically. They’ll be branch reassigned, medically retired or won’t do the same time/jobs as the majority but will over time be promoted into high visibility positions to demonstrate the validity of full integration.
The officers don’t stay on the line as long as enlisted (staff time). Targeted female officers will have targeted careers setting them up for success as future monuments to the success of integration. How else do you think a fully qualified apache pilot captain gets to branch transfer into Infantry and get a command slot in the 82nd? (BTW, what did that flight training cost?)
For the less famous female infantry officers… Only one of which is rumored to have completed Ranger school (imagine the reaction if any specific demographic repeatedly failed to complete this important Infantry benchmark). Again, the institution doesn’t want to know. Anyway, women infantry officers will do their minimum time on the line to justify promotion so as to be able to claim success.
Looks like the CrossFit cult has now infected the US Army.
How do you know they do Crossfit?
They’ll tell you.
Event 1. Soldiers start at 300 M facing downrange, on command Soldiers do 10 pullups, climb over an 8′ high wall, drop prone, engages 2 targets 5 rounds apeice.
Event 2. Soldiers then Bear crawls 33M, low crawls 33M, and sprints 34 M to the 200 M line, conducts 20 pushups, engages 2 targets 5 rounds apeice from kneeling.
Event 3. Soldiers sprint while carrying one 40MM ammo can to the 100 M line, drops to prone and engages 2 targets with 5 rounds apeice.
Event 4. Soldiers fireman carry run each other another to the 50 M
How do you grade this? Is this timed? How do you keep everyone on line? At what range are the targets?
This is a good measurement of strength, speed, and power that is easily graded by any level of competence. The equipment is not expensive. These replies are a good indicator of how to keep an irrelevant unit irrelevant. Sometimes change hurts. Adapt.
Event 1. Soldiers start at 300 M facing downrange, on command Soldiers do 10 pullups, climb over an 8′ high wall, drop prone, engages 2 targets 5 rounds apeice.
Event 2. Soldiers then Bear crawls 33M, low crawls 33M, and sprints 34 M to the 200 M line, conducts 20 pushups, engages 2 targets 5 rounds apeice from kneeling.
Event 3. Soldiers sprint while carrying one 40MM ammo can to the 100 M line, drops to prone and engages 2 targets with 5 rounds apeice.
Event 4. Soldiers fireman carry run each other to the 50M line and engage 2 targets with 5 rounds apeice. Reset at 100 M and switch shooters.
Event 5. Soldiers do 10 burpees, then sprint from 50M to 25M engage 2 targets with 5 rounds apeice.
Event 6. Soldiers sprint from 25M to 5M and engage 2 targets with 5 rounds apeice.
Event 7. Soldiers sprint 100M, fireman carry 100M, switch over and fireman carry back to the 300M line, scale wall, climb a 10M high rope, descend, and engage 2 targets each with 5 rounds apeice.
Equipment needed 2 Soldiers, 2 M4’s, 70 rounds of ammunition loaded into 3×30 round magazines, 4 targets, a 300 M range, eye and ear pro, plate carrier, boots, and fatigues. Timed event scored for accurracy. Replace annuall qualification and PT test.
So someone explained the T-pushup makes you lift hands off ground, full range of motion, no bounce, etc…. but still seems ridiculous to do the T. Why not just lift the hands off ground, what crossfit calls the “hand-release pushup”?
Overall, I think equipment is going to be the biggest hurdle for this test to become a reality for most units. Additionally, I think the 2 mile generally doesn’t give a good indicator of overall fitness (i’ll admit, I sucked at it most the time), load carrying such as a ruck march can be a good tool, but it’s dependent on training (meaning some units just put crap in a bag and walk). I think the Marines have a good setup with a combat PFT and a regular PFT. Other than that, I think Artofmanliness did an article on the WW2 APFT which was pretty tough and required less training/equipment to conduct.
Either way, at least the Army is addressing this head-on and testing it before implementing it force wide.
I’ve said this for a very long time.
Leave the APFT alone, it says right in the manual what it’s for. General Fitness.
If you’re a slow and barely pass the run…15:56 is slow as shit for an 18 year old by the way. Can’t do 42 Pushups at 18, you got a problem. Sit ups, well, not really sure what that tests. But if you can’t get 60 in two minutes you have a problem.
Now, you want to add a combat fitness test, or an endurance course like the Marine Corps…quit trying to reinvent the wheel and go ask them. HQMC is only an 45 minutes away.
That is the problem. The APFT is easy. It does not measure anything other than a subjects ability to do pushups, situps, and run two miles. Soldiers don’t live in a vacuum. The 135 bean pole can crush the APFT but he is going to struggle doing his job if his job is moving heavy things or moving fast under a load.
We should be measuring a Soldier’s relative strength, endurance, and explosive power if it is going to be a real fitness test. It’s been 40 years, we understand more about fitness now.
Except that the APFT is sexist. A female gets the same score (or higher) than a male for doing the same amount of work. Most females knock out completely garbage pushups, anyway…which most graders will count for fear of being labeled as sexists themselves. Oh the irony.
One benefit I can see from this is leveling the standards for everyone. Not just women but those with longer limbs.
Honestly if it’s this much trouble creating a new physical fitness test and the current one doesn’t measure certain things that have been talked about well I personally wouldn’t have a test at all. I think it’s just too much trouble and would abolish the idea of a physical fitness test for all the branches of the Military. Ultimately you can still do all the physical training that you want and need soliders to do just don’t force a estimate upon them where they will only train for certain events and not focus on being functional or vice versa. Just leave it up to all individual soliders to keep them selves in as best shape as they best see fit. They all can do what works best for them individually.
Physical fitness tests are force shaping tools.
Any test selected will become the new measure that units train to unless tge Army changes the atmosphere. The issue is that the test must be executable by the Total Army meaning every active installation as well as every reserve and guard unit must execute the test twice a year. The test must be applicable to Soldiers age 17 to 60 for every grade, MOS/AOC. The test should not require extensive equipment. The test is not to determine if Soldiers can be Mortarmen or tankers or cooks. The test should measure the basic fitness for militaty service. No badges, no points. Just a Go or NoGo.
Just give us (the Army) a PFT with f*cking pullups. And while we’re at it, maybe the Marine Corps can stop allowing their females to do the alternate pullup exercise. Just a suggestion.
Or just give us an 8′ wall to climb over, unassisted. Whatever.
A lot of people saying the test is easy for lightweight guys – and I’ll agree – My unit just completed the UBRR and it easily favors lightweight guys over heavy weight. Out smallest guy (140lbs) CRUSHED the rest of us. Why? Because when it came to bodyweight exercises he had the advantage, especially on the sprints and 5 mile run.
Anyway, I saw a diagram a long time ago that was a scale of fitness. On the far left you have MARATHON Runner and far right you had POWER lifter and in the middle you had your general fitness level. Any fitness TEST should be testing the extremes, not the general level.
MARATHON RUNNER ————-GEN FITNESS————-POWER LIFTER
I wasn’t joking with my previous recommendation – but maybe a 50k is too extreme for some folks. But, it could easily be 6-12 mile ruck with points scaled to time completed. Then go deadlift for a 3 rep max.
This year, weighing 185lbs at 5’7, I ran the Tablerock 50k in western NC (7hr 32min (an hour slower than my goal) and 2 weeks later I deadlifted 415 for 3 reps. I’m not a big guy, might hit the gym 3-4 times a week and run the same amount. I also managed a 1327 on the UBRR and 286 on the APFT.
I don’t what to tell you guys. The UBRR was easy enough for the 100 of us who took it to split in into 2 days, 50 dudes each, and MAYBE took 2 hours to complete. I’m not advocating for UBRR, like I said, it favors smaller guys.
Anyway…maybe look at GO/NOGO events instead of scaling everything. Any PT test is only testing those specific events, and any smart private knows the key to winning is sport specific training 4-6 weeks out – however, a 12 mile ruck march is not something you can train for in 4-6 weeks, nor is any long distance run, nor a heavy deadlift (unless you’re already doing this stuff, which is the point). Those types of events would force soldiers to constantly maintain their fitness.
I”m not sure if this test is better than the UBRR (We don’t even know how this proposed test is graded or how points are awarded.)
But relative strength decreases as you get bigger. You can look at the powerlifting records and see the small guys are lifting a higher multiple of their bodyweight.
Lamar Gant pulled 5x his bodyweight at around 130lbs. The heavyweight elite aren’t going to deadlift 5x their weight. That’s just the way it is.
So in that way the UBRR is going to favor the smaller guys.
But at least the 140lber in your unit can rep his bodyweight on the bench. I bet you can find some guys that max the AFPT that can’t bench press their bodyweight. How is that encouraging raw strength? (It isn’t.)
But this is a case of perfect being the enemy of the good. UBRR and this proposed test aren’t perfect, but the are better than the AFPT.
Regarding this test favoring the smaller guys —
I’m not so sure. The weighted sled drag and the medicine ball toss (assuming the weight stays constant and doesn’t vary as a percentage of bodyweight) favor those with higher absolute strength.
For the deadlift – it will depend on how it’s graded. Do you get points for a higher multiple of your bodyweight, or is it just raw poundage? Probably the former but I don’t know.
The run we all know favors the skinny. Pushups are a little more neutral but probably doesn’t help to be 240lbs, even if you are ripped.
In place of the run I’d favor a ruck march. 45lbs plus full canteens plus rubber duck will slow down the skinny runners and is more realistic.
But as I said earlier, there’s no perfect test. Guys with long arms and short torsos have a anthropometric advantage over guys with short arms and long torsos. There’s no perfect solution that’s completely fair to everyone.
But the main point of the test shouldn’t just be to measure and rank soldiers for promotions and to see who gets a slot to Sniper School. It’s to incentivize them to improve the qualities you want them to have.
Ok, I am a former enlisted and now officer for a combined 30 years. General fitness while not indicative all things should remain the baseline, thus keeping the current APFT. I am medical and statistically on your average post, 50-60 percent of people are slready on profile, so what would be the alternate tests for all of these events. So not only would the complexity, time and resource be an issue, so would sustainment. Many older soldiers, including me would probably not adjust and no I am not on profile, I still look fit, run in less than 14 minutes and score 85-90 percentile in other events routinely. I say the new test this looks cool and would be a great training tool for any unit, but not as a standard replacement. Units could implement as a training tool only and provide other incentives to keep people engaged.
Precisely. This test will cause the Army to lose thousands of Soldiers with no path or recourse for replacing those numbers at a time when the Army is already trying to increase numbers.
I am in medical service corps, I don’t see many docs or scientists doing deadlifts for sure. How this is related to the civilian like jobs I am doing in the lab everyday? How can I invest so much time in preparing for this PT test? It is very impractical for non combat arms units and MOS.
I think this is a bad idea. Too reliant on too much equipment, require a very long time to conduct, and I can tell you now will take probably an entire day out of a two-day drill for those of us in the reserve component. That kills the rest of our training schedule for that weekend, never mind trying to squeeze in unit PT. I’m an Armor Troop CDR- this past weekend we qualified with our pistols, trained and tested GST tasks, gave briefings on the Asymmetric Warfare Group’s white-paper discussing the Russian New Generation Warfare, and started setting up for the next three IDTs which will all be gunnery events away from home station with us living on the range. When the hell are we going to have time to do a day’s worth of PT testing?
And how much time of the soldier’s time is wasted on the average work week. While I have issues with some parts of this test, if PT is a priority then a PT test should be a significant event that takes some time and cuts into the work day.
Never going to happen.
Too much equipment needed to field to a million person Army.
Takes too much time it execute for a million person Army.
The leaders of the million person Army aren’t going to like the results (unless it’s gender/age normed).
So We have pull-up bars but won’t do pull-ups on them…Hmmmm?
SSD-
I was forwarded the “Army Combat Readiness Test and Standards” word document last week. Upon reading this document I noticed that it does not seem have age or gender standards. Here are the tables from the document.
Leg Tuck:
Scale 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Raw 1 2 3 5 8 12 15 19 23 25
Power Throw:
Scale 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Raw 350 400 450 550 650 800 950 1050 1200 1400
Trap Bar Deadlift:
Scale 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Raw 120 150 170 190 210 230 270 300 350 400
T-Push-Up:
Scale 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Raw 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Shuttle Sprint-Drag-Carry:
Scale 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Raw 3:00 2:50 2:40 2:30 2:20 2:10 2:00 1:50 1:40 1:30
2-Mile Run:
Scale 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Raw 21:00 20:00 19:30 18:30 17:00 15:30 14:00 13:30 12:45 11:30
NOTE* on EVERY table the 30 block is highlighted. I am assuming this means something, my guess is it is the perhaps the minimum score in order to pass.
IF this assumption is true AND IF there are no separate standards for females then it would have some serious ripple effects:
1) It would clearly lower the minimum fitness level for ALL soldiers making it much easier to pass. It would do nothing to improve the REQUIRED MINIMUM fitness level for ALL soldiers.
2) It would also make it more difficult to achieve a MAX score
3) It would allow females entering combat a MOS to “meet” the same standards as men without technically “lowering” standards. The Army can always say, sneakily, that it never “lowered” the standards, it just “changed” the test.
4) Big Army could then argue that it in fact “raised” the standards (to achieve a perfect score) while conveniently ignoring the minimum required score to pass.
5) By changing the test from the 3 event APFT (something that I agree needs to be done) to a completely different test, it would completely muddy the waters of any comparison from minimum fitness standards of the old APFT to the new CRT.
Perhaps they just haven’t had enough people take the test to be able to craft the gender and age appropriate standards and publish them. (very plausible)
Perhaps I am completely wrong.
Either way we will have to wait and see what further guidance comes out, but something about the lack of specifics of gender and age standards (something Big Army has been vocal about in the past) has peaked my curiosity.
Honest question. How is anyone going to do 80 of these pushups in 2 minutes?
I can do around 2 regular pushups in the time I can do 1 of these pushups.
The T push up, or I call it the Reset, is difficult if you have never done them before. It stops you from getting into rhythm. It will dramatically increase your up body strength over time. One might think you get a rest when you set down but that’s not the case. There are severa forms of push-ups one can do to. The gator is another good one.