Army to replace the Army Combat Fitness Test

[Rockrivr1]

So is this a good thing or a bad thing for the readiness of the Army?

On Monday, the Army announced it was replacing the Army Combat Fitness Test with the Army Fitness Test, AFT, according to a news release published on its website.

"The five-event AFT is designed to enhance Soldier fitness, improve warfighting readiness, and increase the lethality of the force," the Army stated.

The phased implementation of the new test will begin on June 1, and on January 1, 2026, new scoring standards for 21 combat military occupational specialties will take effect for the active component. However, the Reserve and National Guard will have their new scoring standard take effect on June 1, 2026.

During the AFT, soldiers can expect to be tested on the following:

• Three-repetition maximum deadlift
• Hand-release push-up army extension
• Sprint-drag-carry
• Plank
• A two-mile run

The test will be "sex-neutral and age-normed," the army stated.

Army to replace the Army Combat Fitness Test: Here's what will be new for soldiers

The Army Combat Fitness is now the Army Fitness Test and is "sex-neutral and age-normed," the army stated.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Spanz]

i think the old test got bastardizedand DEI'ed to death.

so they make a brand new test, with no exemptions or DEI carveouts. how can that not be good?

 

[FalArAk]

Never knew they had a fitness standard.

Cheesecake squats
Tamale rolling
Donut toss
Walk briskly to the mess hall
Consume a 12 egg omelette in 90 seconds or less

 

[Christian]

The Chaplin during basic was such a fat shit they issued him a maternity blouse. Guy wanted out so instead of finishing his contract they were booting him out because he refused to lose the weight according to one of my drills. Word was he didn't want to deploy once his rotation there was over(early 2002).

 

[tuna]

Seems a lot more realistic to measure fitness than the old pushup / situp / 2 mile run.

 

[mav]

Seems a lot more realistic to measure fitness than the old pushup / situp / 2 mile run.

I would argue the best fitness test would be a combination of the Pacer/Beep test (replacing the 2 mile run), a 400M sprint, deadlifts and pullups. Pacer test covers the overall aerobic conditioning, 400M sprint covers the anerobic conditioning/speed, deadlifts and pullups cover the strength/power conditioning. These to me map better to Army fitness requirements than the old max pushups/situps in 2 minutes and a 2 mile run, but that's just me.

 

[cams]

It’ll be interesting to see how it goes. The biggest hurdle is who will enforce the standards and will they do it openly and evenly across the board.

Is the test being made legitimately harder for both M/F to push the weak into having higher fitness standards, or easier to allow more weak men and females to pass and continue being weak?

How will it affect soft skill MOS’ like dentist or payroll? Same combat fitness standard or will their cadre just check the boxes for big army and go to lunch knowing they have a bunch of fat bodies on hand?

One solution will be to have a dedicated fitness group/company cadre to conduct the PT test on each post, thus cutting out the testing units NCO’s from being able to score their own people and not actually maintain the written standard.

Will the standards be enforced and how many retests will be allowed before the soldier being tested is discharged for failure to maintain physical readiness standards?

Lots of random questions around these types of changes with enforcement of the stated standards being the differentiator between success or continued failure due to complacency and/or a failure to lead.

 

[chuckster]

I saw this on another gun forum I belong to. Army to replace the Army Combat Fitness Test: Here's what will be new for soldiers
I know it's Army but maybe all branches will follow.

 

[frenchman]

I don’t see an angle where this could possibly be wrong. Combat does not see a difference between genders. It sees the difference between weak and strong. If you’re not up to snuff, combat has a way to let you know.
Standards are there for a reason. If you’re incapable of dragging my ass with my gear to safety after I took a hot one,I don’t want you on my squad.

 

[Picton]

Seems a lot more realistic to measure fitness than the old pushup / situp / 2 mile run.

Even when I was in (going on 30 years now! Sheesh) there was talk of including things like CASEVAC into the APFT. I think the PT test is one of those things that will never be "set in stone;" they're always looking to tweak it.

I was in a highly deployable unit and almost everyone in the battalion scored over 290 on the old APFT, legitimately; the PT standard there was very very high. I remember the brigade commander doing quarterly "officer PT" where he assembled every officer in the whole regiment and took us on a run. I was a very good runner at that time, and it nearly smoked me anyway; that dude was FAST.

Only one field-grade stayed in it. All the rest fell out. The captains did okay, but the lieutenants suffered. A lot of them were fatties, in Army terms, meaning they were overweight by about 5-10 pounds.

 

[fencer]

It doesn't really matter.
Ranger School will still be tough.

 

[Picton]

It doesn't really matter.
Ranger School will still be tough.

Not according to guys who already have a tab. To hear them tell it, it Used To Be Much Tougher.

 

[45Badger]

I would argue the best fitness test would be a combination of the Pacer/Beep test (replacing the 2 mile run), a 400M sprint, deadlifts and pullups. Pacer test covers the overall aerobic conditioning, 400M sprint covers the anerobic conditioning/speed, deadlifts and pullups cover the strength/power conditioning. These to me map better to Army fitness requirements than the old max pushups/situps in 2 minutes and a 2 mile run, but that's just me.

The idea of sprinting 400 meters is a bit intimidating at 63. I can jog that far

 

[pdm]

The idea of sprinting 400 meters is a bit intimidating at 63. I can jog that far

400 meters? Can we drive?