PT test RESET
Army scraps update, wants to include combat readiness events
By Lance M. Bacon
lbacon@militarytimes.com
The new fitness test has been canceled.
That’s right — in an unexpected move, the Army has buried the five-event test, originally slated to start in October. But don’t relax just yet — a new test is in the works.
The decision to cancel was made by Gen. Robert Cone, whose Training and Doctrine Command spent two years developing the test, which has now been scrapped. Independent evaluations said it did no better than the existing three-event test in regard to measuring fitness levels. More importantly, the Army wants a test that better measures a soldier’s physical ability to complete warrior tasks and battle drills in future combat environments, and the proposed test does not meet that need. The new test will be heavily influenced by knowledge gained in the past 10 years of war and honed by the return of master fitness trainers in company-size units.
“This is critically important. This is the one critical basic skill required for every soldier to perform well on the battlefield,” said TRADOC Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Dailey. “We cannot take this lightly. There is no need to rush to a wrong decision. It is crucial that we take our time and do this right, and when we do release this to the Army, it will be the right thing at the right time to advance our physical fitness.” Cone called a check fire after three independent agencies — the U.S. Military Academy Department of Physical Education, the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, and California State University at Fullerton — determined the five-event fitness test was neither a significant improvement on the existing test nor the measurement of combat readiness the Army desires.
The proposed test included max pushups in one minute, a 60-yard shuttle run, one-minute rower, long jump and 1.5-mile run.
The three-event fitness test will remain in place until a new test is developed. That effort will begin in October, Dailey said.
Learning from failure
That doesn’t mean the past two years have been an exercise in futility, no pun intended. The CSM said the command won’t toss aside lessons learned but will instead build upon them.
“A lot of people have done a lot of great work, and we have learned a lot through this comprehensive study,” Dailey said.
For example, the cancellation has validated Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling’s desire to include a new Combat Readiness Test when he developed the new fitness test nearly two years ago.
When Hertling briefed his recommendation in February 2011 to then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, he told the chief the current test is not a strong predictor of successful physical performance on the battlefield or in fullspectrum operations because it “does not adequately measure components of strength, endurance or mobility.” It instead provides “only a snapshot” assessment of upper- and lower-body muscular endurance and fails to identify anaerobic capacity. Anaerobic exercises are high-intensity bursts in which oxygen is not used for energy.
Hertling, who headed Initial Military Training at the time, recommended the five-event fitness test along with a hard-core CRT, which would take the place of one of the two annual PT tests or be an added requirement. The test included a 400-meter run with weapon; an obstacle course with low hurdles, high crawls and overunder obstacles to test individual movement techniques; a 40-yard casualty drag; a 40-yard run with ammo cans atop a balance beam; point, aim and move drills; a 100-yard ammo can shuttle sprint; and a 100-yard agility sprint.
No one argued against the concept. The cost of materials killed the CRT. The Army decided that units should be left to measure such things and placed its full focus on the five-event fitness test. And that’s where the effort seems to have gone wrong.
Now the plan is to go back to that fork in the road and find a way to incorporate those combat requirements in the primary test — but do so without the financial burden inherent in the first version.
The goal is a test any unit can conduct anywhere, Dailey said.
Leaders will use this reset to first initiate a careful study of the past 10 years to better determine the physical requirements demanded of tomorrow’s combatants.
The Army calls this “functional fitness.” It is a measurement of how well-prepared you are to do what the Army needs you to do. Such activity requires overall fitness neither obtained nor accurately measured by the current system. For example, a soldier may be able to do 1,000 pushups but be unable traverse a mountain. Another may be able to run like a gazelle but be unable to carry an injured soldier out of harm’s way.
The influx of women into combat roles will be another consideration. Women have far greater combat requirements on them than ever before. Dailey said maintaining a gender-neutral test will be tough.
“We’re going to take a broader look at this,” he said. “Do we need to widen the view of how we conduct physical fitness? We don’t know that yet. We have a genderneutral APFT. As we move forward and explore those options, I think our studies will show us the right way ahead.”
The path to an answer
But measuring combat fitness isn’t enough. Management also is needed to ensure soldiers everywhere are fit to fight. Taking point on this endeavor is the master fitness trainer.
Much like a master gunner serves his unit, the master fitness trainer will be the resident expert at the company level with the knowledge, skills and attributes to advise unit commanders on things such as height/weight requirements, physical readiness training, fitness tests and nutrition.
“The physical readiness of our forces is a top priority, and improving physical fitness training programs is the centerpiece of physical readiness,” said Dailey, who was a master fitness trainer.
Dailey is confident the Army will have a test that measures combat physical readiness.
“This is the right way to go,” he said. “Our leadership made the right decision at the right time. Just like anything else, when we get the right people focused on it, we’re going to get the right answer in the end.
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