![]() ![]() Before the introduction of this fitness test in January 2017, Army recruits were only required to pass the ASVAB test and a physical exam.Ī February 2018 report published by Army News Service suggests that since the introduction of OPAT, certain types of injuries that occur in the training phase for new recruits have been on the decline. OPAT is a tool used to determine whether new recruits have the physical capacity to endure specific Army jobs such as Infantry or related specialties. Senior leadership has, at the time of this writing, not indicated that the Army has settled on whether or not the MOS-based fitness standards will become a reality in 2020, but there is a precedent for this type of occupation-based fitness standard in the Army’s Occupational Physical Assessment Test (OPAT). There have been hints dropped in interviews with military publications and with Army.mil’s own reporting on the ACFT that suggest physical fitness standards may vary depending on the occupation of the test taker. ![]() Different Fitness Standards Depending On MOS? The new test is said to measure a much higher percentage. Army’s Center of Initial Military Training, says the current Army fitness test is useful for measuring only approximately 40% of a soldier’s ability to “execute warrior tasks and battle drills.” The Sergeant Major of the Army is quoted on Army.mil saying the Army needed a more realistic and “field-expedient” measure of a soldier’s physical ability to withstand the rigors of the combat environment.Īnother Army official quoted at Army.mil, the commander of the U.S. The transition to the Army Combat Fitness Test and its age and gender neutral requirements has much to do with preparing all soldiers for a combat environment, which Army officials are on the record as saying is equally dangerous no matter who is serving in combat. Older servicemembers weren’t required to meet identical standards of younger troops, and women were scored on separate criteria. Under the system used since the 1980s, the three-event APFT scored soldiers on a sliding scale based on age and gender. Transitioning Away From The Old Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) These results seemed to validate the philosophy and approach of the ACFT as it is currently understood. Published reports indicate that similar results were found even when the pilot programs independently developed their own fitness test events similar to the other studies. Later, pilot testing of these fitness test areas began independently through 2018. ![]() The Army’s efforts resulted in a validation of “specific physical fitness test events” designed to quantify an individual soldier’s ability to endure the rigors of combat and combat training environments. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine. In 2013, Army leadership began a review of the physical demands of “common soldier tasks,” including a scientific study by the U.S. Until then, the test is considered in a state of refinement based on the results of the field testing which may include as many as 40,000 troops. The Army Combat Fitness Test will be field-tested until its official roll-out date in 2020. ![]() It is age and gender-neutral, considered a “strenuous” test, and replaces the old three-event test with six events. The Army Combat Fitness Test is a highly upgraded version of the old physical fitness test soldiers need to ready to pass as part of their military service. The Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) is a replacement for the old Army fitness test which has been in use since 1980. ![]()
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