Sens Blumenthal and Gillibrand implore Army to postpone (again) the new PT test
Da Nang Dick, Army PFT expert
Senators Dick with a capital “D” Blumenthal (D-CT), phony Vietnam War Vet, and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have written a letter to the Army brass asking them to postpone the new Army Combat Fitness Test, scheduled to begin Army-wide in October.
This is a fitness program that’s been in development since 2013. The ACFT is based around testing a soldier’s ability to handle the physical rigors of a combat deployment. This was necessary after commanders reported a significant percentage of arrivals to their units were unable to perform to the required level.
Two senators are asking for a delay in the Army’s implementation of its new combat fitness test, or ACFT, pending an independent study of how it will effect critical career fields and soldiers deployed to austere outposts.
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked in a letter sent Tuesday to the House and Senate armed services committees for the ACFT roll-out to be paused and studied.
“We acknowledge that the ACFT 2.0 is a work in progress, but we have considerable concerns regarding the negative impact it may already be having on so many careers,” the senators said in the letter, a copy of which was provided to Army Times. “It is imperative that we pause implementation until all questions and concerns are answered.”
The six-event ACFT is a noticeably more difficult test than that which it replaces, with higher failure rates recorded among women. The increased difficultly is often attributed to the ACFT’s emphasis on core and upper body strength through exercises like the deadlift and hanging leg-tuck.
The letter, first reported by the Washington Post, noted that Army data shows “a consistent” 65 percent failure rate for women and 10 percent failure rate for men. The letter cited a University of Iowa study that showed eliminating the leg-tuck would significantly reduce failure rates.
Gillibrand and Blumenthal said there are “significant concerns” regarding the data used to develop the ACFT that trace back to a study conducted several years ago.
That study demonstrated the leg-tuck was not a significant predictive variable of how a soldier would perform their duties, but was still included in the six-event test regardless. The study’s test group also underrepresented women, the senators added, with the average participant being a 24-year-old man.
“The Army has failed to show that the leg tuck has any nexus to the skills necessary for combat,” the letter reads. “While the ACFT 2.0 provides the option for a two-minute plank as an alternative to the leg tuck, the Army has reiterated this is only a temporary option. Furthermore, only 60 points will be issued for the two-minute plank, greatly reducing the participant’s overall score.”
Army leaders have repeatedly said that the ACFT is far more applicable to combat tasks than the older test, which simply required push-ups, sit-ups and a 2-mile run. The ACFT does, however, require significantly more equipment and preparation, service leadership has acknowledged.
More at the source. Where were these two when the Air Force started the pointless waist measurement component in the PT test?
Thanks to Jeff LPH 3 for the tip. Source; Army Times
Category: Army, Congress sucks, Guest Link, Liberals suck
Liar, liar.
P.S. The ACFT replicates combat-type skills from a post-9/11 COIN warfare environment– now that it’s peer-competition versus Russkies and Chicoms again, skills don’t match.
The Dems cant P.T.
I will tell you why.
After 30+ years, there is no more male PT test and a much easier female PT test.
There is now one new army APFT.
And it is a smoker.
I know a few very in shape females who took it, in the test phase, and barely passed.
I am predicting a 80% fail rate for females.
YOU WANTED EQUITY.
Now deal with it.
“YOU WANTED EQUITY.
Now deal with it.”
^Yup^
There is a problem when you want everything the same between women and men. The problem is that women and men aren’t the same. I think the Marines had it figured out pretty well (all things considered). Basically, the same test events but different scoring. Shit, the USMC scores are graduated even by age. I presume the Army’s PT Test was the same in the past. Sounds like this test may be too hard for the bottom third of women to even pass.
If that is the case, then there are two ways of approaching it:
1. If you insist on women being combat jobs like there are no differences between the sexes, then tough luck, kiddo – you all have to complete on the same tests and get what ever score you get. Since this is where things are now a days, that would be my approach. or
2. You acknowledge there are differences in the sexes, set aside the physically hardest jobs for males only and go to a scoring system I mentioned earlier with a graduated scale.
The third, stupid way, is to reduce the testing requirements until women can pass easily, everyone will look the same on paper and I guess we can see how things turn out when heavy loads are needing to be carried for great distances when a Safety Vehicle isn’t nearby or when bullets start to fly.
Final word, if Da Nang Dick and Ms Gillibrand are involved, I’m pretty much suspicious from the get go about whatever their premise is.
No, they just want complete equality of outcomes regardless of the scores/performance of individual soldiers, especially if they are female.
The two of them should suit up in their gym shorts and show
us how it is done. They can toss a coin to decide who is
the “skins” and who is the “shirts”. And who counts the cadence
while the other counts the repetitions.
Dick did put his Marine physical fitness training and skills to good use in the jungles of Quang Nam and along the ‘Z in Quang Tri…OH WAIT!!!…
I thought that “Da Nang Dick” was usually in Al Phuk Tup?
He was in the Poon Tang Valley near the village of Phuc Hu.
Hanging with Long Duc Dong (GONG) and slurping down some Cream of Sum Yung Guy soup…
Screw DaNang Dickless. Study something, AGAIN, that has been under study for “several years.” Study this you lying Sack of Sh^t. You have been trying to show your self importance since your Ken doll self got beat and tied up by the GI Joe Action figure, who then had his way with your Barbie.
Phuque Heem. The poster boy of what is wrong with our grubmint.
“The study’s test group also underrepresented women, the senators added, with the average participant being a 24-year-old man.”
Isn’t this training something that is for a voluntary position?
Combat being one of the nastier jobs to apply for, the reason for a dearth of wimmins may simply be due to the girls not wanting to get their stuff all shot up.
Did that occur to that self-important dork Bluminbutt? Of course not.
Just askin’. There’s a limit to my patience when common sense seems to be thrown out the door.
are they saying men and women no longer have equal capability? after they said men and women have equal capability to be in combat units?
Name edited to protect PII. Again.
AW1
For once I agree with no one, but two Democrat Senators. I guess it is the proverbial broken clock.
The ACFT is a clusterfook that brings little to the table as a physical test due to its high manpower requirements. You need like 30 dudes to test a company, which it would take like 4 hours. It is ridiculous. But some well placed officer got rewarded for developing this crap.
Yeah, everything I’ve read about the ACFT makes it look like a complete circus.
I can understand the need for a different test to assess combat readiness, but PT tests serve a lot of mundane purposes too: Things like eligibility for schools, promotion boards, etc.
The more complicated you make the test, the more equipment you need, the more opportunities there are for widely disparate results even among the same group of people.
When I first came in (old guy alert!) we still had the old 5 even PT test. That required specialized equipment for things like the run, dodge and jump and horizontal ladder. The “new” 3 event APFT was actually put into effect when I was in basic training at Fort Benning in Autumn of 1980.
While I will certainly agree that the 3 event APFT is not the best way to assess overall combat readiness, it was “good enough” to serve our Army for almost 40 years.
And, it has a HUGE advantage over the ACFT in that it could be administered with a minimum of equipment or personnel, even when deployed to an austere environment (I deployed 4 times and the only deployment where I did NOT take a PT test was in Afghanistan.) All you need is a place to do push ups and situps and a 2 mile track.
Another advantage of the 3 event APFT is that it is pretty easy to train people to score objectively. You either do the pushup correctly or you don’t. You either do the situp correctly or you don’t. On the 2 mile run, your time is your time, period.
So while I might find many reasons to disagree with Gillbrand and Da Nang Dick on other things, on the ACFT I’m inclined to believe that the Army really hasn’t thought through the impact of having such a complicated test.
There are two truths here:
1. The APFT did not test combat readiness
2. the AFCT does not completely test combat readiness
This does NOT mean:
3. There should be no AFCT.
The logic here is not binary.
My question is when us this lying sack of crap going to be peosecuted for Stolen Valor?
It’s never going to happen
Even with a Republican Prez
Look at 2016 still no convictions
Not in your lifetime or mine, Andy.
I’m sure that those two snotnosed windbags would rather see the US Army go use the stationary bike PT Test that I heard the Air Force once used and it was said that the easiest way to max your score on that was to eat at Burger king and smoke a cigarette before taking it!
I have been led to believe Senator Dick spent the majority his District of Columbia USMC reserve time doing Toys for Tots.
Perhaps he was declared exceptionally fit by Gunny Skilcraft.
Any PT test isn’t so much a direct test of combat readiness. It is a test of character: will you smoke yourself good and hard and regular on your own time to excel on the PT test?
Riddle me this, what was wrong with the old PT test of the 60’s and 70’s? There was a mile timed run, a short obstacle course, a 40 yard low crawl, a horizontal ladder event, and a practice grenade throw. Now obviously they could have added a wounded man carry event and perhaps another obstacle. But dipshits in the Pentagon just couldn’t leave well enough alone, because apparently they had to accommodate females and girly men like Manning. Mark my words, all this gender friendly bullshit is going to get people killed in the next shooting conflict.
Okay, and sorry in advance, but I have to brag:
My daughter passed (surpassed expectation) the APFT, very recently, and the ACFT (interim version) very recently. Can’t wait for her to be commissioned. Very proud
F Dick, and F Kirsten. They only succeed in holding people back.
Congrats to you AND your Baby Girl My, My, My! When she is commissioned, give her a SALUTE from all of us too.
Got no problem with difficult tests designed to test individual potential or ability to perform physically demanding jobs. But, they need to be task specific.
There are any number of ways to measure strength, for instance. How to best do that varies depending upon the job.
Sure, combat is physically demanding and any physical tests for combat troopers must be difficult. Doesn’t matter if males or females are taking the test – it is the job which must determine the requirement to do the job, in this case combat.
Meanwhile, what is a leg tuck, and what is it supposed to measure in a combat roll?
Another old guy alert.
My unit did a “diagnostic” ACFT last month.
Spent the week prior practicing each event.
My 54 y/o flabby field grade ass was able to pass each event.
Things I noticed:
Dead lift-poor form by a lot of people. 140lbs minimum isn’t that hard however.
Medicine ball throw-releasing the ball too early or too late. Practice. Chunking a 10lb 4.5 meters isn’t that hard.
Sprint, drag, carry-That side to side run thing sucks. This event will smoke your legs. Practice.
Hand release push ups- hand placement is awkward, but 10 in 2 minutes is ridiculously easy.
Leg tuck-not gonna lie, this one sucks. Half a chin up with awkward hand positioning on the bar is an ass kicker. The minimum is 1. Practice/train.
2 mile run-time is a little longer. Alternate events are a 5000 meter row, 6.2 mile bike ride or a 1600 meter swim (might be a mile, not sure). Train.
Since it was a “diagnostic” all that was required was the minimums. Out of 54 people, we had 1 who couldn’t do the dead lift and 3 who couldn’t do the leg tuck. So it’s doable. It is different compared to the old APFT but I think it’s better. Now those commanders who thought long slow runs were the epitome of daily PT will have to rethink their definition of PT
I recall the PT Test was 1 mile run, 40 yard low crawl, 72 rungs on the horizontal ladder, 6 Pull up, and the run dodge and jump, and the 40 yard Man Carry!
Any Brown Boots out there to compare test events??
I only had to read as far as “higher failure rates for women”, to know what was really going on here. Their only overriding concern is that too many women are getting tossed because they cannot measure up to established standards, happening yet again.
Same deal as before: a pound weighs 16 ounces for everyone. No girlie pounds that only weigh 10 ounces.
A mile is 5280 feet for everyone. No girlie miles with only 3140 feet.
A minute is 60 seconds for everyone. No girlie minutes with 90 seconds in them.
If they want to go into the service, they perform up to the higher standard or get booted. It is not rocket science. They want to be grunts, they have to do grunt shit.
The ACFT is tough. I’m about to go from decades of maxing APFTs to a goal of 500 (out of 600) on ACFT. Surprisingly the hardest event for me, after decades of tearing my shoulders up (and two shoulder surgeries), is throwing the ball backwards over my head. All I know is that it is easy to pass, but hard to do really well, and I don’t see many people at my installation training for it. Look out!