Navy forgives PT test failures
A number of folks have sent us links to the story about the US Navy claiming that it won’t force sailors out of the service for two failures of the fitness test. From Stars & Stripes;
The Navy will no longer boot most sailors from the force solely for failing fitness tests, the service said in a Navy-wide message amending its three-year-old fitness regulations. The changes come as the Navy looks to increase the service by more than 4,000 sailors by the end of fiscal year 2018 on Sept. 30.
Vice Adm. Robert Burke, the chief of naval personal, wrote in a memorandum that the changes were designed to ensure the minimum fitness levels were met across the force, while retaining otherwise qualified sailors to ensure the service grows as ordered by Congress in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act signed this month by President Donald Trump.
“My Number One priority is to keep the fleet properly manned,” Burke wrote.
The Navy altered it’s policy of booting PT failures if they failed three tests in four years to two tests in three years. They say that they have 43,000 who have failed one in the past three years and 5500 with two failures in the last two years. Folks scheduled for the boot in March are forgiven.
I’ll warn you fatties that you might be good now, but when the Navy changes it’s mind, you won’t get a warning from the service, so keep working on your PT test.
Category: Navy
Even if they decided not to boot you from the Navy it will still affect your eval and some commands may not recommend you advancement.
Ditto. Advancement is rare to those that can’t pass the PRT, and higher tenure is right around the corner for a lot of these individuals.
Were they fat when when they joined?
No?
Then whats the problem?
Too much food? Not enough exercise?
Can’t fail because why?
FFS…just maintain the damn standards and quit being a mouth breathing bag nasty.
20%…you can’t maintain less than 20%?!?
I’m still wondering why people can’t run 1.5 miles in 13:45.
Check out the BMI numbers, let’s say that they are rather “forgiving”. These people need to spend a little less time in a fast food line and more in the gym line.
This is reduculous.
Back in the ‘ole days we hardly ever had failures.
We berated and redicooled fat fucts into compliance.
Fat boy…….Fat boy how did you get so big? Weeeeeble Wobble just like a pig. Yep. It was brutal for big boys who could not get it done.
I remember a fat guy in Basic that got recycled. The DI would get in his face in the chow line and shame him into putting back half of his tray.
We had Drill Sergeants that would take food off the fat boys’ trays and put it on the skinny kid’s trays for them to eat!
We had drill sergeants tell the platoon that was serving to short the fat guys and double up on the skinny guys. And they hovered over the fat guys, constantly.
Not true for all Sailors. For example, Aeronautically Designated personnel, such as I was, are required to maintain height and weight standards and undergo an annual Flight Physical, to ensure one is fit to fly.
Yup, In addition to swim quals, survival training, etc etc etc.
Also, having to keep our shot cards up to date.
Annual Open and Closed Book exams, and a check ride to boot.
Annual instrument ground school and instrument flight check ride for Aviators, too.
And egress training per aircraft type/model/series.
And annual flight time minimums (i.e. night time, Instrument time, precision and non-precision instrument approaches, etc.).
Saved round: ya gotta love NATOPS.
If you can’t sleep, just lie down and read your NATOPS manual (a.k.a. The Big Blue Sleeping Pill).
Works every time.
Not
Applicable
To
Our
Present
Situation
That’s right, AW1Ed.
In my experience, if any USN/USMC aeronautically designated personnel (Naval Aviator, Naval Flight Officer, Naval Aircrewman, Naval Aviation Observer, or USMC Aerial Navigator) busted HT/WT standards on a flight physical and received a down chit until they dropped the excess weight, that was a professional ‘Kiss of Death’ that few ever recovered from.
The same goes for failing a USMC PFT/USN PT test.
Don’t get it twisted. This is about keeping fat chicks and lazy assholes. I pretty much guarantee that tomorrow morning there will be some random Corpsman doing a gate run in a gas mask and ruck sack; but no one is changing rules to retain HIM. They are changing rules to hold on to the wide load who ducked three deployments by getting pregnant, is piss poor at her job and filed at least one IG report in the last two years.
That is the POS who will be retained.
Fat chicks need love, too. Ask IDC SARC.
I know guys in the Army reserves who have told me they have NEVER passed a PT test.
Met a few in my day as well.
They just “finger drill” it and check the box. No one checks.
I have seen some that are way over on weight as well.
But hey, who cares right?
What I’ve seen more often is higher HQ push paperwork back time after time after time, letting PFCs ride out years of failures…change the requirements on the counselings, start the process over, etc., etc. Then start over again at every echelon with new “magic bullet points” that weren’t in the counselings…
“to ensure the service grows”
It’ll grow alright. Clothing sales will be running out of size 48 pants.
The Navy has been using the Fat Boy program for years as a tool to manage head-count. I saw this at the end of the cold war. Outstanding guys who had had totally honorable and successful careers were given the boot, many just prior to eligibility for retirement, to save the Navy money. The Navy is not like the Army or Marines – no one needs to run 5 miles in x-number of minutes on a ship and during my career the “fat boys” were easily able to perform their jobs onboard. Now the Navy finds it is losing “heads” and once again will ignore the tool of the Fat Boy program just as it had before the Peace Dividend days. Nothing new here, move along.
“Force Shaping”… one of those buzzwords that Big Navy loved to use when having to do a drawdown. I also “loved it” when the CNO had to make changes to the times/scores in the program – anyone remember CNO Jay Johnson? He thought everyone should be a marathon runner (because he was) and lowered times by 30 seconds, which pissed a tone of O’s and E’s off that were getting “Outstanding” scores, now became “excellent” or “passing”.
OH NO MUH RETIREMENT! I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT BUT LIKE EXCEPT HARD SHIT LIKE SIT UPS! I’M A MODEL FUCKING SAILOR AND EXAMPLE TO BE FOLLOWED BESIDES THE FACT THAT I’M A FAT SLOB!
Fuck that shit.
Agree TF-BA. The standards aren’t that tough, and for those who don’t like to run, there is an alternate swim test. But those who can’t pass the run won’t like the swim either, because it measures cardio-respiratory fitness, of which they obviously have none.
Even being retired from Army for > 20 years, I could pass the Navy PT test…
I remember back in the late 80s while stationed at Ramstein AFB, watching senior Air Force NCOs taking a PT test. Some were walking around the 1/4 mile track with a copy of Stars and Stripes opened to the sports page. My squad leaders and I were dumbfounded to say the least.
I remember hearing AF Vets tell me of the easiest way to get a Max score on the AF’s Exercise Bike PT test they had in the 90s, it was to eat a Burger King and smoke a cigarette before doing it!
I still can!
GT, I betcha I could also pass the Navy PRT when you consider the standards which are:
Male, 65+ —- We Old Geezers:
Push-Ups: 6
Sit-Ups: 13
Mile and a Half Run (Walk): 19:47
That’s it. The bottom line. Anything above those numbers is brown gravy for the mashed potatoes./smile
Yep.
You would probably be competitive in a few lower age brackets a s well.
We’re going to need a bigger boat
HA!!!!! Brilliantly done…
While leaving alone the issue of how the Navy treats its larger folk, I want to mention something that goes directly to Stars and Stripes:
“… the chief of naval personal”??? Admiral Burke is in charge of hooking Navy folks up with each other? Who is in charge of the editorial board of S&S?
Jesus fucking shit my christ on a pogo stick. MOAR FAT CHICKS! Exactly what the Navy needs to increase the buoyancy of the fleet! Do your part by stuffing your disgusting gob with a plate of shit from the 15 foot long waffle bar at the DFAC!
Don’t forget to eat a bag of Cheetos while checking your fucking email.
I remember during my AD days in the early nineties when PLDC (Personal Leadership Development Course) was six weeks long and anyone failing the PT test OR height/weight was given orders to go back to their unit. Compare that to the mid-2000’s when they needed more NCO’s and the WLC (Warrior Leadership Course) students were still allowed to graduate despite failing one or both and were given a “Marginal” rating on their DA1099.
The sailors passed a PT Test when they enlisted so what is the problem now? If they failed one then their immediate chain of command is at fault for not maintaining physical standards. The troops that failed should be immediately placed on an exercise program and diet and retested in 6mths. Fail and your out. No excuse for this crap
Stupid.
In the RCN, failing your PT test regularly and often is a sure way to earn your way into the Chiefs & PO’s mess. If you are a Stoker anyway….
Once you got too fat to bilge crawl, you could almost taste that 3rd chevron 😉
We had a scope-dope CPO who practically had to shimmy through hatches.
Navy does have the best food IMHO. I still miss my 1000 ‘standeasy’ soup….
All of our ships have beer machines in lieu of rum rations.
At $1/beer it is very easy to accumulate calories.
Got very mixed emotions about stories such as this one. Of course I continue to believe that standards should be maintained and that changes should only be made based upon real issues instead of wishful thinking. Problem is that so many of these “standards” are, or were, quite arbitrary and may or may not measure anything useful for military service. “Because it’s always been this way” just doesn’t cut it.
So, if these changes are just tweeking the numbers in response to new, legitmate information, fine. Materials used to make Navy ships have changed also as newer, stronger metals were developed. But, if this is just another thing thrown out there to make somebody feel better about something or another, no, just NO.
One of the things that pissed me off the most when I was in the Army was this overweight sergeant attached to my platoon. I was a private and had just arrived at my unit. This sergeant would never do PT with the platoon because he was fat and on permanent profile. He had a very disrespectful attitude towards me for no reason at all. Then he got in on a deployment with the platoon and left after a month in theater. Obviously the only reason he deployed was for the campaign medal. I always wondered why he was allowed to serve when he can’t run and was too fat to serve. It’s a danger the force to have people like that in service, especially when they’re in a combat arms job.
When I was in the Army, way back when, we had a number of rotund senior NCOs. One E7 in my company in Germany could not fit through any of the hatches in the M113; they had to lower the ramp to get him aboard. Another of our round E7s also had a bad eye.
That helps explain, I guess, the shortage of senior NCOs in Vietnam.
The Nuclear Navy called this the “Food for Freedom” program
I gotta wonder, in the fast attack Navy, how they expect the crew to maintain fitness. We were at sea Mon-Fri doing local ops with some longer periods and then off on WestPac for 6 months. There was NO room on a fast boat for any exercise equipment, you couldn’t run anywhere, just do sit ups and push ups. Couple that with chow served 4 times a day, it could make it hard to stay slim.
I’ve seen some videos of the new boats, I guess they’re a little roomier but still not spacious.
Two fast boats and the ONLY aerobic equipment I saw on either one was a rowing machine that was broke more often than not.
Still managed to get outstanding on every PRT I took, and when I took up running when I got out, I did even better.
Then I got old. Pfft.
“Shipmates count for shipmates, and shipmates don’t let shipmates fail.” -a quote from Reaperman’s RDC
Because of that, you’ll have to excuse my lack of understanding relating to the meaning of the words ‘PT failure.’ My Navy’s never had a PT problem (haha)–it sounds more like a teamwork problem.
Only considered unfit if you cannot bend down and tie your shoes…..:-)
I used to judge a command’s leadership by the number of hand salutes I’d receive (0-6) approaching a Navy facility and the status of uniform appearance. Sloppy salutes, or avoidance of same and personnel who looked like crap in their khakis was 95% accurate for shit leadership at the command level. Navy hospitals were the worst. Most of my corpsmen got fat after they married and got daily high cholesterol, hi carb dinners. Deployment in OIF/OEF was good for weight loss. All in all it isn’t hard to maintain adequate fitness and pass USN PFT. At 64 when I retired I did my last PFT.A matter of motivation and discipline. Isn’t that why people supossedly join ? CAPT Bones USN (ret)
The Navy needs some T-Bones!
“I love the T-Bone, the T-Bone loves me!”
The T-Bone will take the pounds right off.
Is this the “Chief Protection Program” ?
This ^^^^