Happy Friday! The Army announced this week that male and female soldiers in 21 combat military occupational specialties will have to meet the same standards on the new Army Fitness Test, which also eliminates the standing power throw event, which soldiers dubbed the “overhead yeet.”
Both men and women between 17 and 21 years old who serve in combat arms military occupational specialties will have to deadlift at least 140 pounds under the new changes — women previously had to lift 120 pounds. Women in that age group will also have to complete the sprint-drag-carry event in less than 2 minutes and 28 seconds, nearly a minute faster than the current requirement.
The new standards will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026, for active-duty soldiers and June 1, 2026, for the National Guard and Reserve. Any soldiers who do not score 350 on the test after their second attempt will have to be reclassified into a new job based on the “needs of the Army at that time,” said Regimental Sgt. Maj. Stephanie Carl, the senior enlisted leader for Army public affairs.
The test partially fulfills the Army’s longstanding — and elusive — goal of requiring men and women to be held to the same physical standards. In 2018, then-Army Secretary Mark Esper told reporters that the service was trying to create a PT test that was both gender- and age-neutral, “because the enemy does not specify who they’re going to shoot and not shoot — combat is combat.”
The Army eventually abandoned the age- and gender-neutral standards after initial testing showed that 84% of women who took the tests failed. The service also dropped the leg tuck from the test — which 72% of women failed during testing — following a RAND report that determined the event did not accurately measure women’s core strength.
But in March, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the military services to develop “sex neutral” physical standards for service members who directly participate in ground combat.
The new changes to the Army’s PT test “fall in line” with Hegseth’s instructions but are “not a result of that,” said Command Sgt. Maj. JoAnn Naumann, the senior enlisted leader for U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
While the Marine Corps currently has no plans to change its Physical and Combat Fitness Tests, “All human performance standards are continually analyzed, assessed, and updated as needed,” said Maj. Hector Infante, a spokesman for Training and Education Command.
“All Marines in ground combat arms specialties are held to the same sex-neutral, occupation-specific, and operationally relevant physical standards,” Infante said in a statement to Task & Purpose. “Regardless of military occupational specialty, all Marines must also complete age- and sex-normed general fitness tests: the Physical Fitness Test and the Combat Fitness Test.”
Now that we’ve worked up a sweat, here’s your weekly Rundown:
- U.S. struck “hundreds of targets” in Yemen. The U.S. military has “struck hundreds of targets” since resuming air and missile strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in March, Hegseth said during his visit on Wednesday to the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. His comments mark the first time in more than a month that a U.S. official has provided a public update on the number of U.S. strikes against the Houthis. More than 30 targets were hit on March 15 as part of the first wave of strikes, Air Force Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, director of operations for the Joint Staff, told reporters last month.
- Troops can detain “trespassers” on the southern border. As part of the U.S. military’s ongoing mission on the border, troops can now apprehend people within the New Mexico National Defense Area, a strip of land 170 miles long and 60 feet wide that was recently transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Defense Department, according to U.S. Northern Command. Troops conducting “installation security support operations” within the defense area, which is now part of Fort Huachuca, are authorized to temporarily detain trespassers until they can be handed off to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents or other law enforcement officials.
- “Little Crappy Ships” no more. USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul recently intercepted two shipments of drugs within 72 hours, underscoring that the Littoral Combat Ship, or LCS, has found its niche with counternarcotics operations. Although the LCS has had its share of problems over the years, the ships are “almost perfectly made” to stop drug smugglers. Other Navy warships, such as destroyers and cruisers, are better suited for high-end combat.
- Elbe Day anniversary. Friday marks 80 years since U.S. and Soviet troops met at the Elbe River near Torgau, Germany, shortly before the end of World War II. Pictures taken around that time show troops from both countries shaking hands and greeting each other warmly. In April 2020, President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement to mark the 75th anniversary of the event: “The ‘Spirit of the Elbe’ is an example of how our countries can put aside differences, build trust, and cooperate in pursuit of a greater cause.” Trump returned to office this year, vowing to end the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
- Email storm. When you get an email that was accidentally sent to a large distribution list, for the love of God, please don’t “reply all.” Case in point, on April 15, a Marine’s certificate for completing the corporal’s course was accidentally emailed to the wrong distro list, so responses to the message went to “a larger audience than intended,” said Capt. Jonathan Coronel, a spokesman for II Marine Expeditionary Force. Although it took about 20 minutes to fix the issue, some kept receiving responses for longer than that, said Coronel, who added that steps are being taken to avoid such SNAFUs in the future. He also said the email storm was an opportunity for small unit leaders to review “basic email etiquette.” Subsequently, the email blast misfire led to a petition to have Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith attend the corporal’s graduation ceremony — and it garnered nearly 1,700 signatures before being closed. Promote ahead of peers, indeed.
Wishing you all a happy weekend!
Jeff Schogol