With the Army moving from Apft to Acft do you think schools will adopt the Acft as well or will they keep traditional Apft?

2019-04-27T07:00:58-04:00

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 27 at 2019 7:24 AM

2019-04-27T07:24:08-04:00

IMHO once they realize that senior leadership and recruit retention is dropping and the Army can't maintain its readiness, it will be used as a diagnostic and the APFT will remain. I have always been a 260-300 APFT soldier(last APFT 285) and I just want to pass. Civil Affairs Branch standards are probably like Armor/Cav and you need to run faster and do more than some branches. Before I could brag that I had a 300 in my APFT and you could put it on your OER/NCOER and even get an AAM from your BDE Commander, now the goal will be to pass and save energy for the 2 mile run.

Response by SSG Brian G. made Apr 27 at 2019 9:21 AM

2019-04-27T09:21:31-04:00

That is a question that cannot readily be answered. They are billing ACFT as the new standard right now and the program is in its pilot stage. If it pans out then yes it very well may be phased into schools.

The problem I see is that the Army has used the APFT for a while. It is easy to train to breeze through 42 PU, 52 SU and 2 miles in under 14 which I believe was the male 18 year old standard back in the day. This simply means focussing on core ab and upper body strength, legs and endurance for running and that is it. Now soldiers have to demonstrate a level of fitness that emulates their job in a combat environment and I can see a fair few that will fail this and be separated. We already have basic recruits that cannot make even minimum standards to even qualify to get in, so this is going to make recruitment harder as well as retention.

Response by SFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 27 at 2019 10:08 AM

2019-04-27T10:08:50-04:00

I think eventually it will.. being a level 2 acft ncoic/instructor this test is 100 times better. I can’t do above my standard even at my age, sit ups have been proven to be horrible on your body. I usually maintain around a 250-270 on apft just because of sit ups. But it will not be up to the school house to say no we are only going to do apft it will be big army who says this will be the new standard. Like always it will be up to the soldier to adapt to the new standards or get left behind.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Apr 27 at 2019 12:31 PM

2019-04-27T12:31:22-04:00

If the Army sets ACFT as the standard, the APFT will go away entirely. Anticipate that if this happens, it will go out as an All Army Activities Message (ALARACT) on how to do that and an implementation schedule. Then they will change AR350-1, 600-9, and the FMs and TCs for administering the test and the overall physical fitness program. They won't run the two in parallel except during implementation.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 28 at 2019 11:14 AM

2019-04-28T11:14:00-04:00

Hmmmm, good question. I'm willing to bet if the Army is going to put their money where their mouth is you will be doing this for professional education.