Group Wants to Halt ACFT Until the Army Assesses Whether It's Fair to Female Soldiers

When is a standard not a standard........when all sorts of exceptions are made to the standard!

PV2 Joy Phillip - You are right and thanks...Fair enough on the Transgender comments...Thanks for piping in on those...understand a little better now as I have not walked a mile in those shoes. I apologize as my intention was to not specifically call out transgender in a bad light, just using that as an example of things not fully thought out as that is all new to us and the way ahead...I should have just left it at male and female. Again my apologies.

Standards are standards and have been tested time and time again and proven in combat to be effective...we don't need to lower those or soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines will get killed and missions compromised. I know a guy years ago who was a kinesiologist that studied fitness and testing in the military...he was a civilian so he had no dog in the fight other than to present the data as it was given. His findings were that all PT tests were designed to meet the basic standards of survivability in combat...basic standards only...for special forces theirs were proven to be effective at weaning out the ones who weren't mentally and physically ready or capable of doing those jobs that were required for that particular type of warfare...Therefor I am not for accommodating or lowering any standard set forth on proven history for anyone.

When I was still in, I believe the AFI stated that transgender personnel had to be signed off by a doctor before they could take the adjusted PT test. The AFI also stated that it was only after one year of hormone treatment. I really don't see how this could be an argument. Fine, standards are always going to be different for male and female soldiers to join or take a PT test. However, we need to look at how that affects the unit. When I graduated Air Assault, there were three women in our group. I never doubted them for a second. I am overjoyed that women now get to attend Ranger School. But here's the rub; a soldier needs to be able to execute orders without question. I learned this a long time ago. If you're receiving orders to move, someone smarter than you has already thought it out. If I'm hit, I need to count on you to help. If we're moving, we need to pull our own weight. I can't hump your pack for you. If you can't run a Mogadishu Mile because your standards to join were set lower, that hurts the unit. It's not about male or female, it's about capability.

SFC Kelly Fuerhoff - I guess I should have made my "exactly" a little more clear than just "exactly", my apologies - I was just referring to this portion his statement:

"Are we serious with this??? We want equal opportunity in all MOS's but wait, the standards aren't fair so let's change them...I am for women in all MOS's/AFSC's in the military, always have been but I am not for lowering or changing standards."

In my opinion there needs to be one set of standards for all soldiers (male, female, and transgenger) and personally I liked the old APFT Test with (5) events back in the day (1975) - back in the day there was always standards set for each and you had to practice to pass.

CW5 Jack Cardwell Rooming and grooming standards at the same time, good one. ;-)