The Army Wants a New Combat Fitness Test for Soldiers with Permanent Injuries

Task and Purpose

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The alternate test would require the soldier to at a minimum complete the sprint-drag-carry, a 3-repetition maximum deadlift, and one of the aforementioned aerobic events. If the soldier's condition did not prevent them from doing more than that, than they would. For example, an ankle injury would probably not prevent someone from doing the leg tuck.

McGurk said the soldier would be given "the appropriate time to recondition and get into shape" before taking the test.

The Army is working on developing an alternate fitness test for soldiers with permanent injuries that prevent them from completing the new Army Combat Fitness Test.

The new test standards for permanent profiles won't be finalized until October 2019, the Army said on Monday, but tests selected to be tested further include a 15,000 meter stationary bike ride, a 5,000 meter row, and a 1,2000 meter swim. Each event would be finished "in a set time, targeted at 25 minutes or less."

Currently, the test's events include the following:

• Three-repetition maximum deadlift
• Standing power throw
• Hand-release push-ups
• A 250-meter sprint-drag-carry
• Leg tuck
• A two-mile run

The alternate test would require the soldier to at a minimum complete the sprint-drag-carry, a 3-repetition maximum deadlift, and one of the aforementioned aerobic events. If the soldier's condition did not prevent them from doing more than that, than they would. For example, an ankle injury would probably not prevent someone from doing the leg tuck.

A permanent profile, in the Army's eyes, is essentially something that has been deemed unfixable: as Michael McGurk, director of research and analysis at the Center for Initial Military Training, told Task & Purpose, it's something where "a year or more has passed and doctors have determined that the healing and retraining process is complete, and the condition is not going to get better."

The most common injuries of this nature, he said, are things like a back or a knee injury. In that case, the profile typically says "run at own pace and distance," which doesn't mean the soldier can't run, but just that they may be slower than others.